A loud, but conservative voice speaks out

Deirdre Newman

NEWPORT BEACH -- Ken Hearlson, a political science professor at OCC,

brought his conservative views and torch for academic freedom to a

gathering of Republican women in Newport Beach on Friday.

The Newport Harbor Republican Women invited Hearlson to speak at the

Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club to champion the freedom of speech rights of

conservatives, said Sally DeBrun, program chairwoman.

Hearlson mainly focused on his fundamental belief that conservatives

should be entitled to the same degree of academic freedom as liberals.

“If you’re going to have academic freedom for the left, you have to

have the same standards for the right,” Hearlson said. “You can’t have a

double standard.”

Detaching the microphone from the lectern, the passionate political

science professor addressed the crowd of about 50 people as he would a

class of college students.

He briefly related the incident last fall that catapulted him into the

national spotlight when he was accused of harassing some Muslim students

in class a few days after the terrorist attacks. Hearlson was eventually

cleared of most of the charges but received what he considers a reprimand

from the college president that he equates with prior restraint.

While Hearlson emphasized the necessity for academic freedom in the

classroom, he acknowledged the ambiguity of the issue.

“It’s like trying to take a bowl of Jell-O and lift it up,” Hearlson

said. “It moves in so many places, you can’t grasp it.”

Hearlson said he was surprised when the Muslim students took offense

at his lecture and appalled when they advocated that he should be fired.

He blamed the backlash against him on the fact that he espouses

conservative beliefs.

“The reason it became such an issue is because I was a conservative,

and those views are not well heard in community colleges,” Hearlson said.

Although Hearlson is still battling with college officials over the

reprimand -- he is awaiting arbitration to get the document removed from

his file -- he encouraged audience members to get to know the diverse

offerings available on Orange Coast College’s campus.

He also used the forum to encourage the audience to help out those

less fortunate, including Latinos who live in Costa Mesa’s Westside area.

“Republican conservatives can’t sit in our beautiful homes,” Hearlson

said. “We have to be with these folks. We have to help.”

Many of the women said they appreciated the opportunity to hear from

the man who gained national prominence defending his cause.

“I only peripherally knew what was going on,” Bobbi Cox said. “The

controversy has brought this to international recognition where it wasn’t

being discussed. Fortunately, he didn’t back down.”

* Deirdre Newman covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at o7 deirdre.newman@latimes.comf7 .