DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Students for a Democratic Society, Herrnstein lecture, February-June, 1972 | 1972-02-28 Iowa City Press-Citizen Editorial: 'Costly 'Success'

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Students for a Democratic Society, Herrnstein lecture, February-June, 1972

1972-02-28 Iowa City Press-Citizen Editorial: 'Costly 'Success'

Costly 'Success' 
  If its actions which blocked a scheduled lecture Friday by Harvard psychologist Richard Herrnstein were a "big success" as the SDS claims the success could be a costly one. It could be costly in terms of eroding the constitutional guarantees of free expression, in terms of professional investigation and in purely pragmatic terms for SDS. 
  The objections on constitutional grounds were summed up by Hannah B.Weston, speaking for the local Hawkeye Chapter of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union:  
 "While they (SDS) may have succeeded in their goal, their success is the success of the very repressive and dangerous tactics which they decry. 
  "The right to speak is a right assured for everyone, not just those whom we agree. In forcing MR.Herrrnstein into canceling his talks, the SDS not only trampled on his rights but on those who wished to hear him. The liberties we hold dear will not long survive the use of such tactics." 
  Suppressing in any way theories or findings resulting from responsible research inhibits such investigation. This is true whether the suppression stems from official action or from some group demanding that an investigator debate on its terms- or have his speech blocked- as SDS did with Herrnstein Friday. The result then is to imprison us in the ignorance of the orthodoxy of the moment. Too much of history is the record of disaster and persecution stemming from this. 
  The absurdity of the position this puts Herrnstein and other in was noted by the famed anthropologist, Margaret Mead, during a recent visit to Iowa City. Asked about Herrnstein, she said in effect that he was simply reporting facts as he found them, Had he tossed in a value judgment about deploring these facts, he likely would meet no opposition, she pointed out. One recalls the Inquisition. 
  Finally, the action of the SDS invites further response in kind, toward it as well as toward those it opposes. The protection of free expression is of little value to those who espouse opinions widely held. They threaten no one. Such guarantees of free expression, however, are of priceless value to those who advocate ideas unpopular with a majority, as SDS does. For them the strength of those guarantees is the measure of survival.

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Costly 'Success' If its actions which blocked a scheduled lecture Friday by Harvard psychologist Richard Herrnstein were a "big success" as the SDS claims the success could be a costly one. It could be costly in terms of eroding the constitutional guarantees of free expression, in terms of professional investigation and in purely pragmatic terms for SDS. The objections on constitutional grounds were summed up by Hannah B.Weston, speaking for the local Hawkeye Chapter of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union: "While they (SDS) may have succeeded in their goal, their success is the success of the very repressive and dangerous tactics which they decry. "The right to speak is a right assured for everyone, not just those whom we agree. In forcing MR.Herrrnstein into canceling his talks, the SDS not only trampled on his rights but on those who wished to hear him. The liberties we hold dear will not long survive the use of such tactics." Suppressing in any way theories or findings resulting from responsible research inhibits such investigation. This is true whether the suppression stems from official action or from some group demanding that an investigator debate on its terms- or have his speech blocked- as SDS did with Herrnstein Friday. The result then is to imprison us in the ignorance of the orthodoxy of the moment. Too much of history is the record of disaster and persecution stemming from this. The absurdity of the position this puts Herrnstein and other in was noted by the famed anthropologist, Margaret Mead, during a recent visit to Iowa City. Asked about Herrnstein, she said in effect that he was simply reporting facts as he found them, Had he tossed in a value judgment about deploring these facts, he likely would meet no opposition, she pointed out. One recalls the Inquisition. Finally, the action of the SDS invites further response in kind, toward it as well as toward those it opposes. The protection of free expression is of little value to those who espouse opinions widely held. They threaten no one. Such guarantees of free expression, however, are of priceless value to those who advocate ideas unpopular with a majority, as SDS does. For them the strength of those guarantees is the measure of survival.