Never underestimate the furor that can be stirred up by publishing “blasphemous” depictions of a religion’s figurehead. That’s the lesson learned by the European newspapers that printed the 12 incendiary Danish cartoons portraying the Prophet Muhammad earlier this year.
It’s also the lesson members of The Insurgent, a far-left student newspaper, may be learning about anti-Christian cartoons published in its March edition.
Although weeks have passed since the issue quietly hit newsstands, its cartoons ridiculing
Jesus and articles condemning Christianity are causing a snowballing controversy. Members of its staff cried censorship after the University decided to begin enforcing a rule prohibiting student groups from using the school’s nonprofit mailing permit, preventing more than 700 issues from being sent as usual.
Youth minister and University student Zachary White filed a grievance with the ASUO asking it to force The Insurgent to apologize and refrain from printing similar content in the future because he said it was discriminatory. His request was denied.
The story has even appeared on the conservative Web site WorldNetDaily.com in an article called “‘Jesus with erection’ ignites outrage.” William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, wrote to the governor, Oregon legislators and the chancellor of the Oregon University
System because University President Dave Frohnmayer “had been unresponsive to complaints about the drawings,” according to the article.
We agree with Goward’s decision to throw out the grievance, and we stand behind Frohnmayer for being “unresponsive.” The ASUO and University should, under no circumstances, have the power to censor student publications. This was clearly established last year during the Oregon Commentator’s battle with the PFC when members of student government and the public tried to have the publication defunded for printing “hate speech.” The ridiculous irony is that members of The Insurgent staff spoke in favor of defunding the publication.
Pira Kelly, former Insurgent contributor, participated in a rally last year to encourage the administration to “take responsibility” for hate speech on campus after the PFC decided to fund the Commentator (“Students protest hate, discrimination” ODE, Feb. 18, 2005).
The point of the student incidental fee is that everyone may end up paying for something they do not support as long as it contributes to the cultural environment and marketplace of ideas at the University, a concept clearly established by the U.S. Supreme Court. Further, labeling any language “hate speech” is tricky business. The Insurgent’s sudden reversal in position from protester to protested demonstrates this perfectly.
We encourage everyone on Donohue’s mailing list to recognize that censorship has no place in the University environment. Although we think it was irresponsible for The Insurgent to print irrelevant, offensive cartoons purely for shock value, as we said in a past editorial, we need to protect students’ right to express views. All of them.