Pubdate: Sat, 16 Mar 2002
Source: Oregonian, The (OR)
Copyright: 2002 The Oregonian
Contact:  http://www.oregonlive.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/324
Author: Peter Zuckerman

VOICING AN OPINION

If you speak out against drug use at Reed College, some students will 
promise to murder you.

They'll threaten to drag you into court, stop you from writing for 
the campus newspaper, make you feel forced to move out of your dorm 
room, for your own safety. They'll harass you with phone calls, max 
out your e-mail account with hate mail and threaten you with rape.

Speak out against drug use at Reed, and some students will do 
everything they can to make sure your stay in college is as miserable 
as possible.

And one other thing: Speak out against drug use at Reed College, and 
163 students will thank you for addressing a widespread problem that 
we need to stop ignoring -- not just at Reed, but on all college 
campuses nationwide.

I thought my commentary ("The drug Olympics," March 1) would prompt 
angry letters and a spirited debate; that's the sort of thing you 
expect in an academic environment. What I didn't expect was to 
encounter viciousness and ugliness.

Bodyguards began escorting me around campus. The Community Safety 
Office told me to carry a whistle and a cell phone with me at all 
times. I didn't go to the library or the cafeteria anymore, at least 
not alone.

And this is not the first time an expression of opinion met hostility 
at Reed. About a month ago, a reporter at the campus newspaper dared 
to critique the student government's funding process. As a result, a 
prominent student body officer screamed at the writer, threatening 
her to point where she was afraid to leave her room. She will no 
longer write about anything controversial.

Excuse me? What happened to freedom of the press?

According to some of my angry e-mails, the First Amendment doesn't 
apply to Reed. All problems here need to be dealt with internally and 
secretly. Nobody outside should be allowed to glimpse what really 
goes on. "I don't think an accurate picture of Reed is what we 
necessarily want," someone wrote me.

Please. Everyone should have the right to report the truth and 
express an opinion. Free speech is fundamental to democracy and the 
foundation of academia. It's something any decent school ought to 
protect. If students want to get angry about something, let them get 
angry about any infringements on the right of free speech.

To the college's credit, the administration and, after some prodding, 
the student government, have now attempted to make it clear that a 
gag rule here will not be tolerated. Both the college president and 
the student body president have sent out letters saying they won't 
put up with the threats I've received. I've been told that the angry 
students have calmed down.

I can only applaud these civilized steps. And I want to make it clear 
that I still believe in the ideals that have always made Reed a place 
of open-mindedness and tolerance. Some students have acted 
thoughtlessly, but I believe that, when they take stock of what they 
have done and what it means, they, too, will begin to grasp the 
importance of free and open debate on a college campus, without 
threats, without fear.

Outsiders sometimes call this school Weed College, but to insiders 
it's The Bubble.

A bubble is something that floats above the rest of the world. When 
you look closely at its surface you see a rainbow of colors all 
swirling around, in elegant flux; intricate, beautiful. But any 
bubble is fragile, and a bubble can barely exist in an atmosphere of 
thoughtless anger.

I've been away from Reed for spring break. When I return to campus 
Monday, I hope that all Reedies will stand together to make sure that 
our beautiful bubble doesn't explode.
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MAP posted-by: Josh