In the annual Hugo Black Lecture Series on Freedom of Expression, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Anthony Romero addressed a crowd of nearly 200 in the Memorial Chapel on Tuesday, March 30.
While his lecture mostly addressed the history of the ACLU, in a question and answer session afterward Romero discussed many current concerns in civil liberties, including the Patriot Act, abortion rights and Wesleyan’s chalking ban.
“The expressions of free speech are essential to the working of this democracy,” Romero said. “Even if our democracy fought with one hand tied behind its back, it would still have the upper hand.”
Romero took his position as Executive Director of the ACLU in September 2001, a week before the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. An attorney with experience in public-interest activism, Romero has led the ACLU’s most successful membership drive in the organization’s 82-year history.
Romero followed in the footsteps of previous Hugo Black Lecture Series speakers such as Columbia University President Lee Bollinger and Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackman. The lecture series is named for Justice Hugo Black, who was known for protecting First Amendment rights during his tenure with the Supreme Court beginning in 1937.
“It’s hard to imagine a more appropriate authority on the First Amendment than the ACLU,” said President Doug Bennet, introducing Romero.
Romero’s lecture encapsulated the history of the ACLU’s work for civil liberties, particularly First Amendment rights. He explained the difficulty of the ACLU’s decision in the 1920’s to begin supporting the First Amendment rights of hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.
“The ACLU says that every view, no matter how offending we may find it, has a moral and legal right to be heard,” Romero said. “Tolerance, fairness and equality are the direct result of defending unpopular ideas and groups.”
Romero also said that many civil liberties were not upheld in the courts until the middle of the twentieth century.
“For much of American history, the First Amendment was merely an empty promise,” he said.
Toward the end of his lecture, before answering questions, Romero began to address the secrecy under which the current presidential administration is operating.
“Secret government is the crux of the issue in the current war on terror,” he said. “A government in the shadow of secrecy stands in complete opposition to the society envisioned by the framers of the Constitution.”
Romero specifically discussed issues of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and the way in which their unconstitutional treatment is kept secret.
“I’m particularly interested in the Guantanamo Bay issue,” said Hartford attorney Richard Koontz, who was invited to the lecture by Bennet. “It violates international law, not to mention the Constitution.”
During his lecture Romero quoted a colleague who was arguing against legislation that limited civil liberties in the name of protection.
“’You can’t burn down the house of free speech to roast the pig,’ ” he said. After laughter from the audience, he added, “With all due respect, President Bennet, it applies as much to Wesleyan.”
The campus chalking issue did not come up again until the question and answer session, when Selina Ellis ’04 asked for Romero’s opinion on the issue.
“I do think this is a matter of extended discussion,” he said. “The chalking issue, as I understand it, is a very good example of the expression of free speech. I would encourage you all to engage that dialogue with all the energy you can muster. The only good answer to speech you don’t like is further speech.”
Bennet, from the front row, stood to clarify that the chalking ban was instated instead of censorship of certain speech.
David Jay ’04 was one of several students invited to a dinner before the lecture due to his activism on campus. Jay has been specifically involved with chalking activism, and agreed with Romero’s response to the question.
“I think that it shows that there’s a broad base of support,” Jay said. “There’s support for the idea of chalking beyond the Wesleyan community. It’s really a place where the University has to set an example.”
Romero, the first openly gay executive director for the ACLU, also addressed a question about the current issue of gay marriage and the Defense of Marriage Act supported by Bush.
“It is remarkable that this President would take one of the greatest documents in any modern democracy and amend it to enshrine discrimination,” he said. “It is a cheap political shot.”
Following the lecture, several audience members expressed an increased enthusiasm in the ACLU and civil liberties activism.
“I thought it was great,” Jay said. “I want to work with the ACLU now.”
“I’m really interested in perhaps volunteering at the ACLU this summer and I hadn’t really thought about it before the lecture,” said Joely Pritzker ’07.
By raising awareness of several of the ACLU’s causes, some audience members were compelled to rethink or strengthen their opinions on civil liberties.
“It definitely informed me about a lot of issues that I hadn’t been aware of or had only known a little bit about,” Jay said. “It gave me a better perspective of them and a broader sense of what was going on.”
“It really made me think of the importance of how I feel about protecting hateful speech and groups like the KKK,” Pritzker said. “Going to the lecture really prompted me to re-evaluate how I feel about those things.”
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