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TO CENSOR OR NOT CENSOR Should freedom of speech or freedom of information come first on college campuses? Words by Julia Walker and Kiran Hubbard Art by Nicole Cheah
Intermingling through bake sales, book fairs, and school council meetings across the country are a group of moms sporting pearl necklaces and hair bobs. They call books about the LBGTQ+ community “pornographic” and quote Adolf Hitler in their speeches and on their website. They worm their way onto news segments and wave their freshly painted pedicures, claiming that children across the country are being contaminated by the race, sexuality, and gender content included in modern education curriculums. Some call them a hate group. Some consider them free speech warriors. But Moms for Liberty is the official name for this national, rightwing advocacy group, which has a chapter in Onondaga County. For what seems like a split second, Moms for Liberty were invited to haul their pearls, bobs, and Hitler quotes to Syracuse University’s campus for an SU Republican Club event in September. That was until The Daily Orange announced the controversial guest speakers on Instagram and students erupted in protest under the post. “Abhorrent and disgraceful,” “Given the track record of SU and how it treats its minority populations … are we shocked?” and “Hate speech is not free speech,” were three out of 109 student comments responding to the announcement, many of which planned to protest the event. Just one day after the news broke, the president of the Republicans Club, John Parker, announced the visit had been canceled. When asked to interview, Parker considered the canceled event a “non-story” that “does not require an interview.” He then declined to speak further on behalf of his club. But Jerk, along with national news outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News view Moms
for Liberty as newsworthy because of the moral controversy surrounding them. The non-profit group originated in Florida, a state which recently enforced laws to ban books such as “The Life of Rosa Parks,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and “The Hunger Games” from school libraries. Given this information and the recent SU Republicans club squabble, Jerk has a few questions. What responsibility do private universities have to monitor who can be given a platform on their campus? Some advocates argue that upholding freedom of speech is paramount over objections of content. Should this principle stand if the speech in question promotes censorship and limits access to information? Free Speech versus Hate Speech Debate In one of their infamous controversial speeches, Moms For Liberty warned parents to “beware of terms like social justice, diversity, equity, inclusion. Stop this toxic curriculum.” However, allowing a group that champions erasure of entire identities a platform at SU to spread their ideology seems far more threatening than reading the word “diversity” in a textbook. Furthermore, allowing a group that quotes the once leader of Nazi Germany proudly on their website to speak in our educational environment also seems like an area of major concern. After being questioned about the quote: “He alone, who OWNS the youth, GAINS the future - Adolf Hilter” written in blue font on their website, one Moms for Liberty member claimed that the group “stood by” those words, which draws uncomfortable parallels considering book burning events helped fuel the rise of Nazi Germany by eliminating literature written by or about Jewish communities. “It’s a bad idea,” said SU Political Science Professor, Thomas Keck, about censoring topics from books and educational environments.