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Show D A Moniay.Apifl23.2Q07 U. Y HERALD A5 V EITOKIALS EDITORIAL MhjHmtlft IN OUR VIEW BOARD Craig Dennis, President & Publisher Randy Wright, Executive Editdr Donald W. Meyers, Editorial page editor too revJ 100 Free speech zone at BYU nlike a small group of vocal opponents, we applaud BYlTs invitation to Vice President Dick Cheney to speak at commencement ceremonies. Cheney is an outstanding public servant and business leader, and it is a rare privilege to have such a high officer of the nation visit our community. Recent attacks on Cheney, mostly by students, have been shamelessly partisan. But as much as we disagree with those voices opposed to the vice president's visit, we believe that they should not be curtailed, even by a private university that has a right to do so. d The banality that "we're private and so we have a right to regulate speech as we choose" wears thin. Legal authority doesn't equate with moral U for courtesy, honor and students is maintained. Fair enough. But is that reputation truly reinforced by overly restrictive policies curbing dissent? Is the school's reputation and by extension the LDS Church's instead tarnished by the overtones of authoritarian control? In our view, God's AHGW M USJ M0UNT MoViESi CVftlDl AS rAANV GUN heavy-handedne- on campus by the "grown-ups- " tends to undermine, not enhance, BYlTs national image. Rather than being viewed as a bastion of decent, honorable free thinkers whose world view includes God and family (in contrast to some , vulgar and corrosive free thinkers who often express themselves at other universities), BYlTs authoritarian lockdown translates to the world as a weird and unnecessary form of repression. The administration's regulaauthority. tory approach seems odd for any BYU supporters too often fall institution of higher learning. back on private ownership to jus- Part of education, after all, is tify the muzzling of those points entertaining conflicting points of of view with which the adminisview. As John Milton wrote about tration may disagree. education, "Where there is much We think that's wrong. A coldesire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writlege campus, even a private one, ought to be a place where open ing, many opinions; for opinion in dialogue and demonstrations are good men is but knowledge in the making." encouraged. BYU students and college You may be tempted to jump are toin here to say that BYU does, in students in general morrow's leaders in the making. fact, tolerate protest: Just look at how it granted students the right There is nothing to fear in allowto object publicly to Cheney's visit. ing them to express themselves While we agree that these conwithout the prior approval of an trolled political protests represent administrative overseer, even at a privately owned institution. If progress, they were nevertheless burdened by old discomforts with students say something a little free speech. The school "granted" wild, so what; they're students. The grown-up- s can roll their eyes a permit that "allowed" people to speak out; and when the time had and respond with something like, "Those darn kids." elapsed (virtually to the minute) While we applaud BYUs protest signs were hustled away as willingness to allow the Cheney though something horrible might result if a student should happen to demonstrations, we think the school should go further in alwave one on his way off campus. Why was this necessary? What lowing students to express their message does it send to the world opinions unfettered. Surely there is someplace on campus that could "aboutBYU? A question posed by a student to be designated an unregulated free speech zone, while maintainBYlTs president, Cecil Samuelson, is a fair one: What is the school ing a requirement for permits elsewhere on campus. While we afraid of? (See video at Samuelson might predict an initial flurry of speech in such a free zone that responded rather brusquely with would make a few grown-up- s what was really a "The school is not afraid of anycringe, we think the exuberance would quickly settle down. thing, Adam. Thank you for your Open debate on BYU campus is input. Next questioa" not something to fear any more But the question was not rhetorical. Clearly, fear of some kind than it was at London's Hyde exists in BYlTs administration Park, where many LDS missionarif only the fear or ownership ies, including President Gordon that unfettered speech on campus B. Hinckley, expounded their church's views to anyone willing could deteriorate into unseemly to listen. and negative patterns that are If BYU truly has nothing to d sometimes witnessed at schools