[Peace-discuss] Re: [Peace] Fwd: [ExComm] Fwd: News-Gazette coverage

Thu May 1 12:44:32 CDT 2008

Hello Everyone:

I'm not certain that a comparison of UPTV to the U of I homecoming is the
best example of free speech applications. Technically UPTV by positioning
itself as a 'public access' channel is in a position to where they have to
air programs - even the ones that are offensive. Where this becomes
confusing is that the channel is perceived to be funded and supported with
taxpayers dollars and that is where  UPTV's position becomes problematic.
It's my 'limited' understanding that taxpayers dollars don't fund the
channel and it's possible that the agreement with the local cable company,
who provides the signal, prohibits censorship of offensive material.

Homecoming, which is sponsored by the University of Illinois, is funded and
supported by institutional dollars. It's a public event that is privately
controlled and, as such, the U of I is within it's rights to restrict the
use of racist imagery.

Now the 'principled' difference comes down to making a distinction between
public access and homecoming. At the time the FCC was formed back in the
1930's it was designed with the concept that airwaves are public property
and programming decisions were made with fair use policies in place. While a
considerable amount of deregulation occurred in the 1980's the same basic
principle applies. As a public access channel UPTV positions itself as a
station that is essentially 'owned' by the public and the obligation there
is to provide programming that appeals to a wide range of perspectives.

The U of I has specific guidelines in place which limits what can be
expressed in an event such as homecoming. Would it be appropriate for the U
of I to have their parade being led by a person wearing blackface?  I doubt
it.

Now the 'peace movement' does have one very basic weakness locally, and that
it really isn't very well positioned to represent an anti-racist
perspective. As much as I respect and admire my friends in AWARE I can't
overlook the fact that minorities really have not been invited to be part of
the leadership of the peace movement. The few times that I have been able to
attend the representation has been predominately white, middle class,
individuals with ties to the University. This lack of diversity is one of
the fundamental weaknesses that I see within the local peace movement and I
hope my observations don't result in any offense.

Peace, Marti

On Thu, May 1, 2008 at 11:22 AM, Robert Naiman <naiman.uiuc at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
> I don't see what the principled difference is between asking the
> University to bar Chief t-shirts from University events and asking the
> Urbana City Council to bar Holocaust denial videos from UPTV. It seems to me
> that Chancellor Herman's decision was correct on free-speech grounds, and
> that asking the University to sever its ties with Homecoming if there are
> pro-Chief displays is analogous to asking the Urbana City Council to get rid
> of public access if it results in Holocaust denial videos being aired.
>
> If the analogy is imperfect, it seems to me that it is close enough that
> it should give us pause.
>
>
> On Thu, May 1, 2008 at 6:04 PM, Stuart Levy <slevy at ncsa.uiuc.edu> wrote:
>
> > On Thu, May 01, 2008 at 05:52:16PM +0200, Robert Naiman wrote:
> > > I suppose we may soon see letters in the News-Gazette charging the
> > peace
> > > community in Champaign-Urbana with gross hypocrisy.
> > >
> > > One the one hand, we are insisting that the Urbana City Council defend
> > the
> > > right to air Holocaust denial videos on UPTV.
> > >
> > > On the other hand, we are demanding that the Chancellor stop students
> > from
> > > wearing pro-Chief shirts in University-sponsored events.
> > >
> > > What's the consistent principle that unites these two demands?
> >
> > But are we demanding that?  The recent article closes by pointing out
> >
> >      "It is important to understand that we are not talking about
> >    the freedom of an individual or a group of individuals to
> >    walk down Wright Street or appear in the stands at a football
> >    or basketball game dressed as the Chief.  Some of us might
> >    find that behavior odious," the statement says, but it can't
> >    legitimately be proscribed.
> >
> >      That's different from use of the Chief by participants in a
> >    university-sponsored event, the committee says.
> >
> > That sounds consistent to me.  We can oppose institutional racism
> > while still supporting individual freedom of expression, even when it's
> > racist.  No?
> >
> > > On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 4:03 PM, Belden Fields <a-fields at uiuc.edu>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Begin forwarded message:
> > > >
> > > > *From: *Belden Fields <a-fields at uiuc.edu>
> > > > *Date: *April 30, 2008 8:57:52 AM CDT
> > > > *To: *UPEexcom <EXCOMM at prairienet.org>
> > > > *Subject: **[ExComm] Fwd: News-Gazette coverage*
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Begin forwarded message:
> > > >
> > > > *From: *Belden Fields <a-fields at uiuc.edu>
> > > > *Date: *April 30, 2008 8:55:01 AM CDT
> > > > *To: *Constance H Shapiro <chshapir at uiuc.edu>, Eleanor Tewksbury <
> > > > etewksbu at uiuc.edu>, Joyce Tolliver <joycet at uiuc.edu>, Adriana Cuervo
> > > > acuervo at uiuc.edu, Belden Fields a-fields at uiuc.edu, Kevin Fritz
> > > > kfritz2 at uiuc.edu, Franci Miller familler at uiuc.edu, Adriana Cuervo <
> > > > acuervo at uiuc.edu>
> > > > *Subject: **News-Gazette coverage*
> > > >
> > > > Dear Excom members,
> > > >
> > > > I hope that you all had a chance to see Julie Wurth's excellent
> > story
> > > > about the Senate's Equal Opportunity and Inclusion Committee's
> > resolution
> > > > and policy statement in yesterday's (Thursday, the 29th)
> > News-Gazette.
> > > >
> > > > Belden
> >
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Peace-discuss mailing list
> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace-discuss/attachments/20080501/82b890df/attachment.html