Chancellor Herman's Response to Controversial Cartoons Reprinted
in the Daily Illini
To: The Editors
February 9, 2006
I was saddened to see that the Daily Illini elected to highlight on
its editorial page a collection of the infamous cartoons that have so
offended Muslims around the world. I find the cartoons personally
offensive and would have taken the position of numerous respected
news organizations in America--including The Washington Post--and
not run them. I believe that the DI could have engaged its readers
in legitimate debate about the issues surrounding the cartoons'
publication in Denmark without publishing them. It is possible,
for instance, to editorialize about pornography without publishing
pornographic pictures.
The right of free speech and a free press are core values in American
society, and I believe in them wholeheartedly. Yet the right to
publish incendiary material does not mean a publication must publish
that incendiary material. Editors and journalists have forever struggled
with balancing the good that publishing a story will do for the
public versus the harm it might cause. I believe the DI editors
could have found another way to meet their responsibility to inform
the public, perhaps by giving readers a web link to cartoons, as
one news organization has done.
It is the DI's right to publish what its editors believe to be
news. The DI is not a University-owned publication, and I would
not want it to be. The DI is a real-world institution, and I only
hope that its editors always seriously consider the real-world impact
their decisions have on their many diverse readers and their community.
That said, I believe that the appropriate response to free speech
that offends us is more free speech. As British philosopher John Milton
said about truth in 1644, "Let her and Falsehood grapple: who ever knew
Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter?"
Speech alone is our weapon. Expression is our right. When viewpoints
are debated openly and civilly, truth will eventually emerge. I am sure
that the DI's decision to publish will stir considerable debate. Although
I disagree with the DI's decision, I am confident that we as individuals
and as a university will always be made wiser and stronger by debate.
Sincerely,
Richard Herman
Chancellor
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