Free Speech at Zeta Psi 

by Alison Jeffe

When the D broke the Zeta Psi “Sex Papers” story, buzz about the allegedly offensive newsletter published by members of the fraternity consumed the Dartmouth campus. For a few weeks, it seemed, no one spoke of anything besides Zete, Melissa Heaton’s social exploits, or what possible action the College could take. When official Dartmouth ordered derecognition of the fraternity for its “outrageous behavior,” many students argued that the penalty exceeded Dartmouth’s legitimate authority, denying to the fraternity and its members a right to free speech.

At the close of the spring term, Zete had certainly receded as the hot topic of campus discussion. By summer, three-fourths of the undergraduate student body had left campus; many began to accept the “Sex Papers” charade as history. Many students accepted the College’s decision as evidence that Dartmouth simply doesn’t permit free expression among its students, and they resigned themselves to the new college policy.

Spring term, however, was not the end of the issue. Recently, The Valley News, Hanover’s local newspaper, devoted the front page to the Zeta Psi question with the banner headline, “Free Speech Abridged at Dartmouth?” While the fraternity admittedly “engages in Animal House behavior,” writes reporter Rich Barlow, “a progressive chorus beyond Hanover is condemning the college for supposedly trampling on the First Amendment.”

Claire Ebel, chairman of the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union, finds the newsletter’s content outrageous. Still, she says, the fraternity’s right to express themselves, even offensively, must be maintained. The appropriate corrective to offensive speech, Ebel argues, is not censorship, but “more speech.”

Free speech advocates outside the New Hampshire plain are also rushing to condemn the Dartmouth administration, Barlow reports. The Boston Phoenix, an alternative newspaper in Massachusetts, presents its Annual Muzzle Awards to people or institutions that fragrantly violated free speech rights. This year, Dartmouth President James Wright was one such recipient. As Phoenix reporter Dan Kennedy writes, “The kind of idiotic speech Zeta Psi engaged in doesn’t have to be exalted. Protests, letters to the Dartmouth, and demands for an apology all would have been appropriate. The brothers might have learned a lesson.” He identifies the only lesson they learned: “Dartmouth College values political correctness more than it does freedom of expression.”

The College’s spokesperson Laurel Stavis claims Zete’s national fraternity rules forbid such expression. But Zete’s Dartmouth Chapter disputes the College’s authority to enforce Zeta Psi regulations. In fact, many people believe that Zete should fight their case in court. However, Barlow writes, such a legal action will likely fail because Dartmouth is a private, not public, institution.

Which Constitutional rights will Dartmouth respect? Which rights will Dartmouth students have to live without? While many were shocked by the newsletter’s content, just as many are shocked by the obvious danger in such a punishment infringing on basic rights. Dartmouth may get past this issue with time, but civil libertarians will not so easily forget. It is a small college, but there are those of us who would rather have our first amendment rights.