Staff Editorial: Controversial College Republicans' fliers raise concerns for campus community

This past week, controversy over fliers created by the College Republicans pushed issues of free speech to the forefront of conversation at St. Joe's.

The flier, which advertised the group's first recruitment meeting of the fall, featured an image of President Barack Obama as a Heath Ledger-style Joker. The image of a "Dark Knight" Obama first appeared earlier this year in Los Angeles, and has been used by many conservative Web sites to carry an effective political message. Many critics in the national media, however, have decried the image as having racial undertones.

Saint Joseph's University administrators apparently agreed. Though the flier was initially approved by the Office of Student Leadership and Activities, the university's provost sent an email on Sept. 24 which criticized the use of such an image at St. Joe's.

In an email to students, faculty, and staff, Brice Wachterhauser, Ph.D., provost, wrote that "this particular flier depicting the President of the United States is notable because it arguably goes beyond the mere expression of a political viewpoint by caricature and, instead, has offended members of the Saint Joseph's community for reasons other than the political perspective it presents." The email also called for a panel discussion on race and the political process that will occur tomorrow in the Forum Theater.

University officials did not take direct action to remove the fliers, but many of the posters were taken down by other students or faculty.

While the College Republicans had every right to display these posters, particularly after they were approved by a university office, the use of this particular image was done in poor taste and should be criticized by concerned students, faculty, and staff members of Saint Joseph's University. Despite the intent to advertise a meeting to the student body, the fliers ended up doing little but polarizing a community that has dealt with issues like race in the not too distant past.

To a certain extent, the university's critical position amounts to curbing free speech, but simultaneously, it's not speech that is either constructive or balanced. The portrayal of Obama, intentionally or unintentionally, in a manner that can so easily have be misconstrued leaves the organization open to criticism. The villainizing of Obama serves to further the break between sides in the political debate, and is representative of the failures of today's public discourse that are all too evident in the political sphere. The university's desire to curtail possibly divisive or destructive is laudable, but the bounds of these limits must be watched carefully.

Regardless of the lack of taste or judgment, the university's actions to condemn the fliers raise issues of free speech on college campuses, particularly private institutions such as Saint Joseph's. While not every university should have or want the kind of freedom afforded at a school such as Cal-Berkeley, a university backed by Jesuit ideals falls victim to stereotypes, sometimes inaccurate ones, about the latitude given to student impression. While this incident doesn't perpetrate these generalizations, it is something the administration should keep in mind, both for how it deals with current students and how it presents itself to others.

In a poll published on The Hawk's Hawk Hill Perspectives blog, 63 percent of respondents said they thought that College Republicans have the right to exercise free speech. Only 18 percent said they thought the flier was inappropriate and should not have been posted on campus. As an entity who depends on the freedom of expression through printed means, The Hawk is more than somewhat concerned over the quick condemnation by both administrators and students of allowing the controversial fliers to be posted.

The Hawk Staff