Our Observation

”Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.”

—Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas

Winter Park’s tiny private college got some national attention last month after the Rollins College newspaper, The Sandspur, published an opinion piece that said children born to illegal immigrants shouldn’t get citizenship rights.

The opinion piece, “Illegal Babies Should be Illegal Citizens,” was published on March 17 and quickly went viral. As of Tuesday, more than 350 people had commented on the piece online. Some of the commentators were Rollins faculty members.

Many disagreed with columnist Jamie Pizzi’s stance on birthright citizenship but some, including a few faculty members, said that the newspaper should have never published the piece, which they called inaccurate and hate-breeding.

Professors spoke at a March 24 public forum at the college defending their stance, one calling the rhetoric “dangerous” and that it could incite “violence.” The cartoon that accompanied the piece, which depicted a white man in his underwear standing over an alien lounging in front of a TV, was likened by another professor to Nazi propaganda.

Regardless of whether you agree with Pizzi’s argument, to suggest that the paper or the college itself should have censored the column or not allowed its publication is ludicrous. The rhetoric wasn’t dangerous, but the idea of suppressing a student’s opinion is.

Did they forget that freedom of the press is a First Amendment right? Some said that the newspaper staff lacks journalistic training because the college doesn’t have a journalism department. OK, so if they’re not members of the press, they’re still citizens, which gives them the right to express themselves, whether the school’s administration agrees with their views or not.

The opinions in the piece did not transcend the First Amendment. Not by a long shot. The editorial was not even the stance of the newspaper — it had one person’s byline on it. It wasn’t masquerading as a news article — it was clearly marked as part of the opinions section. The author has been annihilated on The Sandspur’s website and may very well never pick up a pen again.

The fact that professors were leading the charge is concerning. Shouldn’t these folks be encouraging their students to research controversial issues, cultivate educated opinions and share them with their peers? It’s hard enough to get today’s young people interested in current events or to get them to even pick up a newspaper. Having people in positions of authority, people that students look up to and aspire to be, tell them their opinion is dangerous is counterproductive and goes against what higher education stands for.

We editors often disagree with our columnists’ opinions. Perspectives’ Chris Jepson and Play On!’s Louis Roney receive a lot of criticism — both from readers and our staffers — for their very different stances on controversial topics such as abortion and religion. But their words don’t represent the newspaper’s opinion or that of the cities of Winter Park or Maitland. And readers know that — or at least we think they do.

We hope that the firestorm over The Sandspur’s birthright citizenship stance doesn’t discourage its staffers from tackling controversial issues and fostering healthy discussion on campus and in the community. We also hope that the college supports its longtime newspaper and its students and works hard to preserve their freedom of speech, keeping the thought police at bay.