European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 16, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday March 16, 1391 the stars and stripes Page 13 commentary Walter Mear sound of gunfire will be dim in 92 election vice president Dan Quayle has said that it Isnit time to decide what the bumper stickers Are going to say in next year s Campaign. What looked like towering issues a year or More in Advance of past elections often dropped far Down the Agenda Long before it came time to vote. That a particularly True for republicans who want to make the persian Gulf War an Issue from now until the next election. A the november 1992 election is not going to be resolved in March of 1991,�?� said rep. Lee Hamilton d-ind., a leading spokesman among democrats who voted against authorizing the persian Gulf War in january and now Are getting told you so rebukes from republicans. A none of us can predict what the major issues will be at that  there a a record of volatility to Bear him out. A issues like Flag burning abortion legislation and the end of the cold War were major topics in 1989 and rated top issues for 1990. They weren to. A at this Point in 1987 the Iran Contra arms and Money controversy was at its height and Ronald Reagan a popularity near its Depths. Reagan had just acknowledged to the nation that there had been an attempt to Trade arms for hostages and said it had been a mistake. His Job approval rating had dropped to a four year Low at 42 percent. None of that boded Well for George Bush then vice president launching a White House Campaign and facing a share of the blame for at a minimum failing to object to the arms Deal with Iran. But Iran Contra faded. The trials of Reagan aides came after the elections of 1988, despite questions about Bush a role it was not a major Campaign Issue. A in March 1979, president Carter was grappling with an Energy crisis rising inflation and the beginning of an economic slump. But he also was mediating the landmark peace settlement Between Egypt and Israel and his Job approval rating was up. The economic Issue would persist everything else was eclipsed by the Iran hostage crisis that began in november and did no tend until after Reagan had ousted Carter in 1980. The reliable exceptions Are fixture topics like the Economy and issues that Are repeatedly reinforced by later events. The economic resurgence the administration is forecasting would be an asset for Bush and the republicans in 1992 a lingering slump would Hurt them. To make the War. Issue last in congressional campaigns republicans need a strategy broader than their current attacks on democratic leaders and the 70 percent of congressional democrats who on Jan. 12 voted against giving Bush the authority to go to War. That Effort will play out in House and Senate debate and votes on weapons authorization Bills and defense appropriations this year and next. There Are certain to be gop efforts to tie any democratic defense cuts to the 1991 War vote. Congress is dealing now with measures to boost veterans benefits in education housing and other areas with the administration backing some trying to Weed out others. A what we be seen is an Effort by Many members to get legislation in to get them on the right Side of the Issue Here a said White House press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater. During much of the Post world War ii Era defense has been an Issue on which republicans rallied arguing in Campaign after Campaign that democrats were suspect when it came to maintaining military strength. Bush used it in 1988 Democrat Michael s. Dukakis was trying to counter it when he showed up in that awkward pose in the tank. The War vote will contribute to that theme in 1992, but today a angry arguments Are Likely to be shopworn before then. There was a Sample last week when sen. Phil Gramm a Texas and sen. Charles s. Robb d-va., chairmen of the two Senate Campaign committees for 1992, appeared in a joint can television interview that turned into a debate. Gramm said the War vote raises questions of democratic judgment and then escalated. A does that make you nervous a he asked. A does that suggest maybe that it is dangerous for Tom Foley to be speaker of the House and for George Mitchell to be majority Leader a i suggest that it  Robb who voted for the War Resolution said democrats could easily retort that the people who do most of the fighting in americans wars a have been disproportionately from democratic constituencies. A i always get tired of those who Haven to actually fought the War wrapping themselves in the Flag and then telling me the democrats arc unpatriotic a Robb said. Both sides say that House members and senators should and will be held accountable for their votes in 1992. A associated press William buckle colleges should limit students free speech Here is is a question for which Mirabile dict i do not have the answer. It is How much Freedom should a College student be Given to say or to write what he wishes a a a a a a debate took place recently at Dartmouth where else. It was precipitated not Only by ongoing quarrels within the Dartmouth Community but also most expressly by the discharge by Brown University of a student on the charge to use the characterization of the Dartmouth reporter of a spouting racial and sexual  Nadine Strossen the new president of the american civil liberties Union took the position that the same first amendment rights exercised by the adult Community attach also to students and that the Best Way to discourage bigotry is to discredit it intellectually and morally. The executive director of the National lawyers Guild was on the other Side. The Guild has for most of its life been a communist front organization though it is hard to know just who in Moscow tells it what to do these Days it favors restriction on some forms of speech notably bigotry the speakers principal Point being that those who Are Hurt by bigotry Are least Able to defend themselves against their persecutors. I remember arriving in the late �?T60s, at the Riverside Campus of the University of California to deliver the commencement address. There was much agitation in the chancellors office before the ceremonies began because it was assumed that a Stormy time Lay ahead of the administration. Indeed during the file by to receive diplomas from the Chancellor one graduating filly dropped her academic Robe and accepted the diploma naked. One stallion dropped his Robe and walked Down with his diploma dressed Only in a Jockstrap what the Chancellor had done that morning was simply to assert the inherent authority of his office to confiscate the entire run of the student newspaper which on Page 2 devoted itself to depicting interesting ways to copulate. The student editors were of course enraged Over this administrative act and there was much heavy breathing about going to court which of Ever the controversy got there probably the Chancellor would have been sustained since this was before the reign of Rose  we should remember that the Acle uses exactly the same argument in its defense of pornography a a the first amendment a As it does to defend speech. Those who believe that the differences Between the two can be plausibly made might have no trouble suppressing or expelling the student pornographer but would pause Over taking action against the student racist or homophobe or misogynist or whatever. At Yale a couple of years ago a student was put on probation for making Public fun of homosexuality. His probation was lifted when the new president came in who adheres to a code of permissible conduct defined by a commission headed by the prestigious historian c. Vann Woodward whose findings were latitudinal Ian. Now the argument most often used against suppressing pornography is that the suppressors simply cannot know where to draw the line and that therefore in order to protect James Joyce you have to tolerate a deep  that is an argument Over which people will fuss and rage forever. But even if we Grant that Brown and Dartmouth and Yale have at one time abused the restriction on certain kinds of speech does it follow that College administrations should have no Powers Over students that Congress does no to have Over citizens i done to think so. If let us give an example the students had been apprehended who at Yale during the 1920s lighted a tarred Cross outside the fraternity that had just elected to membership the first jewish undergraduate to be admitted  a pretty Good Case be made for their suspension to give them time to contemplate the implications of such conduct another Way to put it is does no to a Community of scholars have the right to expel a racist from the Community As distinguished from the right to suppress the racists publications. Colleges Are smart to be tolerant. Because people do grow up and the teething pains Are sometimes excruciating. But students should occasionally be reminded that this is precisely the Point they Arentt yet grown up. And it is an abdication of responsibility for College administrations to fail to enhance that process. Universal press Syndicate