Free Speech, Farrakhan and UC Berkeley

Last week, an Afrikan Black Coalition Conference that was organized by the Black Student Union at UC Berkeley invited Louis Farrakhan, the controversial leader of the Nation of Islam, to be the opening speaker for the gathering.  Among other things, according to coverage in the Daily Californian, the campus newspaper, Farrakhan suggested Jews were responsible for the slave trade, claimed that other ethnic groups did not compare in terms of African-American protest traditions (mimicking a Chinese accent then asking whether the audience could imagine "Ching Lee Joong with a picket sign") and claimed that opposition to his speaking on campus was motivated because “they’re so fearful that you’re going to hear a word that will break the chain off your mind.” The Daily Californian solicited student views on the matter, posting this video on their YouTube site.

Image: SF Gate (San Francisco Chronicle)

This is just the kind of controversial remarks Farrakhan has been known for over the years and it surely tests the mettle of a campus like Berkeley, home to the Free Speech Movement. UC President Mark Yudof issued a statement denouncing and defending Farrakhan at the same time: “Louis Farrakhan is a provocative, divisive figure with a long history of racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic speech. It was distressing in the extreme that a student organization invited him to speak on the UC Berkeley campus... But, as I have said before, we cannot, as a society or as a university community, be provoked by hurtful speech to retreat from the cherished value of free speech” (reprinted in the LA Times blog). 

The question is, of course, the degree to which a university campus should be a space for debate and discussion, even of the most unpopular ideas.  What happens when the kind of speech (and response) in question does not open debate, but may shut it down?  While some call for not allowing someone like Farrakhan to speak, others urge "more speech" to counter what is being said.  Despite the vocal opposition by some students to Farrakhan's speech, according to a San Francisco Chronicle account of the speech, only one student protested on the day it was delivered, a student Senator from (presumably) Associated Students.  Makes you wonder why... Perhaps Farrakhan is just old news.