Dr. Lane Bove, the Senior Vice President for LMU’s Student affairs, was awarded the Louis E. Ingelheart First Amendment Award by the College Media Association.
This honor isn’t bestowed on an individual annually, but Dr. Bove was presented the award based on her continued support of First Amendment rights. Traditionally, the award has been presented to professional journalists, institutions or advisers, but this marks the first time the award has been given to a university administrator.
Dr. Bove hails from America’s heartland, Marion, Indiana. She insists that her fervent support for the First Amendment was fostered by her Italian-American family. In accepting the award, Bove declared the importance of open discourse in the current American socio-political milieu: “In this day and age, perhaps more than ever, free expression and components of the First Amendment are under attack. From my view there must be a vigorous protection of these rights.”
Criticizing President Trump and the American university system, Bove remarked,
President Trump, both as a candidate and now as a President, has systematically undermined the credibility of the press by attacking it straight on and by suggesting that it’s fake and untrustworthy… On the other side of the spectrum, many of our young people are choosing emotional security and well-being over civil discourse… This need for agreement and to be emotionally secure and unchallenged has led to the silencing of debate and exchange of ideas on our campuses.
Dr. Bove closed her remarks with a statement on her view of free speech, “Bottom line, for me, the First Amendment is not an intellectual construct, it is simply the basis for being American.”
By Jack Lloyd