Free Speech Movement Cafe
UC Berkeley
February 3, 2000
By Robert M. Berdahl
Chancellor
University of California, Berkeley
Hello and welcome to this remarkable moment. About two years ago, we stood at almost this same spot together and I announced a generous gift from Steve Silberstein -- a gift to strengthen our Library and make this café a reality -- a gift in honor of the Free Speech Movement and Mario Savio. Well, 2000 has arrived and I have the honor and privilege of announcing the good news that the café is now open. Because of this gift, the Free Speech Café has been completed -- a tribute to the firestorm that the FSM created across the nation, and the only place I know of on campus that offers a late-night hyper-caffeinated drink menu.
The turnout for this event is wonderful. It speaks to the timelessness and power of the FSM -- a power that transcends generations. Thank you all for coming. I know that many of you worked very hard to bring the campus this café. I want to especially acknowledge Lynne Hollander, Mario Savio's wife and his two sons, Nadav and Daniel, Wendy, Nadav's wife, as well as Michael Rossman. Thank you for your contributions and for being here.
What I want to talk to you about today is the rich legacy that the FSM left for this University and other campuses across the nation and worldwide.
We all know that the FSM impacted universities in a historic way. Student political activism existed before 1964, to be sure. But it has flourished on Sproul Plaza since 1964 with a different meaning. Today, on a walk across Sproul, you will encounter a rainbow of student organizations, political, social, international. We now have programs on campus like Americorps that recruit and train 100 students each semester to tutor in local schools. UC Berkeley is still among the leaders in the nation in volunteering for the Peace Corps.
The historical significance of the FSM, and the student movement to which it gave birth, is that after the FSM universities abandoned the practices of in loco parentis, according to which the university defined its role as substitute parent and students as dependent, not-yet-full-fledged adults. After the FSM, students acquired fully recognized status as independent adults, as defined in the Bill of Rights, the Berkeley amendment, and other rights attendant to such status. The rules of behavior previously applied by universities -- dress codes, dorm hours, and the like -- dropped away. Campuses became freer, and freedom of expression, in all its manifestations -- some even offensive to taste -- followed.
This is a complex and rich legacy -- and one that is sometimes difficult to live with. At its heart "free speech" means that unpopular speech has the same value as that which is popular. No party to any debate -- no matter the number of people on any side -- has the right to exclude speech they disagree with. This applies to the administration, it applies to the students, the staff and the faculty.
This is a legacy that carries with it an obligation. For if the University is truly an institution rooted in democratic values -- dedicated to the freedom of speech -- we must guard against impediments to this freedom and always work to overcome the barriers that would limit speech. I speak of the barriers imposed by authority. I speak of the barriers imposed by an angry crowd's behavior which make it impossible for a speaker to present his or her viewpoint. I speak of the barriers imposed by poverty and unequal access to resources -- such as the media. And I speak of the barriers to free expression imposed by racial and gender prejudice. The University must be a place where speech is protected and where speakers have an equal opportunity to be heard. And, the University must also be a place intent on studying and understanding the limitations to speech in all their manifestations.
This café stands to remind every one of us that all speech is allowed, none is barred, and that we are all expected to live by this understanding. And it stands to remind us that free speech depends on mutual respect and civil behavior. As Stephen Carter stated in his book on Civility: Manners, Morals and the Etiquette of Democracy: "we must disagree in order to debate, we must debate in order to decide and we must decide in order to move. And, it all works…only if we begin by understanding the necessity of disagreeing." (p. 132)
I say that today -- in fact -- it is our agreement to hear all the voices on campus -- even those that frustrate or anger us -- that has helped build the University of California, Berkeley into the premier public University in the nation. This café is a celebration of our commitment to free speech and a renewal of our foundations of excellence. It is not just the literal renewal represented by the addition of collections to our library or the creation of archives that I speak of. Today is the renewal of our fundamental belief in freedom: freedom of ideas, of choice -- freedom to claim our individual opinion. It is the renewal of our commitment to make the University a place where we find purpose in this freedom. I believe this is the freedom that the leaders of the FSM fought for.
Thank you, Steve, for making all this possible and thank you to all of you who came today to honor the opening of the Free Speech Café.
Now, I would like to introduce one of the individuals who was a member of the original FSM Steering Committee. Like so many of her peers, she went on to dedicate her life to educating others and advancing human rights. Today she is a professor of Women's Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz where she has been honored for her teaching and research. Among the many honors she has received is the "Excellence in Teaching Award" from UC Santa Cruz. I present to you Bettina Aptheker.