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Show . ! T" s- nrlr. ; x - """ - t - I '. . "v ...... - v . - f ' I; . : . . ' ' ' X v y a;-. A university is not grades 13, 14, IS and 16," according to Dr. Alfred C. Emery in his lecture "An Oath of Freedom," given as the 35th Annual Fredrick Williams Reynolds Lecture. Photo by Craig Law Nation's rig hi s for schools ioo The "Love it or leave it" bumper sticker is symptomatic of an attitude that exists in this nation today that justifies serious concern. It is used as though it were a conclusive response to the dissent expressed on the vital issues of our time . These were the opening remarks of Dr. Alfred C. Emery, professor of law at the University, as he delivered the 35th Annual Frederick William Reynolds Lecture Tuesday evening in Orson Spencer Hall Auditorium. Entitled "An Oath of Freedom," the lecture focused on the value of the First Amendment of the Constitution to the nation and its application to universities. "My intention is to share with you my understanding of the First Amendment (providing freedom of speech, press, religion and assembly)," assem-bly)," Dr. Emery told an audience of about 300. "Its meaning cannot be found by examining the words. Those who created it were an oppressed people. The First Amendment was a response to this oppression." He then traced the long, bloody conflict the common man has waged down through history to achieve these freedoms. "This admendment," said Dr. Emery, "is our first defense against tyranny and rebellion. But if the rights therein are denied, those who deny them sow the seeds of revolution." Dr. Emery devoted most of his talk to the First Amendment as it applies to the nation's universities. "The rights of the Constitution do not end at the gates of a university," he said. "They are in full force within any university." Dr. Emery said a university has another kind of freedom-academic freedom-and "it is time the university's concept of academic freedom be extended to all of the community." Academic freedom is that which furthers the common good by facilitating free search for knowledge. It, too, protects the rights of freedom of opinion, expression and assembly. "It is not a special right, but one which must be enjoyed to pursue teaching, learning and research," commented Dr. Emery. "A university is not grades 13, 14, 15 and 16," said Dr. Emery. "Its purpose is to develop (lie higher functions of a student's mind. Any institution which denies academic freedom or the provisions of the First Amendment will not achieve that goal and therefore cannot be called a university." "The current struggle around academic freedom and the application of the First Amendment to the campus has involved two basic issues; protest demonstrations by students and the speaker policies of universities," continued Dr. Emery. "A demonstration of violence is action, not expression, and cannot claim the protection of the First Amendment. However, the right to impose sanctions for material disruption of the university's purpose does not justify any repression of expression." In regard to speaker policies, Dr. Emery said, "the right to speak does not include the right to speak at any time or place the speaker chooses. A university should have the power to regulate the physical aspects of a presentation, but not the content." "The ideas asserted by various speakers are grist for the university mill," added Dr. Emery. "A university must remain neutral. It is the students' responsibility to cut through the rhetoric and find the basic ideas." "The universities face a dilemma with their communities today," continued Dr. Emery. They can suppress freedom of expression, deny invited speakers access to the campus and violate the First Amendment and academic freedom, or they can stand firm on the concepts and lose support of the community." He said in some states the legislators openly announced that the people owned the university and the time had come to pass restrictive legislation and curtail budgets to bring "arrogant faculties and ungrateful students into line." "No one can deny the universities are subject to the power of the state," said Dr. Emery, "but in exercising control, state legislatures are dealing with a political power held in trust for the people, not a power of ownership." He added that he felt the legislators of this state have acted responsibly. "The universities provide platforms for speakers, journals for publication, time and opportunity for faculty and student research and creative effort, and sponsorship of speakers and symposiums where ideas may be exchanged to the end of advancing the search for truth," Dr. Emery concluded. |