University Daily Kansan / Friday, March 11, 1988
5
Chaos distressing
I was present at the so-called "Free Speech Forum" at Hoch Auditorium on Monday night. I must say that I came away disillusioned with the actions of the students and others attending the event. I was embarrassed and distressed when the forum dissolved into chaos before the first question could be asked. The vulgar gestures and immature taunting displayed
by many students revealed their lack of decorum as well as their absolute refusal to hear the ideas presented. Not only was this rude to the Klan members, but also it was rude to the student and community representatives on the panel.
I think that most of the audience had made up its mind long before setting foot in the auditorium. The basic issue to be discussed was freedom of speech. Much of the crowd mentality was exhibited by one woman seated behind me, who repeatedly implored the extremist representatives to "shut up." The singing and obscene outbursts did not alter the thinking of the Klansmen, it simply prevented them from being heard, and that is a circumvention of the right to free speech. If the roles had
been reversed, the students, community members and religious leaders would have been outraged at the disturbance.
Eric Angevine Lawrence freshman
KKK's true colors
I would like to thank several organizations for their participation in Monday night's forum at Hoch Auditorium:
The KU Police, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Kansas Highway Patrol and the Lawrence Police Department for their security services during the forum.
- The Slightly Older Americans for Freedom for sponsoring the event.
- The University of Kansas for allowing the forum to take place.
■ KJHK for rebroadcasting the forum late Monday night and enabling me to hear what was impossible to hear amidst the singing protestors and shouts from the audience.
■ And thank you, Ku Klux Klan, for doing a job others have been trying to do for years, exposing just how warped and malicious your ideas and actions are.
Insensitivity plagued KKK issue
Patrick Malecek
St. Louis sophomore
Sadly, as a result of this detached mood, what should have been a serious show of opposition to the Klan, was turned into a carnival of laughter, joking and camera posing. A sober protest was turned into the social event of the season. Insensitivity, pure and simple.
Perhaps Michael Foubert, the Kansan and other self-righteous, free-speech purists here on campus could benefit from both a lesson in sensitivity and the correct application of the word hypocrisy.
Those individuals who rallied around Foubert were so emotionally detached from the Klan forum that they probably couldn't relate to the fear and revulsion that the Klan's presence inspired to blacks, Jews and other minorities. Those individuals neither tried to relate nor even attempted to understand the feelings of the protesting minorities.
Finally, after having their cause belled by social butterflies, minorities at the protest and elsewhere suffered still another indignity: the realization that although minority enrollment at
Until the recent Ku Klux Klan issue, there hasn't been a concrete manifestation of the insensitivity of the University of Kansas toward minority students. But finally, a mask of conen has been stripped off, and with the approval of the Klan's appearance, the University, faculty, staff and students have finally shown their stance on race relations.
Foubert, the antagonistic president of Slightly Older Americans for Freedom, invited the Klan to the forum, not out of concern for the First Amendment, but out of naked insensitivity. Foubert revived a dying Klan issue, subjected everyone on this campus to a potentially uncontrollable outburst of violence, then retreated to his soapbox and held up the First Amendment in justification. Maybe if Foubert directed some of his energy toward soothing racial relations rather than inflaming them, we'd all be better off.
McCollum
Black Caucus
Cuest Column
But let's talk about the Kansan's own double standards. What Young failed to mention was that the Kansan Editorial Board (that she is a part of), which took a stance similar to hers, has no blacks and yet felt wholly comfortable in making a decision in which input from minorities would be crucial.
Apparently, blacks have failed to meet the Kansan's standards of newsworthiness because they rarely appear outside the confines of the sports pages. When blacks do appear in the paper.
Guest Column
The Kansan, in Editor Alison Young's Feb. 22 column entitled "Double standards damage KU" said, "Tolerance of repugnant views and a willingness to defend free speech and educational forums is limited to those who aren't offended." This particular statement was an implication of the hypocrisy of the black community in regard to a 1985 visit by Louis Farakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam. The parallels drawn between Farakhan and the Klan were so off-balance that they merely reflected her own ignorance of the history surrounding both entities. Further, how could she even begin to suggest that the message of the Klan is an "educational" forum, deserving and worthy of any academic value or recognition?
KU slips every year, there are still individuals who have found a way to justify extending an invitation to the Klan to appear on this campus. The University claims to actively recruit minority students, yet allows the Klan to appear with little concern as to the damage that has probably already been done to the incoming class of minority freshman in terms of the number of students who plan to attend the University.
it is usually in the context of controversy (such as the current Klan controversy and the fight/shooting at the party held by Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity last semester).
With that in mind, we'd like to address the hypocrisy of the shouting students who called the singing protesters hypocrites and in their next breath shouted down Klansman. In essence, the students' message was that it was not the protesters' place to silence the Klan by song but rather, it was their own duty to shout down both groups with boos and profanity. The students probably thought they were doing the minority community a favor, but the real help must begin with a consistent application of First Amendment philosophy.
The Kansean, with its wobbly stance and insufficient minority coverage, seems more a part of the problems than part of the solutions that it offers in its pages. Maybe Young and her all-white editorial staff should examine their own practices before participating in First Amendment flag waving and accusing others of hovocrisy.
One of the Klansmen said "You honor me with your hatred" because deep down, he knew that the students who cursed him would soon forget or want to forget the true issues that had been addressed. We must not lose sight of the real issues that this forum has stirred. There is a problem here at KU which begins with ignorance and insensitivity and ends with apathy and misunderstanding. The problem will persist as long as Foubert, the Kansan, and the student body remain perched on of self-righteous soapboxes preaching First Amendment rights while blindfolded to minority concerns. The McColm River Board everyone to use this very ugly but revealing statement in building better race relations on this campus.
This column was written by Cory S. Anderson, Omaha, Neb, freshman, and Mark E. McCormick, Wichita sophomore, for the McClumn Black Caucus.
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