MINNEAPOLIS
On the University of St. Thomas campus recently, activists unfurled a large banner: “Let Tutu Speak!”
By evening, St. Thomas’ president, the Rev. Dennis Dease, had received more than 2,500 e-mails from a national Jewish peace group urging him to reverse his decision not to invite Nobel Peace laureate Desmond Tutu to campus.
“There is an overwhelming majority of students who are appalled by this,” said Stephanie Edquist, 21, editor of the student newspaper. “Students are saying. `Who else is going to be restricted from coming to campus?'”
The dust-up is part of a constant tension at colleges nationwide, one pitting free speech and academic freedom against views some find objectionable.
Last month, Columbia University’s decision to allow Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak drew protesters. Speakers with strong political opinions – from Ann Coulter on the right to Michael Moore on the left- regularly draw ire on campuses. Many religious-affiliated universities have taken heat for speakers who hold positions that, some say, go against particular doctrines.
What has changed of late has been the reaction of some colleges and universities. There is a growing trend, according to the American Association of University Professors, of schools inviting speakers and then un-inviting them after opposition groups turn up the heat.
St. Thomas never invited Tutu to speak, but declined to approve an invitation as part of the PeaceJam, an event the school has hosted for the past four years. PeaceJam officials have arranged to have the South African archbishop and activist speak at its April event, which will now be held at Metropolitan State University.
St. Thomas officials said that local Jewish leaders they consulted felt that Tutu had made remarks offensive to the Jewish people in a 2002 speech about Israeli policy toward the Palestinians.
But AAUP president Cary Nelson, an English professor at the University of Illinois, contends that allowing speakers with varying viewpoints is essential to academic freedom.
“If people on a campus are willing to stand back and tolerate speech from groups they oppose, they can win their own freedom to invite their own speaker the next time around,”
Last month the AAUP issued an open letter about the importance of free speech and the marketplace of ideas on a university campus.
One thing that is often lost, Nelson said, is that inviting someone to speak on campus is not the same as endorsing what they have to say.
That’s part of why Nelson called St. Thomas’ decision “pathetic.”
“I’m not in personal agreement with everything Desmond Tutu has said and done in his career, but a more distinguished figure to bring to a university campus is hard to imagine.”
Gerald Rinehart, the vice provost for student affairs at the University of Minnesota, said the state’s largest school has a pretty open policy when it comes to speakers.
“When you have controversial people, there’s going to be controversy,” Rinehart said. “In general, the way to respond to speech you don’t agree with is with more speech, not by silencing or trying to avoid that point of view.”
Tutu spoke at the University of Minnesota in 2003. There has been little controversy at the university since Michael Moore’s appearance for presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004. That, however, could change over the next 13 months.
In 2005, the University of St. Thomas came under fire for permitting an appearance by conservative author and commentator Ann Coulter, sponsored by the College Republicans and another student group. Dease issued a statement afterwards, saying her “performance went far beyond the bounds of what is commonly accepted as civil discourse.”
“I think we learned a lesson from that speech,” said Doug Hennes, a university vice president. “We need to look carefully at who we invite to be speakers on campus.”
At this point, Hennes said, Dease is not reconsidering his decision but is looking “at the possibility of a forum to talk about issues that have been raised so far and we will consider that.”
Theology professor David Landry said that the Progressive Alliance, a St. Thomas faculty group, planned to circulate two petitions this week, one asking Dease to reconsider his decision, the other asking him to reinstate Cris Tofolo, who was removed as director of St. Thomas’ peace and justice studies program.
Tofolo, who remains on the faculty, said she was removed because she pressed the university to allow Tutu to speak. Dease denies that was the reason but would not discuss the issue.
At a recent meeting of the Minnesota Rabbinical Association, rabbis talked about the Tutu issue and expressed concern that the public might mistakenly think that St. Thomas made the decision based on the request of local Jewish groups, said Rabbi Sim Glaser of Temple Israel in Minneapolis. Glaser and Dease said that was not the case.
“I would have had no problem with them allowing him to speak,” said Glaser, who is not a spokesman for the group, “but if individuals had taken issue with what he said, or what he stands for, they should be given the right to respond publicly.”