Learning depends on free exchange of ideas, Nebraskan says
By Doug Anderson
Doug Anderson, dean of The Pennsylvania State University College of Communications, is a native Nebraskan and attended UNL before graduating from Hastings College. Excerpts of his commencement address at Hastings College on May 17 are reprinted here.
When President Dudley asked me to speak, I harkened back to last May's undergraduate ceremony for our College of Communications at Penn State. Richard Mallary, senior vice president for Gannett Broadcasting, was the speaker. He said that USA TODAY columnist Craig Wilson had noted that he could not recall anything the man who spoke as his graduation had said. He simply remembered that the speaker was old and gray and he hoped he wouldn't grow up to look like him.
That's humbling enough.
But, quite frankly, I don't even remember what the speakers for my undergraduate or graduate ceremonies looked like, let alone who they were or what they had to say. I simply remember that it took them too long to say it.
I promise you, I'll be briefer. ...
I would like to congratulate the graduates on this significant milestone in your lives. You'll have more - but few will be as special. You've earned degrees from an institution rich in tradition, reputation, caring and quality. You've likely worked harder than during any period in your lives. You've acquired knowledge; you've gained maturity; you've honed your senses of humor; you've made good friends; you've assumed responsibilities; and you are about to make your marks in the world beyond this campus.
I am going to focus on three things today:
- The influence of dedicated teachers.
- The importance of free speech at colleges and universities and in the society you are about to enter.
- Your humanity.
I urge you never to underestimate - or forget - the impact of the great instructors you've had at this institution; the lessons you learned from your high-school and elementary teachers; and the wisdom you absorbed from caring mentors in the workplace or your circle of supportive family and friends.
Never underestimate the value and comfort of human relationships. Get excited about a new job; take great satisfaction in a high ranking; beam with pride about a promotion; feel good about your hard work that led directly to a tangible accomplishment.
But always remember those who helped you along the way, those who caused you to tap a reservoir of talent, energy and intellect that even you didn't know you possessed.
And remember, too, that the next generation of gifted, hard-working young people will be looking to you for guidance, encouragement and direction. You will be their moral compass.
Just like the splendid teachers you've had: Be cerebral but also be civil and sincere. And remember also that you often can learn more from listening than from talking.
A day like today causes me to think back to some of the great teachers I've had along the way, the "difference makers" in my life. ...
Without much effort, I suspect all of you can conjure up the images of the teachers - whether in the academy, the workplace or home - who have helped steer you to this marvelous day in your lives.
Why don't you drop them a thank-you note - or give them a call?
Good teaching and learning, of course, are dependent on the free exchange of ideas. That concept facilitates learning more than any other. No matter how strong the student body, no matter how gifted the faculty, no matter how visionary the administration and its trustee, it is difficult for me to fathom life at a college or university when the freedom to speak is chilled.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is 211 years old. Yet today, more than two centuries after its ratification, we're still struggling to reconcile free-speech practices with the theories that justify them and the protection on parchment that supposedly assures them.
We do know this much: The seemingly ironclad language of the First Amendment, "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press," is not absolute. We can't, for example, make a joke at airport security about carrying a bomb.
There are, there have been and there will continue to be exceptions - but only for the most dangerous abuses. Think about that: In a free society that cherishes freedom of expression, whose other freedoms are predicated on the right to speak freely, where should or can the line be drawn? Of all places, colleges and universities need to operate under the time-honored principle that the best test of truth is its power to be accepted in the marketplace.
Through the years, the press - the people - have won many significant First Amendment victories. However, a student commissioned by the American Society of Newspaper Editors more that a decade ago, on the 200th anniversary of the First Amendment, painted what the author called "a frightening reminder to First Amendment supporters that there is a wide gap between constitutional rights and how they are perceived."
And in a national survey conducted earlier this year by The Freedom Forum, a nonpartisan, international foundation dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all people, 49 percent (nearly half) strongly or mildly agreed with the statement that "The First Amendment goes too far in the rights it protects."
That's up from 22 percent in the year 2000 survey - a disturbing, bone-chilling trend.
The Freedom Forum report noted: "The challenge remains for the nation's press to restore faith in its role as a watchdog. It's clear that the public still respects that role, but in an era of happy-talk broadcasts, tabloidization and a dearth of investigative reporting, many American are left to wonder whether that watchdog is barking or simply howling at the moon."
We should never forget how precarious, how fragile our cherished freedom of speech can be when special interest groups attempt to stifle the open exchange of ideas. Certainly we can regulate for time, place and manner but only in content- and viewpoint-neutral ways. The First Amendment does not simply protect the "the good guys" who say the "right" things.
Clearly, without an open marketplace, the free exchange of ideas is diminished. And no matter how great the teachers and gifted the students, learning suffers.
I encourage you also to never lose sight of your humanity. I know that borders on being a cliche. But it bears repeating. You are without doubt, part of the most technologically sophisticated graduates in history. You have the tools and the talent to gather, synthesize, slice and dice information with greater precision than any previous generation.
But don't forget the time-tested lower-tech ways of operating - when the occasion calls for it. Recently, for example, someone in our college told my office he could not provide us with some basic information we had requested about a faculty member at another university. He explained that he had checked the Web sites maintained by both the faculty member and the department and the information simply was not available.
So we checked the directory for the faculty member's department telephone number, we dialed it and we asked the person who answered for the information. Less than a minute later, we had it.
People - face-to-face and voice-to-voice - remain good, valuable, dependable sources of information.
Thank you again for this opportunity to share my thoughts on the influence of dedicated teachers, the importance of free speech - particularly at colleges and universities - and the value in maintaining human qualities and relationships in an increasingly technological society.
This joyous, special, festive, satisfying occasion - very simply - marks the transition to the rest of your lives. Enjoy it. Bask in it. Savor it. Congratulations.
