DUKE CSUN VISIT A SHINING TEST FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

Byline: Nat Hentoff

THE faculty of Cal State Northridge was recently divided as to whether former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke should come to the campus for a debate on affirmative action. Journalism professor Cynthia Rawitch, a member of the faculty senate, pointed out during debate there, ``We'd look foolish if we were the only part of the university that failed to support free speech, since the students and the university president have already supported Duke's coming.''

When she sat down, a young professor leaned forward and instructed her, ``There is such a thing as too much free speech, you know.''

``As a matter of fact,'' Rawitch told him, ``there isn't. That's the point.''

Rawitch's point was largely lost during preparations for the debate. A good many newspapers and columnists deplored the university's decision to have Duke come. (``Duke is beyond the pale of legitimate political discussion,'' said the San Francisco Examiner.) However, the Los Angeles Times, in an editorial, noted that ``free speech is not the exclusive province of excellent messengers or even decent ones.''

The subject of the debate was Proposition 209 - which will be on the state's ballot in November. It would prevent California from granting ``preferential treatment as to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education or public contracting.''

Ward Connerly, chairman of the Proposition 209 campaign and a member of the state's Board of Regents, wrote Dr. Blenda Wilson, president of Northridge, saying he would accept a previous invitation to participate in the debate provided she would instruct Duke not to come, ``unless, it is your choice to dishonor your university.''

Wilson, former chancellor of the University of Michigan, Dearborn, and Northridge's first black president, has made it clear she finds Duke's views repellent.

She told Connerly that it was up to the students who invited Duke, not her, to rescind the invitation. But she emphasized that since Northridge is ``a public, taxpayer-supported institution, it must always be an open place where all ideas are explored. If only one view is heard, there is no learning.''

Later, Dr. Wilson said to me, ``This debate about the debate is what I call `a teaching moment.' I think the students will learn a lot about free speech.''

Gov. Pete Wilson emphatically disagreed. He insisted - as did Ward Connerly - that bringing Duke was a setup to discredit Proposition 209. Meanwhile, opponents of 209 were just as furious, predicting Duke would arouse the kinds of racial prejudices that might militate against Proposition 209.

Dr. Wilson remained calm and firm. ``You know,'' she told me, ``there is a 22-year-old black student who says he wants Duke to come because `I've never heard a white racist out loud.' ''

Also wanting to hear and challenge Duke were leaders of some of the minority groups on campus, including the Black Student Union and the American Indian Student Association.

At last, on Sept. 25, the debate took place despite efforts of Proposition 209 officials to get a court to stop the dread arrival of David Duke. Opposing Duke in the debate was Joe Hicks, director of the Los Angeles Multicultural Collaborative.

Some 800 diverse spectators peacefully listened to, and some participated in, the exchange of views. Outside, however, there were confrontations - some briefly violent but controlled by the police.

Prominent among the 250 protesters outside were members of a Berkeley-based group, BAMN, who are dedicated to opposing Proposition 209 ``By Any Means Necessary.'' At Northridge to disrupt the debate, they failed, and few Northridge students joined them.

Also on hand, as reported by Sarah Lubman of the San Jose Mercury News, was Susan Scheer, ``one of 15 self-proclaimed communists.'' She shouted ``No free speech for racists!'' - and felt good.

Ward Connerly, exercising his own free speech, held a counter rally nearby.

During the melee in front of the Student Union while the debate was going on, an aging member of the Jewish Defense League was dressed in Klan-like white robes to express his acute distaste of David Duke. It had not occurred to him that others who shared his view would not recognize his disguise.

As he was being attacked by haters of the former Grand Wizard, the Jewish protester was rescued by members of the Nation of Islam, who had come to observe the goings-on.

That was a true multicultural teaching moment.