Wild FIRE should have be extinguished
Staff Editorial
Interestingly enough, at the Father Wild Forum, Wild said he listens very carefully to what others say about Marquette. Hear that? It's not applause.
Marquette would do well to put the plug on its worsening miscommunication maelstrom before the school's reputation for academic freedom is further tarnished.
This latest barrage happened after James South, chairman of the philosophy department and an associate professor, removed an unattributed Dave Barry quote from philosophy graduate student Stuart Ditsler's office door in Coughlin Hall, calling it "patently offensive" in an e-mail sent to the teaching assistants. Ditsler contacted the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a non-profit foundation in Philadelphia which seeks to defend individual rights in higher education.
The university could have easily defended South's actions with its Student Handbook policy. Despite the romantic impressions of some, Marquette is a private institution — not a free-speech zone.
According to FIRE's Web site, the foundation both mailed and faxed a letter to the Rev. Robert A. Wild Sept. 27 requesting a response by Oct. 11.
Two weeks offers enough time to respond, yet Wild unwisely chose to let the deadline pass and allow the media to mock the standards of our fine institution.
University spokesman Brigid O'Brien Miller told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the university sent FIRE a response Oct. 16, but as of Friday the foundation's Web site said it had yet to receive the letter.
The removal of the quote didn't clearly violate any freedoms granted by the Constitution, federal or state, nor by the university. Marquette's Student Handbook demonstrations policy states when people differ on whether a demonstration infringes on the rights of others in the community, an authority — in this case South — communicates his judgment and can require the demonstration be "promptly terminated."
A proactive response would've been easy, but remember, "We are Marquette." That's not how we operate these days.
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