The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-07-04
Freedom of Speech.

The question OF freedom of speech
among representatives of our leading
universities is a continually recurring
one, the latest institution to pass a
resolution concerning the matter being
the governing board or congregation of
the University of Chicago. Certain pro-
fessors of that school having become
prominent in the espousal of unpopu-
lar doctrines, with reactionary effects
upon the university, a declaration was
made upholdlng fully the principle Of
free speech but calling the publics at
tention to the injustice of holding the
university responsible for the indi-
vidual opinions of employees and sug-
gesting to the professors that before
giving indulgence to their desire for
oratorical prominence they first give
thought to the best interests of the
university.
The attitude herein assumed is thor
oughly sound. Civilization rightly
draws well-deflned distinctions be-
tween freedom and discretion. A man
is free to become an intolerable bore
by persistent championship of personal
hobbies, in season and out of season;
but the man who would insist upon ex-
ercisng this freedom to the annoyance
and disgust Of those around him would
exhibit, to put it mildly, a sad lack OF
discretion He would not be a credit
able specimen to uplift before the pub
lie as a representative of university
opinion and manners. In other words,
he would be unfit to be continued on
university faculty. University training
is supposed to broaden the recipients s
intelligence and cultivate in him those
finer possibilities of mind and soul
whose development differentiates the
man of culture from the uncultured or
ignorant man. 1t therefore Is unfor-
tunate when lack of discretion is ex-
hibited conspicuously by men engaged
as professors and eXemplars in univer-
sity instruction.
In the discussion of political policies
involving widely differing conceptions
of national duty and responsibilities,
for instance, the policy of expansion, ''
so-called, which was the immediate
| theme of the PROFESSIONAL oratory that
agitated the congregation of the Chi
cago institution-good judgment should
restrain well-balanced professors from
| entering into the political arena as
| shouting belligerents, not because the
! arena is not open to them but because
| such a departure from dignity tends
| inevitably to cheaper their influence
! and thus to defeat their well-meant
aims. Professors opposed to the policy
of the government in reference to
| colonial entanglements should have full
| liberty to express their opinions and
| outline their arguments but discretion
| should prescribe the unimpassioned
and judicial tone, together with great
care to be truthful in statements of
alleged fact and that benign patience
with ignorance which is the instruc-
| tors chief index of merit. The angry
and egotistical tone employed by so
| many professors in addressing the pub
| lie represents an abuse of the profess
serial function which can hardly be ex-
pected not to weaken the university
| which permits its adoption by men for
whom it in some measure stands spon-
sor.
There should be no "muzzling" Of
professors as dogs are muzzled; but the
judicious man in any vocation in life
who essays to lead or instruct public
opinion should to courage and zeal add
the no less valuable quality OF discre-
tion. What he says should be well
weighed,