RE “UMASS-AMHERST cancels talk by ex-radical leader’’ (Metro, Nov. 6), about the cancellation of Ray Luc Levasseur’s speech: It is amazing after all these years that we still can’t get used to the idea of freedom of speech, not even for a public institution of higher education. I know little about Levasseur, but I can’t imagine him inspiring a dangerous revolution just by speaking at UMass. This incident is clear testimony to the power of speech, and how much we fear it.
I’m ashamed that our governor, whom I have strongly supported, participated in this suppression of political speech. Unlike, perhaps, our school systems, the foundation of the university is inquiry, not indoctrination. Inquiry requires examining ideas no matter how dangerous, understanding people no matter how obnoxious. And it requires active examination and testing of conventional, mainstream, and accepted doctrine. The test of our democracy is the continual testing of it, especially in our universities and public media. This fails.
Arthur Dirks, Taunton
The writer is a professor at Bridgewater State College.
