Copyright © 2005 Henrietta W. Hay
CU and Free Speech
March 4, 2005
"WHO KNOWS ONLY HIS OWN GENERATION REMAINS ALWAYS A CHILD"
Those words are inscribed over the west portal of the Norlin Library at the University of Colorado. They were suggested by Dr. George Norlin, who was President of the University from 1919 to 1939. He was "my" president.
Even back in the thirties, the politicians thought they could run the University better than the academics. Then it was the Ku Klux Klan which controlled the Legislature, and was a powerful influence in Colorado politics. It reached into all areas, including the state University. George Norlin, however, stood up to their threat . He denied the proposition of Clarence Morley, the Klan's governor, who offered support in return for the firing of all Jewish and Catholic faculty. The faculty remained.
Some thirty years later, the Legislature tried to micro manage the University again, this time during perhaps most shameful period in our history -- McCarthyism. Most of us today have forgotten, or are too young to have known about the hysteria which gripped the country in that awful black period when Senator Joe McCarthy went on a nationwide witch hunt for Americans suspected of being Communists. The hysteria reached the CU campus.
The details vary somewhat, but Paul M. Levitt's report seems to be most accurate. Two professors were fired and twelve resigned under fire.
The FBI came on campus and questioned a philosophy professor, Morris Judd. Judd had been accused anonymously of "something" . He refused to discuss his political affiliation with the FBI or with President Robert Stearns (he was a Democrat). He was fired. The reason given was that he was a bad teacher.
Does that ring a bell?
Judd was the sacrificial lamb given up to demonstrate to the legislature that President Stearns was cooperative. Stearns wrote a report of the incident, including 15 names sand put it into a bank vault where it rested for 50 years.
When it was retrieved by the Regents in 2002, Morris Judd was vindicated. At a ceremony honoring him, former Regent Susan Kirk said, "If it serves any purpose as a reminder that we shall never allow such transgressions of academic freedom, perhaps we can accept it as a lesson learned."
Apparently we didn't.
Now, fifty years later, the University is having to defend itself again. not against the Ku Klux Klan or the McCarthy witch hunt, but against the power of state governmental authorities, and a lot of public indignation, helped greatly by Rush Limbaugh, the O'Reilley Factor.
The situation is not about Ward Churchill any more. The Regents could have and should have dealt with the problems he caused immediately and without forming committees. And Governor Owens should have been worrying about the state budget.
It is a question of who is to run the University of Colorado, the Governor and the Legislature, or the President and the Regents.
President Hoffman sent this message to all faculty members: "Like all of you, I have relied on the principles and tenets of academic freedom as I pursued my scholarly work. But this ideal is not merely a set of rules and rituals; it is the heart that gives life to the body of any university."
I hope they will look back to the example of George Norlin and not repeat the mistakes of the past.
"WHO KNOWS ONLY HIS OWN GENERATION REMAINS ALWAYS A CHILD"