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In 1968 the distinguished poet Robert Mezey, an
assistant professor of English, was denied retention
as a member of the Fresno State College (now
California State University, Fresno) English
faculty.
While the college administration claimed that his
nonretention was based solely on his merits as a
teacher, evidence developed during a protracted
campus grievance hearing, and later in a civil suit,
clearly indicating that Mezey was not retained
because members of the administration were
displeased with his exercise of free speech both on
the campus and in the community.
In community gatherings, Mezey was an outspoken
critic of the Vietnam war and racial discrimination.
On the campus, as a panelist discussing the
marijuana laws, he spoke of the viciousness of these
laws. His public utterances on controversial issues
unleashed a fury in the community, and the college
administration came under enormous pressure to fire
him.
The firing of Mezey demonstrated how fragile are
the principles of academic freedom and freedom of
speech. Today the campus and the community are once
again faced with emotionally charged domestic and
foreign issues. And we are faced once again with the
temptation to restrict the free speech of those with
whom we disagree. A case in point is the
Revolutionary Environmental Conference that took
place last February on the campus, organized by
professors of the Political Science Department.
Although President John Welty did not yield to
pressure from some faculty and community members to
stop the conference from taking place, the pressure
was great enough on the administration that police
were called to the campus during the conference. In
spite of the ideologically based fears that inspired
this police presence, there were no incidents
requiring police action. But the effort to
intimidate the 1,000 people who attended the
conference was a warning to anyone in our community
who would exercise the freedom to assemble to
consider controversial issues.
A similar effort to suppress an open debate on
controversial issues is found in the case of the
Fresno State series entitled Middle East Forums. It
is sponsored by a variety of groups on campus. The
series' purpose is to share ideas on problems in the
Middle East with the campus and community by
bringing experts of various opinions on these
matters to the campus. An attack on the series has
come from reactionary ideologues on the campus who
claim that the series involves "a lack of balance."
The campus achieves "balance" when it permits both
the Young Republicans, the Young Democrats and the
Young Greens to pursue their respective agendas. The
attempt to place subtle restraints on academic
freedom and freedom of speech, as the history of
Fresno State demonstrates, is the precursor to their
outright suppression.
If freedom of speech is a linchpin of democracy,
then academic freedom is the foundation for the free
inquiry that gives rise to humanistic, social,
scientific and technological progress. When the
administration fired Mezey, it denied the campus and
community the presence of one of America's leading
poets.
Mezey was hired by Pomona College, one of the
country's most prestigious four-year, liberal arts
colleges. While a member of that faculty, he
received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1977, and the
highly prestigious Ingram Merrill Fellowship (in
1972 and 1989). In 2002 he received the Poet's Prize
for the best book of poetry by an American poet. The
book is entitled "Collected Poems, 1952-1999."
Pomona's gain
Upon his recent retirement from the Pomona
faculty, the Huntington Library acquired Mezey's
papers and the drafts of poems for its scholarly
archives. Thus, the arbitrary and capricious firing
of Mezey from Fresno State proved ultimately to be
Pomona College's gain in academic prestige.
During the months of anguish of the Mezey case, a
group of sympathetic faculty sought to provide
Mezey's family with financial and legal support. To
this end, they formed the Fresno Free College
Foundation. For the last 35 years, the foundation
has committed its resources to nurturing genuinely
open forums in the classroom, public lectures and
publications in which all ideas, opinions and
research findings, however controversial, may be
expressed and heard. Its most well-known public
presence is found in the FM radio station KFCF
(88.1), which it owns and operates.
Each generation must discover for itself the
extent of its understanding and commitment to
academic freedom and freedom of speech. It is the
mission of the Fresno Free College Foundation to
assist in this constant process of renewal of public
commitment to these vital principles.
Dr. Paul D. Bush, professor
emeritus of economics at Fresno State, contributed
to this commentary.
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