FREE OPINIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 100, 1 May 1933, Page 6

FREE OPINIONS.

The attitude of a minority of University graduates to freedom of speech, as reported in Friday's "Stqr," leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Dr. Eanston moved an amendment in favour of all "legitimate'' academic freedom. The dictionary defines "legitimate" as "lawfulj fairly deduced; authorised by usage." Is this the tag to be attached to the utterances of our University teachers? Dr. Kanston went on to point out that a professor was an authority only on his own subject; on any other subject he was only a layman. But it was only recently that one of the heads of our University claimed that the franchise should be limited to those having University training, which, we were led to believe, enabled men to think clearly on all subjects. It is to be feared that some of these academic gentlemen attach altogether too much importance to their "authority." The fact is that the utterance of a professor will be judged, ; not by the letters after his name, but by the value of the facts adduced in the statement he makes. And if the ignorant public are led astray by his scholastic importance, surely under a system of academic freedom some other "authority" could put them right >gaim <, j. S. MONTGOMERY- ;|