Speakers stir controversy on campus
Around the nation, the 2007-2008 school year saw controversial speakers stirring discussion and debate on college campuses.
The trend began in September when Columbia University drew national attention after inviting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak on the university’s campus in New York.
Ahmadinejad, widely protested by Columbia students and faculty, touched off a firestorm of controversy with his speech when he denied the existence of homosexuals in Iran.
Bringing in such a controversial speaker according to former Student Union (SU) President Neil Patel is not necessarily a bad thing.
“I don’t think controversy should be the sole motive, but if the speaker can be educational, I don’t think controversy should prevent universities from bringing one in,” Patel, a graduating senior, said.
Indeed, as the year progressed, Washington University seemed to have taken Patel’s words to heart and generated its own fair share of controversy regarding the selection of campus speakers.
On Feb. 19, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales delivered a Student Union-funded speech in which he recounted his life story, addressed many issues related to the war on terror and answered various questions submitted by an audience of about 600 University students, faculty and staff.
“Gonzales had a pretty superficial speech,” Patel said. “But the College Republicans and the College Democrats and the Wash. U. Peace Coalition put forth a lot of effort to educate the student body, and so I think that was a very good thing.”
Gonzales was invited to speak by members of the College Republicans, a student group on campus, and was paid $30,000 for his appearance.
Several student groups on campus, including the College Democrats and the Wash. U. Peace Coalition, protested the event by staging a demonstration outside of the 560 Building on Delmar Boulevard, where Gonzales delivered his speech.
More than 100 University students and faculty waved signs and chanted in protest, with some of them dressed in orange jumpsuits in imitation of the terrorist inmates at Guantanamo Bay whom they believed to be wrongly interned and tortured. The groups’ protest generally centered on what students considered to be Alberto Gonzales’ objectionable tenure as attorney general, as well as the University’s decision to fund his speech.
The protesters had been under the public eye even before the day of Gonzales’ speech, especially when it was announced that SU would provide funding for demonstrations. For the first time in recent memory, the University would be allocating funds to both an event and that same event’s protest.
One month later, the University drew heat once again when it refused to allow Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to speak on campus. The University, which will play host to the only vice presidential debate in October, made the decision in an effort to avoid appearing to favor any particular candidates in the presidential race.
The University’s highly-contested decision led to the formation of the Student Civic Initiative, a student group dedicated to the promotion of civic engagement on campus through the invitation of more political speakers to the University.
“I think when we do bring speakers to campus, we should be sure that they have some substance behind them and that they’ll teach the student body a lesson, be that in what they say or in what students do when they respond to them when they come to campus,” Patel said.
To finish the year, the University chose a less controversial speaker when it announced that Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s “Hardball,” would deliver the University’s Commencement address.
When asked if he thinks Matthews will cap the year with yet another controversy, Patel expressed some doubt.
“He was brought in here to talk to a class and to parents that come from a lot of different points of view,” Patel said.
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