Recently, the campus, or at least the Forum section, has been abuzz with discussions about Professor Katz and the homophobic article posted on his Web site, a University-controlled domain. While I too find Katz’ views to be offensive, misguided and hateful, I would also like to request something of all parties involved with the discussion over the past two weeks: stop it. No progress is being made, and the debate is resulting in little more than lots of letters to the editor in my inbox and the same points being made over and over again about how Katz’ views are incorrect, which, not surprisingly, has not yet changed his mind about homophobia.
Many of these letters and articles seem to blame Katz for stirring up this debate; last Friday’s article, titled “I am not a debate,” in particular seemed to hold this view, an assertion that is entirely not true. Jeff Stepp, one of my fellow editors, brought this issue to public discussion, and Katz has remained relatively quiet publishing a few letters in response to the outpouring of responses directed his way since the publication of the original article. Katz never set out to make his views into an actively political debate; he simply has an article posted, along with many others, on his Web site.
For the same reason that Holocaust deniers hold tenured positions at school across the nation, such as at our close neighbor Northwestern, Katz has the right to have offensive views. It is his right to think, write, and say whatever he wants; though the question of University Web space is still relevant, that has long been passed over as the focus of this debate in favor of debating homophobia itself. What many people need to start understanding is that the University’s hands are essentially tied. Though Katz’ views may offend a good deal of its population, he certainly is not forcing them on anyone, and they most likely would have remained unknown to the majority of the campus, had there not been an article in this section about them. What Katz thinks and writes is his own personal business; though the decision to leave the essay posted on university Web space may be questionable, the administration certainly would not want to deal with a situation where it appears that they are stifling free speech, which, almost certainly, would be how Katz would portray it.
As Katz has already shown himself to be quite skilled at framing issues in ways most convenient to him, the University must be wary of potentially taking action. Furthermore, as anyone at Wash. U. knows, few things are more important to this school than its reputation; do we really think Wrighton and crew are going to risk the established name our school has been building up for a decade over an article online? Doubtful. Until Professor Katz actually puts his homophobia into action, all of the outcries of protest are useless; Katz manages to frame the issue in exactly the right way that his “moral” decision is difficult to rebut or argue against in any meaningful way.
The best advice I can give to the people who are furious, agitated and relentlessly trying to prove Professor Katz wrong is this: let it go. By allowing this “controversy” to go on for so long, it only gives more credence and air time to his hateful and disturbing thoughts. Ideas such as having a debate between Katz and a student are ludicrous; why even bother giving him another forum in which to express his views that disturb you so much? Just as I wouldn’t waste my time arguing with a Holocaust denier, those who are railing against Katz with such vigor would do better to direct their energies elsewhere, towards an effort that could be pro-active, rather than reactionary.
The University has no right to take any sort of drastic action regarding Katz as long as his views are kept out of the classroom; given the administration’s lack of response thus far, it seems that they are comfortable taking no action at all. While this may be difficult to stomach, try looking at it from a different perspective. We are lucky enough to have freedom of thought, press and speech in this country; although a few confused and unfortunate people may take advantage of these rights and abuse them to try to spread hate, trying to take their own rights away will only restrict the multitude of freedoms that we hold so dear.
Matt is a senior in Arts & Sciences and a Forum editor.