When Dean of Undergraduate Education James Glaser overturned the Committee on Student Life's decision to force the Primary Source to print bylines on all of its articles last year, he employed administrative power to prevent students from taking their own voices away.
On Sunday, the Tufts Community Union Senate passed a resolution encouraging President Bacow to delay making any policy decisions regarding the freedom of expression at Tufts until students have been adequately consulted.
It is admirable that the Senate wants more student input in the development of this university policy. But input alone is not enough; the ultimate best interest of the student body is the full preservation of the right to free speech. Four years from now, what will matter more than who participates in this debate is that students still have the same right to speak their minds as every citizen in this country.
The Senate, as a representative of the entire student body, should use the opportunity it will hopefully gain to influence the committee's recommendations in order to advocate vociferously for the protection of student speech.
It is still unclear what the task force will ultimately recommend to the Board of Trustees, and also hard to see how, if it all, a new policy will affect the freedom of speech at Tufts.
But the potential for limitations exists.
A draft of the task force's recommendation, for example, states that a learning environment requires not only "freedom of expression" but "tolerance." While this argument is based on noble ideas, the Senate and the student body should be wary that it treads on a slippery slope. For if expression must be free and tolerance is mandated, it is unclear what the committee will recommend should student expression not be tolerant enough.
While students dislike inflammatory ideas like those published in the Primary Source during last year's controversy, students must have the freedom to express even offensive thoughts. Without this right, true dialogue and intellectual development will be stifled.
Some time after the task force finishes its report, a decision may be approved by the Board of Trustees, a group that is not known for being receptive to student opinions. At that point, it would be difficult for students to change any policy that was put in place.
The Senate, as the voice of the student body to the administration, must now lobby hard for free speech. And if they can't get the task force to lend an ear, it will be time for a town hall meeting or some other event to get students speaking out for their right to do just that.
