Posted on 08/19/2002 8:27:33 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
Time was when liberals used to trumpet the First Amendment. They would push for free speech at any cost. Increasingly, however, liberals are willing to forgo free speech if it serves their political ends. The so-called campaign reform act works against the First Amendment and if it is declared unconstitutional it will likely be on those grounds. Or take the case of an undergraduate journalist who was punished by American University for videotaping a public speech by Tipper Gore, the wife of the former Vice President.
It seems that Ben Wetmore, a senior from Denton, Texas, brought along his camcorder to tape a speech by Tipper Gore at the university on April 8, 2002. There was no announcement that videotaping was forbidden. About a half-hour into the event, plainclothes campus security officers told Wetmore to stop taping the event. Wetmore agreed not to make an incident out of the order to stop taping. He left the auditorium and went outside. But outside officers demanded that Wetmore turn over the tape. He refused. This was a public event, mind you, with a public figure, with no restrictions having been announced ahead of time. The officers then pried the camcorder from Wetmore's hands, put him on the floor and placed him in handcuffs. The videotape was confiscated and has yet to be returned. That's probably because Wetmore never shut off the camcorder when the handcuffing occurred so it is likely that incident was recorded.
Wetmore is a known critic of the AU Administration. He has a web site on which he parodies AU President Benjamin Ladner. It is not surprising then that Wetmore was charged with seven violations of campus policy including, get this, "theft of Tipper Gore's intellectual property."
Alan Charles Kors, the president of FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) said that American University "jumped at the chance to silence a critic, without a care for free speech, journalistic freedom and fundamental fairness."
Kors said Wetmore was subjected to a kangaroo court because the Director of Judicial Affairs and Mediation Services, Katsura Kurita, assumed the roles of grand jury, judge and juror. AU prevented Jonathan Katz, a partner with the Maryland law firm of Marks and Katz (and a part of the FIRE legal network), from representing Wetmore at the so-called trial. In addition to Kurita acting as a juror after he had pressed the charges, his own law clerk and a student who had submitted charges of impeachment against Wetmore in student government in 2000 were the other two jurors.
Wetmore was found guilty of five charges, including possession of stolen property (Tipper Gore's intellectual property, remember?), trespassing, and failing to comply with the directives of university officials. AU subsequently notified Wetmore through FIRE that "there is no right of appeal in cases heard by a disciplinary conference board."
AU's Vice President Mary E. Kennard, in a letter about the case, criticized Wetmore for ignoring the university's admonitions not "to post derogatory materials about staff on his website." This must be the old Soviet Union. It is a crime to be critical of someone in officialdom. By the way, Wetmore, for his punishment, was placed on disciplinary probation for one year, ordered to attend a conflict resolution workshop, told to write several papers on the topic of conflict resolution and threatened that another such incident might lead to expulsion.
Well, for its trouble, AU has bought a lawsuit. FIRE has secured the assistance of Solomon Wisenberg, a partner in the Washington law firm of Ross, Dixon and Bell. He is coordinating pro bono litigation against AU. Wisenberg said, "We are determined to pursue all available legal avenues and to use all means at our disposal to restore to Ben his rights as a journalist and as a student." Kors said FIRE will pursue AU until justice is done.
In fighting this case, FIRE is fighting for all of us. If the First Amendment can be dismissed this easily, we are all in trouble.
Paul M. Weyrich is President of the Free Congress Foundation.
Free Congress Foundation
(And for $64, what other Amendment of the Bill of Rights is being violated in DC?)
The Nazis wore some snappy-ass uniforms.
That would be like robbing aluminum cans from a homeless guy---not much of a take.
If it's DC then it's easier to list the Amendments which are NOT being violated.
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Amendment I
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
I
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Second, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth... give them a little time and they will violate the third as well!
Donate my $64 to the NRA.
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