To Speak or Not

Stanford University was rocked by controversy earlier this year over that most basic of academic issues: what speech should always remain protected and what is so offensive that it can be stopped. After a sit-in on the president's office and various disciplinary penalties, the issue has yet to be resolved.

In an effort to avoid a replay of the recent Stanford controversy, Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) this year will debate a set of regulations designed to spell out the boundaries of free speech on campus.

The proposed rules, prompted by a series of disrupted campus speeches, have been under review by the general counsel's office and should be voted on by the faculty this fall.

A faculty committee, headed by Dillon Professor of International Security Joseph S. Nye, produced the guidelines, acting largely along the lines of rules drafted in an Undergraduate Council report on free speech.

Ranging from a prohibition on hanging banners with racial epithets in the Yard to specifications for canceling a speaking event, the proposed guidelines are more than likely to prompt a controversy of their own.