A Bellarmine University task force will study what constitutes
acceptable speech on campus, prompted by a white-supremacist armband
worn by a student, President Joseph J. McGowan said yesterday.
The student, Andrei Chira, 18, has stirred up controversy by wearing
a Blood and Honour armband decorated with a symbol of the group.
On its Web site, the group identifies itself as a promoter of "white
pride and white power," and traces its origins to the British "skinhead"
movement.
Chira said yesterday that Blood and Honour is associated with
National Socialism, a movement founded by Adolf Hitler, but that he
doesn't consider himself a white supremacist.
"I'm proud to be white, but I'm not really interested in supporting
one race over the other," said Chira, who has close-cropped hair and was
wearing a black tie, white shirt and black jacket.
So far, Bellarmine officials have not asked Chira to re- move the
armband that he said he has been wearing for the past few months.
McGowan said in his statement yesterday that "most, if not all"
members of the Bellarmine community are upset by the views that the
armband represents. But McGowan said forcing Chira to remove it would be
"denying free speech, which I believe is contrary to being a true
university."
The debate has divided students and faculty at the Roman Catholic
school.
Chira said he considers himself a National Socialist, but he doesn't
believe he is promoting the movement by simply wearing an armband.
"It's a personal thing -- kind of like putting a Republican bumper
sticker on your car," he said.
But others disagree, including Joshua Golding, chairman of the
Bellarmine philosophy department, who said the armband promotes the
organization's hateful views.
Golding sent an e-mail this weekend to Bellarmine students and
faculty outlining his objections.
"It's outrageous and it's offensive," said Golding, who is Jewish. He
said he and his wife had relatives who died in the Holocaust.
"Bellarmine is perfectly within its rights to tell this fellow this is
out of place."
Yesterday, about a dozen students conducted a "Sit in for Free
Speech" in a hallway outside the office of Fred Rhodes, vice president
for student affairs.
"None of us here agree with the message on the armband," said Chris
Polito, 18, a freshman from Hebron, Ky., who helped organize the event.
"But we agree with the right of free speech."
Because of the growing debate, however, McGowan said he will ask a
task force of administrators, faculty and students to recommend how the
college should handle such situations.
McGowan said his task force should begin its work within a week but
he didn't set a timetable for its conclusions.
Chira, a freshman from California, said he is not endorsing Nazi
views or white supremacy.
Rather, he said, he likes the organization's support for musicians
who adhere to Blood and Honour's views -- such as a one-party system and
a strong central government.
He said he doesn't understand why some people are upset. "I think
it's blown way out of proportion," Chira said.
Students at yesterday's sit-in -- which resembled a study-in as they
crammed for final examinations being held this week -- said they didn't
plan any further actions but wanted to show support for freedom of
expression.
"If you start putting restrictions on what a person can support,
where will it end?" asked Megan Oed, 18, a freshman from Indianapolis.
Erin Ott, 18, a freshman from Cincinnati, agreed.
"I think a lot of people are missing the point," she said. "The real
issue is First Amendment rights and freedom of speech."
Copyright 2005 The
Courier-Journal.
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