If you think the current controversy over free speech by either Lynne Stewart at Hofstra or the Iranian president at Columbia is new, read the Chronicle archives. In October 1963, Hofstra invited the head of the American Nazi Party, George Lincoln Rockwell, to speak at the John Cranford Adams Playhouse; the event took place on February 3, 1964. The speaker was anti-black and anti-Jew. He was nonetheless invited. The moderator of the event was Student Council President Bob Van Lierop, an African American. Students were given tickets for random seats, (thus not near your friends). Everything was civil. The Chronicle’s managing editor at the time was Dennis Hevesi, who is now at The New York Times.
David Cepler, Class of 1966
When I first saw The Chronicle’s name appear in The New York Times, it was April 21, 1994. We had just made a controversial decision to print an advertisement denying the Holocaust. The infamous Bradley Smith ad that made its way “brushfire-style” across the smaller-than-you-think college publishing universe. I remember, that day, I was proud I was a journalist.
We certainly didn’t agree with the ad’s content. But in lieu of digging up my old Chronicle archives, our editorial from back then pretty much went to bat for the right for any individual to publish such information. And we, in no uncertain terms, weighed in on why we believed Smith was wrong. That was also our obligation. To tell the truth, not to color it, even in the face of adversity.
It’s the kind of difficult stance that journalists of every ilk and station, professional and unpaid, have fought and died for since long before John Peter Zenger. So you can understand my visceral disgust upon seeing The Chronicle reappear in the Times a decade later, under such an ill-fitting and reprehensible auspice.
Your editorial decrying the right of Lynne Stewart to speak at the University Law School is morally, ethically and journalistically repugnant. How dare you, a bastion and defender of the First Amendment, decide who can and cannot be heard? How dare you quote the new media Gestapo of Fox News, Sean Hannity and the Daily News on these sacred pages as a way to justify your censure? How dare you call yourselves journalists? You work endless sleepless shifts, for no pay, little reward and lots of flack. You probably try harder than anyone you know at what you do. And you’re probably still working with computers and software that should be in a museum. But there is more to what you do than putting out a newspaper every week.
It is a difficult grace and a passionate responsibility to be a journalist, whether or not you work for the New York Times or The Chronicle. Embrace it, or go write for Nonsense.
Joe Cross, The Chronicle News Editor 1993-95, Editor-in-Chief 95-96, B.A. English, Class of 1996
The New York Times article excerpted your 11 October 2007 editorial denouncing the decision to invite Lynne F. Stewart to take part in Hofstra’s conference on legal ethics: “How horrible does someone need to be, and what heinous acts must they commit, before it is okay to say that they should not be put behind a podium and given a microphone?” If no one in your English Department has yet corrected your editorial, you should know that no speaker stands behind a podium. Speakers stand on podiums. If speakers stand behind anything, it’s usually a lectern. By any chance, is English your second language? That would explain your ignorance regarding not subtle difference between lecterns and podiums. As for your being incensed that Ms. Stewart, I defer to your judgement. Since I’m not nearly as young as you, I don’t know nearly as much as you.
Matt Gaffney is a resident of Culver City, Calif.
Editor’s Note: Several dictionaries give lectern as an acceptable North American definition of podium.