The David Horowitz Herald Advertisement in the Brown Daily Herald

The Issue

Brown Protest Targets Ad

BY RICHARD LEWIS, Associated Press Writer

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Friday's edition of Brown University's student newspaper made it to newsstands Saturday, a day late and protected by campus police because of bitter protests over an advertisement.

The paid advertisement denouncing reparations for slavery ran once, on Tuesday, in the Brown Daily Herald. A coalition of mostly minority student organizations stole the newspaper's entire press run Friday to show their anger.

``It's not our place to decide which political views can be published in the paper,'' editor-in-chief Patrick Moos said. ``We want to publish everyone's views.''

In a statement Saturday, Brown Interim President Sheila Blumstein backed the paper's decision to run the ad and said the theft would be investigated. She urged students to avoid a greater confrontation.

``The most effective response to ideas - even to ideas that may be deeply offensive - is not to silence them or intimidate those who espouse or publish them, but rather to develop effective opposing arguments through wider civil discourse,'' she said.

The full-page advertisement is headlined, ``Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Slavery is a Bad Idea and Racist Too.'' Its design is similar to the Bill of Rights, and it states that black Americans owe the United States more than it owes them.

The ad by conservative theorist David Horowitz was rejected by most of the 34 school papers to which it was sent, including Harvard, Columbia and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

The University of California at Berkeley newspaper ran it last month, but later published an apology saying it had been used as ``an inadvertent vehicle of bigotry.'' University of California at Davis also ran it and apologized.

At a meeting Thursday with the student coalition, the paper's management said it would not give the groups a free page of advertising as demanded, and also refused a request to donate the $725 paid by Horowitz to a campus minority fund.

The next day, angered students began removing the free paper from newsstands. They also went to the newspaper's office to try to take the remaining 100 copies of the paper but were rebuffed.

That prompted the paper to seek help from police in distributing reprinted editions of the paper on Saturday.

The student coalition said Saturday it would continue its protests until the Daily Herald met its demands or ``renounces its nominal affiliation with the University.''

The newspaper receives no funding from the university.

Our Stance

The Brown ACLU commends The Brown Daily Herald for its integrity and commitment to the ideals of free speech and open discussion, embodied in its decision to run the controversial David Horowitz ad on March 13th.

However, we were shocked and dismayed by the demands made by our fellow students: that the Herald apologize for its “wrongdoing,” provide a subsidized ad and make a forced donation of $750 to the Third World community. In particular, we were disappointed that UCS made the rash decision to involve itself in this attack on free speech.

As an independent newspaper, The Herald not only has the right to publish what it wants, but — in the interests of journalistic integrity — it should be an open forum for all opinions, regardless of how much they may differ from the leftist discourse at Brown. We join with several leaders of the the Brown Republicans in urging The Herald not to apologize for its decision. We hope that The Herald, as the major independent voice in the community, continuously works to facilitate free discussion of ideas.

More recently, the student coalition that stole copies of the Brown Daily Herald has issued a recent press release: they are now demanding that the Herald either accept their previous demands (that the Herald give subsidized ad space to their coalition, and give a forced donation of $725 to the Third World community) or "renounce its nominal affiliation with the University."

In this press release, they claim responsibility for "removing" newspapers from the Herald's on-campus distribution points, but not for taking them from the Herald's offices. They attempt to defend the theft by saying that "The paper is free; thus we did not steal it." The Brown ACLU believes that this is both inaccurate and that it obscures the true crime of the theft, which effectively censored the Brown Daily Herald.

As stated previously, the ACLU firmly believes that the Herald not only has a right to publish what it wants, but in the interests of journalistic integrity should be an open forum for opinions both liberal and conservative. Other students may disagree with the Herald's editorial and advertisement policies, but nobody has the right to forcibly silence the Herald's voice by stealing its newspapers from the Brown community.

Fortunately, the University administration has come down firmly on the side of free speech and open discourse. According to President Blumstein's recent statement "the University recognizes and supports the Herald's right to publish any material it chooses, even if that material is objectionable to members of the campus community." The statement also emphasizes that the stealing of newspapers is "unacceptable within the Brown community," and states that Office of Student Life will "review information concerning these incidents."

We applaud President Blumstein for her commitment to free discourse and freedom of the press. However, we also wish to emphasize that, as currently constituted, the University disciplinary process lacks accountability and legitimacy. If the University decides to take disciplinary action against members of the coalition, we will urge University officials to conduct the hearings in a manner that is open and accountable to the University community.

The Brown ACLU is currently in contact with the Rhode Island ACLU and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), working to increase media awareness of this struggle and obtain endorsements from major public figures in favor of the ACLU stance. We will also be assisting the efforts of Students of Color Against Censorship.

If you have any additional questions or comments about the issue, please contact Carl_Takei@brown.edu.