THE RIGHT to free speech is not confined to people who are pleasant or reasonable. It applies to the most despicable people and the most offensive perspectives. Governor Patrick should not have leaned on officials at UMass-Amherst last week to cancel a speech by convicted bomber Raymond Luc Levasseur. Yesterday, Patrick wisely gave up trying to block a new invitation from UMass faculty members to Levasseur to speak on campus tomorrow.
The governor had reason to publicly condemn Levasseur, who served 18 years in federal prison for bombing four military and research labs as a political protest. But Patrick never should have gone further than he did yesterday, when he urged people offended by Levasseur to air their own views rather than attempt to silence his.
Levasseur originally was asked to speak about his role as a defendant in a famous 1989 sedition trial. University officials called the invitation “repugnant’’ and, at Patrick’s behest, cancelled the forum at which he would have spoken.
Belatedly, the governor and university leaders came to understand what should have been clear from the start - that free speech is essential to a meaningful education and functioning democracy. A university campus is a forum for discussing difficult issues and for examining even the most abhorrent views. To create an environment that allows for the open exchange of ideas, universities must protect their faculty and students’ ability to invite provocative speakers. Furthermore, everyone should recognize that silencing contentious speech does little good, while allowing it has the potential to prevent harm. By bringing hostile views of hate groups into the open, for example, universities can confront prejudice.
Just as Levasseur and the UMass faculty who invited him have the right to express themselves, so do the families of the victims of his crimes and others who will object to his appearance at the university. But no matter how much people hate Levasseur and what he stands for, they must respect his constitutional right to speak freely. The same rules and principles that would curtail the speech of criminals, bigots, and traitors could also be used to curtail the free speech of patriots. Protecting that right is a requirement of a free society.
