Healthy debate of ideas essential

For months, I have read on the pages of the IDS and heard privately from friends about the danger that the Genocide Awareness Project would present to the campus community upon its arrival in Bloomington. But after visiting the GAP display last Wednesday at the Sample Gates, it became clear to me that the only thing students really have to fear is the threat that student organizations like IU Reacts To GAP pose to the free expression of ideas and to the promotion of intellectual debate on our campus.\nWhile members claim to support free speech, I found it particularly ironic that their number one piece of advice to students in their "Call to the IU Campus Community," was "Do not engage in any acts of protest." Instead of encouraging students to confront what many may view as offensive speech with counter speech, IU Reacts To GAP chose to advocate silence and submission. In doing so, they cast the student body as victims of the GAP, incapable of intelligent debate and the free exchange of ideas.\nBut most students would only be compelled to express their opinions if they had actually seen the GAP display in the first place. That, of course, would have required them to disregard IU Reacts To GAP's second piece of advice, which encouraged students to "Avoid all GAP displays, lectures and presentations." Apparently, the group believes that the GAP should be free to present their ideas to the student body, but students shouldn't listen. How thoughtful of IU Reacts To GAP to decide what is and is not appropriate for the rest of the student body to view. Instead of advising students to engage the issue and come to their own conclusions about the strength and validity of the GAP's position, IU Reacts To GAP decided to use the opportunity to protect their decidedly pro-choice views from scrutiny. After all, any individual or student group advocating a solid, well-reasoned position would not be intimidated by the kind of opposing viewpoint that the GAP display presented.\nThe most patronizing advice from the group came later in their "Call to the IU Campus Community" when they suggested that "If you become angry, leave the scene. Look out for those who are becoming angry and upset. Offer them a hug or words of support." In other words, when confronted with an opposing argument or point of view, leave immediately and find a friend's shoulder to cry on. In addition to inferring that students on this campus are nothing more than a bunch of weak-minded, emotionally fragile individuals incapable of viewing the disturbing images of the GAP display, the group also undoubtedly furthered the already pervasive and destructive view among many college students that, in the face of an objectionable opinion, students should not engage the issue at hand for fear of being offended.\nOf course, IU Reacts To GAP will claim that the subversion of free expression and the prohibition against the free exchange of ideas that they advocate so assertively are all in the interest of preserving safety and order on our campus. But as Benjamin Franklin once correctly remarked, "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." IU Reacts to GAP should have recognized that freedom of expression is necessary to the strength and vitality of the IU Community and offered more constructive advice in accordance with the spirit and intent of the 1st Amendment rights enumerated in the U.S. Constitution.