No one should be arrested or deported for publishing an op-ed.
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Dear Argus readers,
Free expression and an independent free press that publishes news and commentary without fear or favor are fundamental to democracy. And both are under attack.
The arrest last week of Tufts graduate student Rumeysa Öztürk—apparently for co-authoring a Tufts Daily op-ed urging the university to address student-senate-passed resolutions on the war in Israel and Palestine—served as a stark wake-up call for residents of Massachusetts and beyond.
As a former Tufts Daily news editor, as well as a columnist and onetime editor of its opinion page, today I joined other Tufts alumni journalists in urging the university’s president, Sunil Kumar, to make an unequivocal statement in defense of these fundamental rights. You can read our letter on The Tufts Daily website.
This isn’t just about immigrants or refugees. Expanding crackdowns have targeted those with student and immigrant visas, but as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others have made clear, the real target is ideas—specifically, the op-eds, social-media posts, and speeches that protest war, violence, and government policies. (It’s noteworthy that Öztürk was apparently not involved in the kind of campus protests that Rubio labeled “creating a ruckus” and “tearing things up.”)
As we write in our letter, our personal views of the ideas in Öztürk’s op-ed are irrelevant. Some agree with what she and her three co-writers put forward while many strongly disagree. But what unites us is the core principle at stake. “[We] have come together to support her right to express [ideas] and the right of The Daily to publish them,” our joint letter says, adding, “No one should be arrested or deported for writing an op-ed.”
We quote journalist Edward R. Murrow, whose papers are housed at a center of journalism and public diplomacy at Tufts. Today, his courageous stand against McCarthyism stands as both a beacon and a warning: Those who cower, capitulate, or obey in advance in the face of tyranny and authoritarianism betray all who have courageously defended freedom and democracy before and since.
“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine and remember that we are not descended from fearful men—not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular.”
—Edward R. Murrow
This moment is unprecedented. A crackdown on speech, the free exchange of ideas, and even what words are allowed is accelerating, with real consequence for all of us. If, as Rubio suggested, the threat comes from ideas and activism, there’s good reason to expect that new and escalating sanctions against students, journalists, universities, and American citizens are coming soon, even if unquestionably illegal and unconstitutional.
Reporting on what’s unfolding in our communities and nationally, without fear or favor, is more vital than ever. Standing up to those with wealth and power remains urgent. Speaking out and airing viewpoints, however controversial, is necessary. Showing courage and commitment to democratic values in the face of threats, lawsuits, denial of due process, funding cuts, and unconstitutional overreach is required.
The alternative path is unfathomable.
Onward,
Bill
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