We're on the front page of the New York Times today, believe it or not, for a free speech controversy between Administration and Professors. To summarize briefly, a project on anarchist Emma Goldman almost sent out fundraising letters prominently displaying anti-war statements by the old rabble-rouser.

In an unusual showdown over freedom of expression, university officials have refused to allow a fund-raising appeal for the Emma Goldman Papers Project to be mailed because it quoted Goldman on the subjects of suppression of free speech and her opposition to war. The university deemed the topics too political as the country prepares for possible military action against Iraq.

In terms of free speech controversies, this falls somewhere around 'petty.' The University claims that any political statement in an official University solicitation is banned outright, and that this is only getting more attention because of anti-war publicity. The Professors claim that this is stupid, let us mail our letters, of course anything by Emma Goldman is political you dumb gits. And, by the way, fuck off.

Since 1980, the project's annual mailing for donations had included at least one quotation from Goldman, often with current events in mind, Dr. Falk said. After Sept. 11, the project sent out a bookmark with a one from 1912: "Out of the chaos, the future emerges in harmony and beauty."

Dr. Falk called the university's editing censorship and said it violated the spirit of Goldman's work, which emphasized freedom of expression. During a time when many universities depend heavily on government grants and contracts, she accused the Berkeley officials of worrying too much about crossing the Bush administration.

I dunno. The Administration has rejected several Lab projects because of Federal demands for secrecy and racial profiling. I doubt they're bending over backwards over a fundraising letter. (Although see above) This seems far more like ham-handed Administration attempts to win points in the ongoing Professor/Administration battles, still raging in the Academic Senate.

"It seems the administration is mocking freedom of expression by limiting it," Professor Litwack said. "The First Amendment belongs to no single group or ideology, but that message is often difficult to implement even at the University of California, Berkeley."

Dr. Price, the associate vice chancellor, said the central issue was not the content of Goldman's quotations.

"We are not saying these quotes should never appear anywhere in the publications of the Emma Goldman Papers Project, but that they are not appropriate in the context that Candace Falk put them in," he said. "She can disagree with us, but it is not a matter of the First Amendment."

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