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Professor challenges issues of free speech

A professor of criminology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington addressed First Amendment issues in higher education Monday night in a presentation for the University of Wisconsin chapter of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy.

Troubled by campus speech codes when he first started working for UNC Wilmington in the early ’90s, Mike Adams fought against “the constitutional right to feel comfortable.” Adams said his strategy was not to shut down possibly offensive free speech, but to add to the marketplace of ideas. Widening the marketplace, Adams said, was the best way to fight back.

“The First Amendment guarantees every person will be uncomfortable or offended from time to time,” said Adams. “But if you don’t like the way something is done, add to it to make it better.”

Adams said his first conflict with campus speech codes rose from attempts by his fellow professors to gain approval rights over student newspapers to prevent offensive speech.

On the UNC at Wilmington campus, speech codes restricted any speech that could be viewed as insulting or cause discomfort, Adams said. Although Adams agreed the content of the campus newspapers was at times distasteful, he felt First Amendment rights should overpower the rules of the university.

Adams won his first battle against the university and last summer won a larger battle as the UNC at Wilmington speech codes were abolished.

Although he is a strong conservative, Adams said campus speech code issues cross cultural and political lines.

“It doesn’t matter if you are gay or straight, liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican,” said Adams. “We can cross the lines to work together on this one.”

Adams said a cultural war exists on college campuses today and blamed biased professors, especially in the ethnic studies and women’s studies department. Adams said he wants to “wipe out these programs across the board because they are being taught so dishonestly.” He added professors in these programs use their authority to justify biased teaching.

Joyce Chang, a second year law student at UW, expressed her disagreement with Adams’ perspective on ethnic and women’s studies.

“If [Adams] disagrees with the way the ethnic studies and women’s studies programs are run, he should try to change the programs instead of getting rid of them,” said Chang. “These courses are valuable and removing them would be a backwards step.”

Adams encouraged the law students in the audience to follow his lead and speak out in controversial situations. He said that talking about controversies, especially on college campuses, is one of the best ways to initiate change.

Adams’ message was timely, as recent controversy over free speech has arisen involving Colorado University-Boulder professor Ward Churchill. When asked by an audience member about Churchill’s resignation from his chair position of the ethnic studies department, Adams acknowledged his right to freedom of speech, although he did not agree with his viewpoint.

Adams said he disliked professors with stronger liberties of speech than the students of the universities. He described this imbalance as “one of the greatest threats to our liberty on our college campuses today.”