ACLU LEADER, JUDGE GIVE VIEWS ON FREE SPEECH.Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Daily News Staff Writer Just another Monday night at Soka University Soka University (創価大学, Sōka Daigaku) is a private university located in Hachiōji, Tokyo, Japan. The school was founded in 1969 and opened to undergraduate students in 1971 and opened a graduate school in 1975. : 200 people came to hear two national opinion leaders in an intellectual debate about freedom, the constitution and the Bill of Rights. Edwin Meese Edwin "Ed" Meese III (born December 2, 1931 in Oakland, California) served as the seventy-fifth Attorney General of the United States (1985-1988). Education/staff of Governor Reagan , attorney general during the Reagan administration Noun 1. Reagan administration - the executive under President Reagan executive - persons who administer the law , and Nadine Strossen Nadine Strossen (born August 18, 1950) is the current president of the American Civil Liberties Union. She is the first woman and the youngest person to ever lead the ACLU. A professor at New York Law School, Professor Strossen also sits on the Council on Foreign Relations. , the American Civil Liberties Union's first female president, spoke for nearly 90 minutes about free-speech issues: flag-burning, child pornography Child pornography is the visual representation of minors under the age of 18 engaged in sexual activity or the visual representation of minors engaging in lewd or erotic behavior designed to arouse the viewer's sexual interest. and campaign spending limits. They won polite applause from residents, teachers and students - including 43 women from Soka's Japanese campus here to learn English and business skills. ``I think it's really exciting. I don't usually get to hear from an attorney general,'' said Susan Malone of Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. . ``And, I like how it's a balanced program,'' she said. After a coin toss, Meese spoke first. ``There are those who want to trivialize the First Amendment,'' he told the gathering in Minuteman minuteman Colonial soldier of the American Revolution. Minutemen were first organized in Massachusetts in September 1774, when revolutionary leaders sought to eliminate Tories, or British sympathizers, from the militia by replacing all officers. Hall. ``It's important to understand what freedom of speech meant (when the Constitution was written). . . . It didn't mean just any speech. There were some things that were not protected.'' Meese's positions generally supported the rule of majority opinion. Strossen spoke in favor of laws that protect individual rights, regardless of the needs and wants of the majority. ``What is distasteful has to be left with'' individuals to determine, she said. ``By giving the government power to censor . . . we take decisions away from us that are inherently subjective.'' After the program, the crowd lingered and talked about the ideas they'd heard. ``The individual has rights . . . even though a majority of the population disagrees,'' said Michelle Buehring, a Soka instructor from Moorpark. An example, she said, is flag-burning. ``It's OK to do it. It's still that one person's right to do it,'' she said. Student Phillip Tomas of Calabasas came to hear both sides, and left ambivalent. ``I'd like to see that free-speech rights are protected,'' he said. ``But I understand that certain things are potentially dangerous.'' |
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