{"id":13822,"date":"2014-05-19T08:44:53","date_gmt":"2014-05-19T12:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/?p=13822"},"modified":"2014-05-19T08:44:53","modified_gmt":"2014-05-19T12:44:53","slug":"commencement-speaker-controversies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/?p=13822","title":{"rendered":"the commencement speaker controversies"},"content":{"rendered":"

IMF chief Christine Lagarde, former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, activist\u00a0Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and\u00a0Colorado state Sen. Michael Johnston (D) are among the commencement speakers who have drawn\u00a0objections from students this year. Several\u00a0have withdrawn from speaking or been disinvited in the face of such criticism.<\/span><\/p>\n

Compared to the people <\/a>who decry\u00a0student bigotry in these cases, I take a relatively complex, three-part view.<\/p>\n

First, protesting a commencement speaker is not a violation of free speech; it is an act of free speech. Joel Whitney argues that point well in The New Republic<\/a>. A\u00a0commencement podium is not an open forum like Hyde Park Corner or a public access cable channel. It is allocated as a high honor to one person\u00a0whom the institution explicitly endorses. Students may contest that endorsement.<\/p>\n

For example, in announcing the choice of\u00a0Johnston to be the Harvard Ed. School’s speaker, the dean said<\/a>, “As a teacher, principal, and entrepreneur, Mike\u2019s leadership has made a real difference in the lives of countless students.” (I can’t resist noting that the previous sentence contains a dangling modifier<\/a>.) Dean Ryan continued, “As a legislator in the Colorado State Senate, [Johnston]\u00a0is a nationally recognized advocate for school finance reform, fair teacher evaluations, and education equity. I believe that our community will be inspired, as I have been, by his passion and his willingness to find solutions to notoriously difficult challenges in education.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That was a substantive statement and a prediction. The dean stated that the invitee was\u00a0great and the whole community would\u00a0be inspired by him. I have no objection to Sen. Johnston, but students are entitled to contest\u00a0these claims.<\/span><\/p>\n

Smith President Kathleen McCartney is right that<\/a>\u00a0\u201can invitation to speak at a commencement is not an endorsement of all views or policies of an individual or the institution she or he leads. …\u00a0Such a test would preclude virtually anyone in public office or position of influence. Moreover, such a test would seem anathema to our core values of free thought and diversity of opinion.\u201d But\u00a0an invitation to speak at a commencement is<\/em> a claim\u00a0that the invitee is excellent in some respect, and the institution should expect objections if members of the community\u00a0are known to disagree. <\/span><\/p>\n

Second,\u00a0when students protest a commencement speaker, neither the invitee nor the institution should back down. To withdraw in the face of criticism is to frustrate\u00a0free speech. After Smith College invitee Lagarde, and some students objected, the IMF chief withdrew, saying<\/a>, “In the last few days,\u00a0…\u00a0it has become evident that a number of students and faculty members would not welcome me as a commencement speaker. I respect their views, and I understand the vital importance of academic freedom. However, to preserve the celebratory spirit of commencement day, I believe it is best to withdraw my participation.”<\/span><\/p>\n

If a commencement is just a\u00a0celebratory occasion, spoiled\u00a0by controversy as easily as a picnic by rain, then colleges should invite completely uncontroversial figures\u00a0to share pabulum from the podium. If\u00a0a commencement is an opportunity for learning, then it will draw\u00a0dissent, and both the institution and the speaker should expect that. If they drop the speaker to avoid controversy, they don’t care about free speech.<\/p>\n

Third, being exposed to views you disagree with is valuable. It’s educational and challenging. It is most<\/em> valuable\u00a0when the views are forcefully expressed by someone\u00a0who genuinely holds them. Thus liberal students may benefit from hearing Lagarde<\/span>, Rice,\u00a0<\/span>Ali, and\u00a0<\/span>Johnston, even if they don’t enjoy these\u00a0talks\u00a0all that much on their graduation day. There is a valid principle implied in the claim\u00a0that these speakers have “free speech,” even if it’s\u00a0wrongly interpreted to mean that they have some kind of individual right to give a commencement address. (If we have such a\u00a0right, I’m cashing mine in and speaking next year at the University of Hawaii). “Free speech” doesn’t mean a right to give a commencement address, but it is shorthand for the value of exposure to challenging views.<\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore, I don’t think students should express their objections in this\u00a0form: “We despise the invitee and demand that she not speak here at all.” Instead, I think they should say, “We despise the views of the invitee for the following reasons and plan to make our arguments\u00a0known during commencement.” That reflects an embrace of free speech rather than a\u00a0fear of it. One model is the critical letter<\/a> that Catholic University professors wrote to John Boehner after he was invited to speak there. They\u00a0first offered\u00a0a strong, substantive, moral critique:<\/p>\n

Mr. Speaker, your voting record is at variance from one of the Church\u2019s most ancient moral teachings. From the apostles to the present, the Magisterium of the Church has insisted that those in power are morally obliged to preference the needs of the poor. Your record in support of legislation to address the desperate needs of the poor is among the worst in Congress. This fundamental concern should have great urgency for Catholic policy makers. Yet, even now, you work in opposition to it.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That was\u00a0actually a devastating rebuke. But the professors went on to welcome him to campus\u00a0and held\u00a0out hope that the interchange might\u00a0influence him:<\/p>\n

We congratulate you on the occasion of your commencement address to The Catholic University of America. It is good for Catholic universities to host and engage the thoughts of powerful public figures, even Catholics such as yourself who fail to recognize (whether out of a lack of awareness or dissent) important aspects of Catholic teaching. We write in the hope that this visit will reawaken your familiarity with the teachings of your Church on matters of faith and morals as they relate to governance.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that every\u00a0group of angry students must\u00a0use exactly\u00a0this model, but it is one worth considering. And then they should get their money’s worth on graduation day by engaging an interesting speaker, actively and critically.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IMF chief Christine Lagarde, former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, activist\u00a0Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and\u00a0Colorado state Sen. Michael Johnston (D) are among the commencement speakers who have drawn\u00a0objections from students this year. Several\u00a0have withdrawn from speaking or been disinvited in the face of such criticism. Compared to the people who decry\u00a0student bigotry in these cases, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academia"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13822"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13826,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13822\/revisions\/13826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}