ADL Censorship University of Texas

The Battle of Austin: An ADL Success Story

by Jeffrey A. Ross
Director, ADL Campus Affairs/
Higher Education Department

During last fall's campaign by Holocaust denier Bradley Smith to insert full-page advertisements in nearly 40 college and university newspapers (ADL on the FRONTLINE February 1992), The Daily Texan, published by the University of Texas, was one of the 11 campus newspapers which accepted the ad.

Working with Rabbi Kerry Baker, Hillel director, his staff, and Hillel members, ADL regional Directors in Texas—Barbara Harberg (Houston) and Mark Briskman (Dallas)—in consultation with the League's national Department of Campus Affairs/Higher Education, fought to have the decision reversed.

At meetings with the newspaper's editors and members of its oversight body, the Texas Student Publications Board (TSP), ADL provided evidence of Smith's ties to the extremist hate movement and, most importantly, sensitized the editorial staff to the deep emotional meaning of the Holocaust to the Jewish community. As a result, the ad was rejected.

A major lesson of the controversy has been the need for more Holocaust education on campuses for the growing number of young Americans who know little of the events of 1939-1945.

In April, ADL brought a program of films, publications, and speakers to five of the campuses affected by the conflict, including the University of Texas. Speakers at Texas included myself, noted Holocaust scholar Professor Deborah Lipstadt, and Johnnie Stevens, a veteran of the all-black 761st Tank Battalion of the U.S. Third Army which had liberated Buchenwald.

As we arrived, Smith submitted a second ad, and the TSP, over the strong objections of The Daily Texan editorial staff, voted to accept it. (TSP's own guidelines mandate the rejection of racially and religiously offensive material.)

Working with Hillel and a wide coalition of Jewish and non-Jewish students, ADL worked to overturn the decision. TSP's guidelines for opinion advertising also require advertisers to obtain permission when citing the words of third parties. Smith's ad quoted Professor Lipstadt and several other prominent Holocaust historians, none of whom had been consulted.

Professor Lipstadt told TSP that she would not have given her permission under any circumstances and warned that she might sue the university if her name was used.

TSP voted to publish the ad, removing any reference to Professor Lipstadt, but also delayed publication while the legal issues could be reviewed.

This provided an opportunity to bring ADL regional, national, and international resources into play. The League's Israel Office contacted Israeli scholars cited in the ad and the ADL Braun Center for Holocaust Studies notified cited American authors. Protests were quickly faxed to TSP directors. The Dallas and Houston regional offices and lay leadership contacted members of the University's Board of Regents. On campus, ADL and the Hillel staff met with Christian campus clergy, the editors of The Daily Texan, and leaders of student government to discuss options and strategy.

Our public program, coming in the midst of this conflict, was well attended, widely reported, and doubly meaningful to both the presenters and the audience.

On the day following the program, the TSP met again with the University Counsel who reversed his previous contention that there were no legal impediments to publication and declared, on the basis of the faxes received, that the University would be open to legal action if the ad were printed. Accordingly, TSP voted against its publication.

It was a hard-fought victory but well worth it in the context of the fact that, following the decision in Texas, not a single college or university newspaper has chosen to accept the second Bradley Smith ad.