Fred Thompson, Dave Barry, and Marquette

Presidential non-candidate candidate Fred Thompson uses his latest commentary column to address academic freedom.

He draws on an incident that took place last fall at Marquette University's philosophy department as a springboard for his discussion.

Of course when Thompson talks, people listen. His supporters, as well as his detractors, cling to and dissect his every utterance.

What Fred says matters. Most definitely.

"Banning Dave Barry" deals with that precious all-American right of free speech.

Thompson rails against the muzzling of Ph.D. student Stuart Ditsler.
He writes:

...Ditsler printed out a short blurb from one of Barry's humor columns and stuck it on his office door. It read, "As Americans we must always remember that we all have a common enemy, an enemy that is dangerous, powerful and relentless. I refer, of course, to the federal government." Of course, anybody who has ever heard of Dave Barry would know that he wasn't exactly suggesting insurrection.

The head of Marquette's philosophy department apparently didn't get it. He took down Barry's words and issued a statement that included the words, "while I am a strong supporter of academic freedom. I'm afraid that hallways and office doors are not free-speech zones." Since then, the Marquette philosophy department has stuck to its stance that Barry's words are "patently offensive," despite the fact that lots of other doors had slogans pasted on them.

The thing is that Barry's joke appeared in newspapers all across America. It was and still is available online. Apparently, the blurb is safe for family reading on U.S. breakfast tables and computer screens, but not on a door at a major American University. That's funny too, in a sad sort of way.

In spite of the humiliation that Thompson brings to Marquette because of its phil department's loony "hallways and office doors are not free-speech zones" policy, there's a silver lining.

The "testing the waters" Republican savior, the venerated St. Fred Thompson does call Marquette "a major American University."

He points out that Marquette is just as oppressive in terms of academic freedom as some of the best liberal bastions, the most prestigious universities in the country.

That's a positive.

Big stuff.