LEFT VS. RIGHT: (WHO'S RIGHT?); TUESDAY DEBATE FOCUSES ON FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS

Former U.S. attorney general Edwin Meese III and Village Voice staff writer Nat Hentoff are an unlikely pair.

The former was associated with the conservative Reagan administration while the latter writes for a politically liberal publication.

But both men say they support freedom of expression and oppose "political correctness" on college campuses that stifles such expression.

The two men, however, disagree on pornography; Hentoff doesn't want to censor it and Meese says he supports the Supreme Court's view that pornography is not constitutionally protected.

Meese and Hentoff are scheduled to square off in a debate Tuesday on the Southeast Missouri State University campus. The event, part of the Student Activities Council's fall lecture series, is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Show Me Center.

Tickets for the debate are $2 for the public and $1 for students. Tickets are available at the Show Me Center box office or at the information desk at the University Center.

Meese served more than three years, beginning in 1985, as the 75th U.S. attorney general. He was considered the top domestic affairs adviser during the Reagan administration.

Prior to becoming attorney general, Meese served as chief assistant on then-Gov. Ronald Reagan's staff.

He currently is a distinguished fellow at the Heritage Foundation and the Hoover Institution, and is author of a nationally syndicated column.

Hentoff has been a staff writer for the Village Voice for 33 years, expressing in his weekly column his views on journalistic responsibility and the rights of Americans to think, write and speak freely.

Hentoff's early career was devoted to music and working as a writer, producer and announcer at WMEX in Boston.

The world of jazz propelled Hentoff to write about civil rights, and he later began addressing political and social problems as a staff writer and columnist for the Village Voice, The New York Times and The New Yorker. Hentoff has written or co-authored more than 24 books.

Hentoff said he opposes efforts to censor freedom of expression. "I think whether it comes from the right or left, it is a bad scene," he said. "It is destructive of individual thought and independent mind."

Hentoff said "political correctness" doesn't exist on all of this nation's college campuses, "but it exists to a great extent on some campuses."

In such situations, "there is such an orthodoxy" created on campus that those who criticize the prevailing viewpoint are "ostracized or harassed, or otherwise made to feel they don't belong there," Hentoff said. Generally, he said, the situation involves students against other students.

"We ought to have the right to offend others," said Hentoff. "That's how you learn."

Hentoff said: "The First Amendment is almost impossible to discern in some neighborhoods in some cities. If you put it on the ballot now as written, without qualifications, I don't think it would pass anywhere in the country."

Meese said, "I think the idea of stifling free speech under some arbitrary speech code or rules of conduct is directly opposite of what universities should stand for, which is freedom of expression."

But Meese draws the line on freedom of expression when it comes to obscenity and child pornography.

"I'm against censorship of anything that is constitutionally protected," he said. "There are, however, some types of obscene material and child pornography, which the Supreme Court says are so far removed from having any redeeming social value ... they do not enjoy constitutional protection."

But Hentoff said he believes obscenity and pornography should be allowed. "I am for absolute freedom of expression in those areas."