Re: “Letter From the Editor: Censorship”

There are things I love about the Deerfield community: the close-knit atmosphere, the relationships we develop with teachers, the opportunities to meet new people at every sit-down. But the same enveloping “bubble” can suffocate on occasions. Unlike contributors to city and national papers, students are often reluctant to take stands on issues that may contradict the views and opinions of fellow students and faculty that they must face later that day on the athletic fields, in the classroom, and in the dorms. Deerfield offers no anonymity to its students, and so we limit our own freedom of speech. The idea that others are always watching and judging creates an ironic vacuum of free speech in a community that claims to be based on “open-mindedness.” Sharing contradicting opinions is an earnest endeavor that students and faculty alike should value. An institution cannot know what it is doing right or wrong if no one dares to challenge it. There’s no way for us to know if we’re “censored” if no one bothers to try to publish anything controversial. You’re responsible for your own voice: let it be heard without worrying what anyone may think. If we leave behind a Deerfield society where no one has the nerve or cares enough to let their own voice be heard, we allow our own point of view to decay.