Dunlop Memo to Faculty Suggests Quiet Discussion of Free Speech

Dean Dunlop earlier this month sent to members of the Faculty a memo condemning the disruption of the March 26 counter teach-in here and urging them "to discuss with students" the issues involved.

"Public statements alone are not adequate," the memo stated. "Quiet and reasoned discussion with individuals is required to influence our students."

"Many students, and even some members of the teaching staff, do not accept the proposition that academic freedom requires the free expression of any views," Dunlop wrote. "They fail to perceive as Professor Cox so eloquently stated, Freedom of speech is indivisible. You cannot deny it to one man and save it for others.'

"I hope that you will take some time in the days immediately ahead to discuss with students... these momentous issues," the memo added. "The institution of tenure has grown up to assure academic freedom. Patient and reasoned discussion... with individual students is essential."

Dunlop concluded by asking for "suggestions that any member of the teaching staff may have to further an appreciation in our community of the fundamentals of academic liberty."

Faculty members received with the memo a copy of a statement approved by the Faculty Council on March 29 which said that "it is imperative that members of this University reaffirm their support of free speech."

"What occurred in Sanders Theatre," that statement added, "was not the kind of heckling or spontaneous interruption that often and naturally accompanies political meetings. It was not an attempt to argue with the speakers. It was a concerted and sustained effort to silence them."

Dunlop said last night that he wrote the memo "because I thought it was important for us to go beyond the passage of resolutions and to start engaging in discussions. Many Faculty members don't realize the great differences between the way they think and the way some students think."

He also said he thought that student-Faculty discussion "will lead to a better understanding of the nature of academic freedom," and that the prevailing view in this discussion would be that expressed by his letter and the Faculty Council statement.