elsewhere in the fear, as Samuelson said, it should grant registered students their country. BYU views itself as havown public forum. The high staning a unique character, and the dards and positive image of the administration clearly wants to ensure that the school's reputation school would only be enhanced. MWBE HE COAF&E-HlN- Yjas G OU,SURE( oust CbO NUTS. CULTUftEl FOR often-repeate- LETTERS for their caring and concern for even the most minor problems. I lost an alternator belt on south traffic. I pulled over during rush-hou- r and within a few minutes, a Utah Highway Patrol officer stopped to ask if he could help. I explained my problem and told him that help was on the way. Then, several minutes later, another officer stopped. I cannot express how good it made me feel that these officers were there for me, even though it wasn't an emergency. I want to thank all our law enforcement personnel for looking out for us every day, every hour, every minute, and for putting their lives on the line for us. This thank you goes to all of our Utah Highway Patrol, county and local officers from a grateful resident. I Larry Phawley, Mapleton homosexuality, gambling and assaulting weaker prisoners. Prison is a world of violence where Much about a prisoner's life is igwalls, fences and towers confine us for nored. It's irrelevant whether we de10, 15, and even 20 years a stretch. Yet, society is only concerned with serve it; what's important is how we're retribution. I'm not saying punishment affected after years of incarceration. isn't due, but when we get out and beRecidivism is a result of the prison environment. How can society believe come serial killers, rapists, or violent offenders don't be surprised. that retribution and prison life won't Because most people in society want make an individual more hateful, socion own his retribution revenge, they're not only gambling wanting with their lives, they're gambling with ety? the lives of their family members and When we enter prison, the rules friends. change. We don't care about the I Gordon Thomas, felony we committed, because now Utahlkate Prison, we must adapt to survive. Surviving in prison means showing no empathy, Draper Utah's prison system gives little attention to reform kindness or concern for others. Survival means becoming hardened. If you're not a predator, you're a victim. Few can function in the prison environment without being caught up life: gangs, drugs, in the prison-block expression of gratitude for Utah's law enforcement An I'd like to express my appreciation to our local law enforcement officers ). CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER : state-owne- MEDIA VOICES Who's derailing From The Washington Post, April 19. 2007 US. Senate hit a pothole on The the roadA to modernity for unani- request mous consent by Sen. Dianne Fein-stei., for a bill that would for the Senate candidates require to file campaign finance reports electronically was blocked by an anonymous Republican senator hiding behind Sen. Lamar Alexanwho announced the der, move. Would that this Luddite had the courage of his or her convictions to explain publicly said oppocustom. sition to The last time we wrote about adthe need for this common-sens-e vance, there was fear that Ms. Fein-stei-n would not get a quorum in the Rules and Administration Committee, which she chairs, to vote the bill out. That hurdle cleared, she sought passage by unanimous consent. That's when Mr. Alexander stepped forward to object on behalf if y e-fil- ing bill? of another senator. What could be the fear? It's not as if senators would be alone in this practice. Filing campaign finance reports electronically is standard for candidates for the House of Representatives and the White House. Political parties, political action committees and "527" groups have to do the same. The point is to make it easier for the public to see who is giving to whom and how the money is being spent. In our up4c--t world, the Senate's insistence on maintaining its cumbersome obstacle course of disclosure procedures, which starts by sending the paper forms to the Senate Office of Public Records, makes no sense. "This is exactly the type of te law that the Senate could adopt as a stand- alone measure," Ms. Feinstein said. She's right. All in favor ought to be given a chance to say yea. AH opposed ought to have the guts to come forward and explain their antipathy to sunshine. DOONESBURY Forget politics, remember It turns out that Cho's psychiatric impairment had been evident to many. He'd been cited for stalking two women on campus. Virginia Tech What should be said? Even less. The lives of 32 innocents, chosen police tried unsuccessfully to have him