The Emerald editorial board would like to take a moment’s break from our weeklong dissertation on the wrongdoings of the PFC to discuss a related, but slightly tangential, example of the depressing state of free speech at the University.
A campus employee was ordered to remove a “Support the Troops” yellow ribbon decal from his maintenance truck after a second employee complained about it Friday.
State law forbids public vehicles from being used to further political messages. In fact, state law forbids any personal messages on state vehicles. In a statement released by University President Dave Frohnmayer, he says: “Whether the message is Support Our Troops, Fund Cancer Research or Support Tsunami Relief, employees may not place personal stickers or magnets on state-owned vehicles.”
Nice job throwing those obscure bureaucratic rules back in the face of that patriotic sucker. Congratulations. You are on firm legal ground. But, Dave, if ever there was a time when the rules were meant to be broken, this was the time. Sometimes common sense and decency must trump the letter of the law.
The decision itself isn’t half as infuriating as the fact that somebody actually complained about a yellow ribbon. Is that how we do things now? One anonymous person complains, and the yellow ribbons are quickly removed; one anonymous person complains, and the Oregon Commentator’s mission is quickly rejected.
This is the senseless crap that is killing the University. This is the kind of behavior that makes communities unbearable environments for the truly open-minded people. How can anyone who gives a lick about freedom and art and the community of ideas keep his or her sanity when our leaders are telling us that supporting the troops is against the rules and that the Commentator engages in
hate speech?
There is always somebody who says the Emerald is overreacting every time we use the C-word: censorship. “Nobody cares about an $8,000 fee, one campus magazine or one sticker. That’s not censorship — that’s barely news,” they are probably saying to themselves right now. These people are wrong.
If we wait until books are being burned outside the EMU before we can discuss the issue of censorship, then it is already too late. The apathetic attitude that many people have about these issues is proof positive of censorship’s insidious effect on culture. Listening to how some on this campus have justified de-funding the Commentator or the Emerald is truly scary.
When partisanship becomes an acceptable excuse for denying speech, then we have really lost the battle. When a campus does not explode with outrage the instant anyone threatens his or her outlets for free expression, whether it be publications, radio, television, stage or elsewhere, then censorship
has won.
Where are the those on this campus who can stomach supporting our troops? Where are the those on this campus who can still take a joke? Where are the those on this campus who revel in a difference of opinion? Where are the those on this campus who care about free speech? It is now up to you to show the rest of your brethren the way, before they permanently alienate you from the majority
of Americans.

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