RE: CH-UH Library Board's cancellation of a film about Middle East conflict

To the Editor:

I take note of the recent criticism of the Cleveland Heights University Heights Library Board over the cancellation of a film about the conflict in the Middle East.

Years ago, in a concurrence in the case called Whitney v. California, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis observed that in the face of troubling speech "the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence." It appears that was the original intent of the Library Board, to show a film containing assertions some would find objectionable and then carry out a panel discussion exploring the truth or falsity of the claims -exposing them to the test of the marketplace.

It's disappointing that the board didn't stay the course, but understandable in the circumstances in which the library's future financial needs are on the ballot. We see that free speech, a core value in a democracy, has been diminished by fears about the willingness of people to tax themselves to sponsor it.

Richard Hendrickson, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

John Carroll University

Richard Hendrickson is Ohio First Amendment co-chair for the Society of Professional Journalists.