Faculty and staff from the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication published an open letter to the community on May 22 regarding the importance of defending the First Amendment.
The letter emphasizes that press freedom is not a luxury but a safeguard, regarding the series of incidents in which the government takes away the freedom of speech from not only journalists but also students, and eventually relates to every individual on the land.
The letter references the lawsuits that target 60 Minutes, the Des Moines Register, and the Pulitzer Board, while the AP was banned from the White House for not renaming the Gulf of Mexico, and the case of a Tufts University student who was detained after publishing an op-ed, raising alarm over the risks young writers may face simply for expressing views.
“I think universities should model support for free speech, for sure. Universities should be encouraging open dialogue and open conversation and should be defending that in all its forms,” Will Yurman, SOJC professor, said.
The faculty in the letter said that the stakes are especially high for journalism students.
“Your work matters,” the letter says. “You are carrying on the essential, often risky work of bearing witness and seeking truth. Journalism is not an act of compliance. It is an act of responsibility.”
SOJC faculty stressed that free speech is essential to all disciplines beyond journalism and communications students.
“Whether you’re in accounting or chemistry, free inquiry is essential for learning and developing new knowledge,” James Wallace Chair Professor in Journalism Peter Laufer said. “Any suppression of that is 100% unacceptable.”
Laufer said that students may worry about their freedom of speech, and that it’s his “advice” to worry.
“Worry; that’s my advice,” Laufer said. “But respond judiciously and fearlessly move forward.”
Yurman said the faculty should be doing more than they are to support students beyond the current practice of the SOJC to “train our students to report honestly, think critically and serve the public good.”
“The more skills we give our students and the more experience we give our students, the better prepared they are when they graduate,” Yurman said.
SOJC faculty uphold the belief in defending the First Amendment. As the letter said, “It is a right enshrined in the First Amendment and defended by generations who came before us.”
