DUGAN REMEMBERED

Longtime UM professor,
defender of First Amendment,
dies at 91

By Adam Weinacker
J-School Web Reporter
STUDENTS AND PEERS remember Edward B. Dugan in many ways, but one thing they remember most about him are his strong principles.

The 91-year-old former J-School professor died last month and will be remembered as a champion of the First Amendment who defended his students’ freedom of expression during times when many others wanted censorship.

"He was always very kind to students," said Jerry Holloron, a former student and friend of Dugan. "But more important than that were his ideals, particularly concerning the freedom of the press."

Dugan began teaching journalism at the University of Montana in 1937, and was the faculty adviser to the student newspaper, the Montana Kaimin, for much of his career at the J-School. Through it all, Holloron said, Dugan stood firm to protect students' First Amendment rights.

"He had this strange notion that students could write what they wanted to," said Holloron, who was Kaimin editor in 1963-64 and later taught at the J-School from 1974-1990. "He really believed in the First Amendment in a way that nobody at that time thought to."

And Dugan was a believer during trying times.

In the mid-1960s, the Kaimin, under controversial editor David Rorvik, printed divisive editorials promoting pot smoking on UM’s Oval and the use of birth control by Catholics, to name just a few. The publication became so notorious that newspapers across the state, and even Gov. Tim Babcock, attacked its views.

"The Kaimin then was a renegade bunch, I’ll tell you," said Bob Pantzer, UM’s president from 1966 to 1974. "It really just rained hell on the countryside."

Pantzer knew Dugan well then, and they continued their friendship talking about the "good old days" until Dugan’s death.

Pantzer also knew how Dugan caught outside pressure to rein in the Kaimin writers, but he said Dugan never cracked and always continued his support of free speech.

"Now and then he would come over," Pantzer remembers. "He would say ‘Well, President, you’re going to see the Kaimin today, and you’re not going to like it.’"

But Dugan would explain that he couldn’t act as a censor.

"He would say, ‘I would be violating my position as a journalism professor and would violate what journalism is all about,’ " Pantzer said. "He had a tough job."

Dugan graduated from the University of Missouri with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism. His career at UM was interrupted while he served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy during World War II, but he later returned to teach advertising and public relations, among other journalism courses. During his time at the J-School, he served two short stints as acting dean in the mid-1960s.

On Thursday, Jan. 9, 2003, he died of natural causes at his home in Missoula.

Aside from journalism, Dugan was known to play a pretty good hand of poker and knock down quite a few pins while bowling.

"He was a first-rate poker player," said Carol Van Valkenburg, a J-School professor who was a friend and former student of Dugan's. "He delighted in other people's big winnings."

Professor Emeritus Ed Dugan gets a birthday hug from Carol Van Valkenburg at Dean Stone Night 2002.

VanValkenburg said Dugan is still mentioned at faculty poker gatherings. The nickel-and-dime games will typically have "Dugan bets," a 15-cent bet in memory of how Dugan would stick to that wager regardless of his hand, she said.

Dan Foley, Kaimin editor in 1964-65, remembers Dugan as "one of the most personable people I have ever known." He said Kaimin staffers often didn’t know about the censoring pressures Dugan faced from the administration.

"I would imagine there were times that people would harangue on him," Foley said, "and we would never hear about it."

Holloran, now a copy editor at The Seattle Times, said that in retrospect, Dugan was a "shield for the Kaimin."

Dugan probably lost a lot of sleep over the school paper, Foley said.

But he never authoritatively told the editors or reporters what or what not to write, Holloran said. Dugan defended the students’ right to print, even if it was an outrageous "Jesus shaves his armpits" editorial around Easter time.

"From a student standpoint, if Dugan had come in and said, ‘Don’t run that,’ … it wouldn’t have been in the paper," Holloran said. "But I’m sure he never took the opportunity to go beyond adviser."

On one occasion, Dugan advised the Kaimin staff regarding profanity — or what now would be called pseudo-profanity — said Bob McGiffert, Dugan’s long-time friend and faculty peer.

During the 1968-1969 school year, the Kaimin staff debated a story about a new Missoula shop, McGiffert said. The story included a section about the store’s controversial counterculture buttons, one of which read "Folk You."

McGiffert remembers Dugan’s oft-quoted advice about printing the sort-of-naughty four-letter word: "Ed said, ‘Well, it’s kind of like smoking in the Christian Science reading room. Just because it’s never been done doesn’t mean it can’t be done.’ "

"He was a very witty guy," McGiffert said. "No phoniness about him."

Holloran, who knew Dugan as a professor, fellow faculty member and friend, said he had always liked him.

"He was one of the few people that I had as a student who every year rose in my esteem," he said. "A pretty remarkable guy."

Dugan is survived by his wife, Lue Matthews Dugan, whom he married in 1941, and his son, Frank Matthews Dugan.

In remembrance of Dugan, the J-School has created a memorial fund for those who would like to donate. Checks can be made out to the UM Foundation and should accompany a letter specifying the "Ed Dugan Memorial Fund" as the account. Donations can be sent to: UM Foundation, P.O. Box 7159, Missoula, MT 59807.

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