Thursday, February 18, 1988TThe Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
>
Students at Forum hear debate about
censorship of high school newpapers
ires.
wk
By Kristin Czarnik
Reporter
At the Texas A&M Forum
ednesday night, students voted
|3-27 against censorship of high
hool newspapers by high school
Sdministrators.
The Forum, sponsored by the
■exas A&M University Debate
|eam, the Department of Speech
tmmunication and Theatre Arts,
id by Student Activities, is a debate
at invites audience participation.
Audience members are divided
|ito pro and con sections.
Bruce Hyvl, a junior finance ma
jor, delivered his sppech against
nsorship.
Hyvl said the Supreme Court, in a
1983 case involving Hazelwood high
fehool, decided that high school ad-
Tiinistrators have the right to censor
am speech they feel is inconsistent
fith the schools basic education.
“Student journalism,” he said, “is
[terally fighting for its life.”
Hyvl said he recently met a stu-
:ent from the Netherlands who
(rought a couple of things to his at-
|tiition.
I Prior to 1975, he said, the Nether-
Inds had a censorship law and they
|)und out one important thing: in
le urge to accept censorship, the
Ipposite is accomplished.
“It is very much like little Johnny
hd the cookie jar,” Hyvl said. “The
ore you say, ‘little Johnny you can-
lot have those cookies,’ the more
Ittle Johnny wants those cookies,
jou cannot stop people from taking.
I “If people want to learn about an
Bsue, but they cannot write about it,
fe;id about it or express their ideas
pit, then they are going to try it.
“This is where you are going to
ind up with 13- and 14-year-old
regnant girls and the 14-year-old
thers who had to drop out of
frhool to support their families,
hen you have the high school ad-
iinistrator with his son in the same
Iredicament who is wondering why
"idn’t his son know about these
(lings.”
With the large number of small
iimmunities and small school dis-
icts in the state, Hyvl said he feels
censorship will lead to poorly
trained and unqualified administra
tors who will be judging the work of
high school students.
“Perhaps the saddest thing that
residted from the Hazelwood ruling
is the damage done to the upper
quarter of students,” Hyvl said.
“These are the ones who are the
free-speaking young people who are
most concerned about these issues.
They want to research these contro
versial subjects. I feel denying these
students the right to work on these
subjects is inconsistent with our edu
cational policy.”
Hyvl said he was told by a teacher
that her purpose, along with all the
other teachers, was to teach students
to think for themselves.
“Are we afraid to let our young
people think for themselves?” Hyvl
said.
“Lets hope there is enough wis
dom out there to recognize a contro
versial subject such as AIDS, teen
pregnacy and drug abuse. These will
not be solved by ignoring the issues.”
Sharon McCormack, a senior ac
counting major, delivered her op
posing view on censorship.
“The Hazelwood case is not a
question of whether high school
publications should be censored,”
McCormack said. “The question is
one of responsibility.
“Legally, minors are not held re
sponsible for their actions. At home,
the parents are held responsible. At
school the administrators act in place
of the parents.
“As a student enters the school
yard, the administration becomes re
sponsible for the student’s words or
actions.
“It seems logical, then, that if the
administrator must take final re
sponsibility, then they should also
have Final authority.
“In the Hazelwood decision, the
court decided that the First Amend
ment does not require a school to
promote certain student speech.
“This decision does not promote
unlimited censorship or the elimina
tion of student freedom of speech.”
McCormack said censorship, like
any other issue, has its limits.
Photo by Roy D. Parsons
Adriana Martinez speaks Wednesday night for censorship in high
school newspapers by high school administrators at the Texas A&M
Debate Forum.
Affidavit says
informer gave
Contras help
“Few people advocate no restric
tion on student speech,” McCor
mack said. “At the same time, few
believe that students have no rights
to free speech. In between there lies
a common point, a boundary or a
limit.
“While the Hazelwood decision
did not establish the boundaries
many hoped it would, it took us one
step closer to establishing the nec
essary boundaries to high school
censorship.”
BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP)
— Lawyers for two men accused
of being part of an alleged drug
ring based in Colombia Filed a
federal affidavit Wednesday
claiming an informant who ar
ranged an undercover bust was
involved in supplying weapons to
the Nicaraguan rebels.
The afFidavit was introduced
in a pre-trial hearing for John J.
Bevan, 27, of Wales, and Francis
J. Otranto, 34, of Atlanta.
The two are among at least 29
people charged in the “Operation
Intruder” case, in which federal
agents infiltrated the alleged ring
and seized 152,000 pounds of'
marijuana and 1,219 pounds of
cocaine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack
Wolfe called it “the largest under
cover marijuana bust ever.”
In a trial set to begin Feb. 29 in
U.S. District Court in
Brownsville, Bevan and Otranto
face charges of conspiracy to im
port and importation of more
than 1,000 kilos of marijuana.
They were charged in connection
with the importation of 128,500
pounds of marijuana, which fed
eral agents posing as smugglers
brought in by ship through Port
Isabel.
U.S. District Judge Filemon
Vela granted a defense motion
Wednesday allowing attorneys
for Bevan and Otranto to meet
with informant Michael Palmer,
who helped set up the massive
drug operation that included ac
tivity in Colombia, Panama,
Aruba and Belize.
Attorney Norton A. Colvin Jr.,
who represents Bevan, said in an
interview Wednesday he wants to
talk to Palmer to learn more
about allegations that some of the
the drug profits were to be sent to
the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
Colvin said he has no evidence
to support the rumors, but intro
duced into evidence Wednesday
an affidavit from Alejandro
Cerna Sanchez, a Nicaraguan also
facing trial in Atlanta in the Op
eration Intruder case.
In the affidavit, Cerna said
during a 1986 meeting in Panama
that Palmer asked, “if we could
use his (Palmer’s) connections
and expertise in taking a load of
Colombian marijuana into the
United States, with his airplane, a
DC-6, which has been used by
U.S. government agents, includ
ing Palmer and other CIA opera
tives, to fly supplies to the Con
tras in Nicaragua.”
Police cause
controversy
over pastries
HOUSTON (AP) — A request
for donated pastries at a police
seminar is causing an uproar over
what gratuities police should ac
cept.
The controversy began with a
Jan. 27 letter from the office of
Police Chief Lee Brown to Hous
ton merchants. The letter asked
for pastries to be provided for A
seminar on crime prevention
sponsored by the department.
In the past. Brown has admo
nished officers to refuse offers of
free food, coffee or other on-the-
job gifts routinely offered from
merchants.
“Why is something that is good
for Houston police officers not
good for the chieFs office, too?”
asked Sgt. Larry Watts, a director
of the Houston Police Officers
Association. “It just smacks of an
absolute double standard.”
❖ M SC DLL NIGHT FR I ft
AND
THE OR I G I NHL NEW V0RK
SELTZER
PRESENT
BUNGLE
.JUNGLE
FEBRUARY 20, 1988
8 p.m. to 2 a.m.
MEMORIAL STUDENT CENTER
CUSTOM T&HIKT&DESIGN