involuntarily committed. A teacher rerandomly and without purpose, are extinguished most brutally by a deeply ferred him to counseling and even his disturbed gunman. With an event such fellow students saw signs of dangerous disturbance. "Cho's plays ... had reas this, consisting of nothing but suffering and tragedy, the only important ally twisted, macabre violence," writes former classmate Ian McFarlane. "Bequestions are those of theodicy, of difore Cho got to class that day (of readvine justice. Unfortunately, in today's ing plays), we students were talking to political atmosphere, supercharged there is the inevitable rush to get ideo- each other with serious worry about whether he could be a school shooter. logical mileage out of the carnage. It did not take long for the perennial I was even thinking of scenarios of debate about gun control to break out, what I would do in case he did come in with a gun." preceded by the inevitable scolding In a previous age, such a troubled and clucking abroad about America's soul might have found himself at the lax gun laws. state mental hospital rather than a It is true that with far stricter gun state university. But in a trade-of- f that laws, Cho Seung Hui might have a decent and tolerant society makes had a more difficult time getting the with open eyes, we allow freedom weapons and ammunition needed to from strahjackets to those on the psykill so relentlessly. Nonetheless, we chic edge, knowing that such tolerance should have no illusions about what the laws can do. There are other ways runs very rare but very terrible risk. It is inevitable, I suppose, that to kill in large numbers, as Timothy advocates of one social policy or anMcVeigh demonstrated. Determined killers will obtain guns no matter how other will try to use the Virginia Tech massacre for their advantage. But strict the laws. And stricter controls it is simply dismaying that a serious could also keep guns out of the hands of citizens using them in presidential candidate should use it as the ideological frame for his e After all, the psychotic issues. mass murder is very rare; the armed Politico columnist Ben Smith has household burglary is not. If we are going to look for a politibrought attention to the speech that cal issue here, the more relevant is not Barack Obama made in Milwaukee gun control but psychosis controL We just hours after the massacre. It must be heard to be believed. After deplordecided a half a century ago that our more eccentric and, indeed, crazy feling and expressing grief about the low citizens would not be easily locked shootings, he continues (my transcription): "1 hope that it causes us to reflect up in asylums. It was a very humane a little bit more broadly on the degree decision, but with the inevitable conto which we do accept violence in varisequence that some who really need protection and quarantine are allowed ous forms. ... There's also another kind of violence ... it's not necessarily physi to roam the streets freely. What cal violence." What kinds does he have in mind? First, "Imus and the verbal violence that was directed at young women (of Rutgers). ... For them to be degraded ... that's a form of violence. It may be quiet. It may not surface to the same level of the tragedy we read about today and we mourn." Good to know that Imus' "violence" does not quite rise to the level of Cho's. Second, outsourcing. Yes, outsourcing: "the violence of men and women who ... suddenly have the rug pulled out from under them because their job has moved to another country." He then cites bad schools and bad neighborhoods as forms of violence, before finishing with, for good measure, Darfur accusing America of conducting "foreign policy as if the children in Darfur are somehow less than the children here and so we tolerate violence there." Is Obama, who proudly opposed overthrowing the premier mass murderer of our time, Saddam Hussein, suggesting an invasion of Sudan? Who knows. This whole exercise in defining violence down to include shock-joctaunts and outsourcing would normally be mtr intellectual slovenliness. Doing so in trie shadow of the murder of 32 innocents still can be said about the Tech massacre? Very k law-abidi- MALLARD FILLMORE Garry Trudeau victims V-Te-ch unburied Perhaps much-heralde- ' tasteless, bordering on the ( in the spirit of Obama's politics d we can agree to observe a decent interval of respectful silence before turning ineffable evil and unfathomable grief into political fodder. I Charles Krauthammer is a columnist with The Washington Post. He can be contacted at letterscharleskrau thammeT.com Bruce Tinsley ' awswf 'VD is sacrilegious. TO 1. IK 12 i m wof cammi rb.V . (soNrAA GtfAE |