July 3, 2006 6:22 AM

Another DUMB@$$ AWARD wiener

Matt, Don’t Be Cruel

University of the Censored Word

UIW library boss cancels the N.Y. Times in protest

American Library Association Bill of Rights

DUMB@$$ AWARD wiener #398: Mendell D. Morgan Jr.

The dean of library services at the University of the Incarnate Word has canceled the library’s subscription to the New York Times to protest articles exposing a secret government program that monitors international financial transactions in the hunt for terrorists. “Since no one elected the New York Times to determine national security policy, the only action I know to register protest for their irresponsible action (treason?) is to withdraw support of their operations by canceling our subscription as many others are doing,” Mendell D. Morgan Jr. wrote Wednesday in an e-mail to library staffers. “If enough do, perhaps they will get the point.”

That ignorance and intolerance has been and always will be among us should hardly come as a surprise to any thinking, lucid individual. When ignorance and intolerance cross the line into overt censorship, however, this is when thinking, lucid Americans should be up in arms. Of course, when those who through their employment control access to information engage in censorship, good people should demand immediate redress. That this clearly seems not the be happening in the case of Mendell D. Morgan, Jr. and San Antonio’s University of the Incarnate Word should set us to wondering just when in the Hell is happening to this country. Since 9.11, all I’ve heard from the Right is about “not letting the terrorists” win. Well, how about explaining to me how engaging in censorship in a college library doesn’t mean that the terrorists have in fact already won?

The New York Times is not the enemy here. They reviewed the government’s request not to write about the SWIFT program (C’mon, y’all, SWIFT has it’s own website; d’ya think the terrorists don’t have Internet access???) and determined that the public’s right to know what was being done in their name was paramount. You are free to disagree or agree with that position as you see fit. That, after all, is the hallmark of a free country. What you are NOT free to do is to restrict public access to information simply because you happen to disagree or harbor a grudge toward the purveyor of said information. If you want to engage in petty partisan wrangling, go to work for the Republican Party. I’m certain they can find work for someone so xenophobic and narrow-minded that they would freely and willingly engaging in this sort of egregious censorship.

The university released a statement Thursday saying Morgan had the authority to remove the newspaper.

“The University of the Incarnate Word does not take an official position on the recent decision to cancel the subscription of the New York Times at the university’s library,” the statement said. “This decision was made by the administrator in charge of the library whose authority extends to the contents of the library, and thus it was within his purview to make this decision. The university is supportive of the First Amendment, a free press and of the presentation of diverse points of view.”

Nice effort in sidestepping anything resembling responsibility for the actions of one of their employees, eh? Hmm…what could possibly be the problem here? You’re an institution of higher learning, not a political re-education camp. Yet when one of your employees resorts to censorship stemming from his own narrow political views, the University of the Incarnate Word spouts some pretty, meaningless about the First Amendment, but ultimately does nothing? Is this not the moral equivalent of condoning Morgan’s actions at best or implicitly supporting them at worst?

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE CAT LITTER, willya? Your head librarian is engaging in censorship. Can you not see the problems inherent in that? Or do you simply not have the cojones to do the right thing and stand up for the First Amendment you profess to support? Grow some balls, sheeple….

The move outraged library staffers, who complained the dean was censoring information based on personal beliefs.

Staff member Jennifer Romo said she and her co-workers were shocked when they received Morgan’s e-mail. “The censorship is just unspeakable,” Romo said. “There is no reason, no matter what your beliefs, to deny a source of information to students.”

The removal also runs counter to the American Library Association’s Bill of Rights, which states: “Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.”

Someone really ought to tie Morgan’s hands behind his back`, prop his eyelids open, and force him to read the ALA’s Bill of Rights. Again, just for the record:

LIBRARIES SHOULD PROVIDE MATERIALS AND INFORMATION PRESENTING ALL POINTS OF VIEW ON CURRENT AND HISTORICAL ISSUES. (Ed. note: Yes, this means not just information reflecting and representing your own narrow, xenophobic point of view.) MATERIALS SHOULD NOT BE PROSCRIBED OR REMOVED BECAUSE OF PARTISAN OR DOCTRINAL DISAPPROVAL.

I would ask Morgan, who allegedly is a professional librarian and therefore allegedly should be familiar with the ALA’s Bill of Rights, WHAT PART OF THAT STATEMENT DID NOT PENETRATE YOUR THICK, INTOLERANT SKULL?? You have a responsibilty to all those who use your library to make information available- WHETHER OR NOT YOU HAPPEN TO AGREE WITH THE POLITICAL/IDEOLOGICAL/MORAL VIEWPOINT EXPRESSED. This is not to say that you have to agree with anything printed by the New York Times, but you have NO RIGHT to keep the Times from those who wish to read it. You work in a library, not a political indoctrination camp.

Mendell D. Morgan Jr. is free to believe, think, and vote as he sees fit. That is his right as an American citizen. What he does NOT have the right to do is to use his position to make decisions that prevent other Americans from having access to information simply because it does not match up with his ideological convictions. Equally culpable in this sorry scenario is the University of the Incarnate Word, whose namby-pamby statement indicates that they support Morgan by their own indecisiveness and inaction.

Morgan may be worried about the terrorists winning, but it’s his actions and the actions of people who think like him that tell me the terrorists already have won.

If you are as angry about this as I am, Sean-Paul Kelley has some suggestions for what you can do to register your anger and dismay in a positive way:

If you are curious as to what his decision is, please email him here: morgan@universe.uiwtx.edu, troyk@universe.uiwtx.edu, and trowsdal@universe.uiwtx.edu . Ask them how this helps young minds learn anything of real, critical value?

Or, you can call the university president’s office. He’s a good guy, so please be polite. His name is Louis Agnese and his office number is: 210-829-3900. Just ask them if they are going to cancel the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal too? Simple and direct, but again, please be polite.

Let’s start asking some questions and (politely but firmly) demanding some answers.

blog comments powered by Disqus

Technorati

Technorati search

» Blogs that link here

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on July 3, 2006 6:22 AM.

Another great moment in Senate rhetoric was the previous entry in this blog.

Panem et circenses as policy is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Contact Me

Powered by Movable Type 5.12