Free speech under assault at university in Maryland

Until recently, the biggest claim to fame of a Catholic university nestled in the picturesque Catoctin Mountains near Emmitsburg, Md., had been its campus seminary, which ranks as the second largest institution in the United States for priestly study.

All that changed rapidly and dramatically last month when Mount St. Mary’s University became the latest ground zero in the perennial American battle over First Amendment rights to free speech, free association and a free press. Instead of welcoming a full and robust dialogue over emotionally charged, fiery and hurtful language, university leadership ruled with an iron fist, silencing opposition and firing faculty whom they viewed as disloyal to the institution.

Against that backdrop, we add our voice to the growing national chorus of outrage among university faculty, students, journalistic advocates of free speech and others over the turn of events at the 2,200-student private college in eastern Maryland near the Pennsylvania border.

It all started last month, when the Mountain Echo, a student-run newspaper at the university, published a story on the administration’s efforts to improve student-retention rates. The article quoted a ghastly and insensitive metaphor uttered by university President Simon Newman. According to the story, he called freshmen who are struggling academically “bunnies” who had to be “drowned” to improve the school’s freshmen-retention rate. Newman went on to say that the school had to “put a Glock to their heads.”

Though we can understand the university’s desire to enhance student retention as it has become a hot-button priority at many universities, including Youngstown State University, we cannot understand the thoughtless, tactless and volatile analogy uttered by the university’s top leader toward its student body.

Worse yet, there is no logical excuse for the immature, dismissive and destructive response toward the understandable avalanche of criticism Newman’s remarks generated. Instead of using the misguided remarks as a starting point for robust debate over the university’s views and policies toward incoming students, it chose instead to silence debate and punish those who had the audacity to stand up for their First Amendment right of dissent.

Two professors who had objected to the president’s remarks and policies were fired. Ed Egan, the faculty adviser of the student newspaper, and Thane Naberhaus, a tenured professor who openly criticized the president, were told they were terminated because they had violated “a duty of loyalty” to the university.

A duty of absolute loyalty? Really? The U.S. Supreme Court made it clear decades ago that loyalty oaths fly in the face of the constitutional guarantee of free speech. In a variety of rulings after the shameful McCarthy Era in the United States, it has struck down such oaths on the basis of their vagueness and undue breadth.

DAMAGE CONTROL

Earlier this week, Newman attempted to repair some of the damage of his own creation, yet even then, he did so for the wrong reason. He announced the dismissals have been rescinded as an act of mercy because the Catholic Church was celebrating the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. Neither Egan nor Naberhaus needed mercy or forgiveness for exercising their legitimate constitutional free press and free-speech rights. Both are mulling their long-term options.

But Newman’s reinstatements and a mild apology over his choice of words have not quelled the furor. Many continue to call for his resignation or termination. At the very least, Newman should commence a campuswide dialogue on student retention and publicly commit to no longer interfere with the campus newspaper’s freedoms or individual critics’ rights to disagree with his policies.

If not, the wound will fester. And the intense and shameful spotlight it has cast on the university will not dim anytime soon.

Coupled with other First Amendment assaults, including one last fall at the University of Missouri where a student journalist was taunted and tussled, the debacle at Mount St. Mary’s also shines a light on a troubling trend of muzzling free speech in a campus environment where it should be treasured and promoted. That is a trend university leaders everywhere must vigilantly work to quell.