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The recent Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America have forced the
airline industry to set new standards in safety and security. Here
at UCLA, the Young Research Library has responded by creating a new
standard of its own ““ a double standard.
One day after the terrorist attacks, Michelle Torre, who works
for reference and instructional services at the Young Research
Library, sent out a patriotic mass e-mail to her coworkers citing a
1973 speech written by Gordon Sinclair titled “America: The
Good Neighbor.”
Jonnie Hargis, who works in the same department at the YRL,
responded to the mass e-mail that Torre sent. In his response, he
argued that the United States isn’t such a good neighbor
since it supports apartheid-like policies in Israel. He ended the
letter by saying, “so, who are the “˜terrorists’
anyway?”
By initiating and responding to the mass e-mail through library
department facilities, both Torre and Hargis appeared to be in
violation of an existing UC Electronic Communications policy that
prohibits the “widespread distribution of unsolicited
electronic communications.”
Library administrators got a hold of Hargis’ response, and
on Sept. 14, Lorraine Kram, head of reference and instructional
services at YRL, sent a letter reprimanding Hargis for his e-mail
and stating that it was in violation of a library policy created
that day.
As a result of that policy, Hargis was suspended without pay
from Sept. 17 to 21. Torre, who sent the first mass e-mail, was not
subjected to any disciplinary action under either policy.
The new library policy that Kram cites in her letter to Hargis
prohibits the sending of unsolicited e-mails containing political,
religious or patriotic messages to library department lists. But
this policy was made public only after Hargis’ response to
Torre’s patriotic e-mail.
Though Hargis and Torre seem to clearly violate the original
university policy, library administrators and Kram chose only to
unjustly reprimand Hargis under this new policy.
This raises many concerns about free speech ““ or the lack
of it ““ at this university. Regardless of whether someone is
a research professor or library staff member, no one should be
subject to suspension or dismissal for voicing their beliefs at
work if they’re not subtracting from the working
environment.
In a time of blind patriotism, critics of this country have an
even more precarious, though important, role in providing
additional and contradictory viewpoints to the public forum. Hargis
was only acting in the best interests of a pluralist society.
Since the new library policy represents a direct attack on
Hargis’ and other workers’ right to free speech, it
needs to be retracted immediately.
Hargis’ suspension should be overturned and he should be
given full pay for the lost time at work. Additionally, Kram and
the library administrators involved in this decision must issue an
apology to Hargis, admitting that they singled him out for
disciplinary action unfairly.