Hateful speech revisited
Power Line
Patrick Coyle is the Director of Campus Lectures for Young America's Foundation, the group that paid for the appearance of Ann Coulter at St. Olaf College and St. Thomas University on April 17 and 18, respectively. We have covered the condemnation of Coulter's talk as "hateful speech" by St. Thomas President Father Dennis Dease. Coyle has now released a statement on the events in issue: "University presidents should apologize for rude students"...
Coyle writes:
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The leftist students at the University of St. Thomas were also eager to disrupt [Coulter's] speech and commandeered the first row of the balcony. In a silly display by these students, when Coulter merely mentioned Bill Clinton the entire row erupted in applause and cheers. Another individual began to heckle her after every sentence.
Unfortunately for the Left, it did not account for a packed hall, overflowing with students and community members who support Coulter and were eager to hear her ideas. These supporters were not about to see her speech interrupted. Upon Coulter's appearance on stage, the grand majority of the crowd burst into applause and gave her a standing ovation. During the question and answer session, which is designed to ignite thoughtful discourse, whenever a leftist began ranting about his or her personal disdain for Coulter, the members of the audience repeatedly shouted, "Ask a Question!" Despite the disruptions from the Left, campus security actually maintained control and removed a rowdy protestor.
Neither university president acknowledged this rude and disruptive behavior by the liberal students. Did these presidents ever bother to contact the conservatives on campus to hear their views, or were they just basing their comments from talking with detractors? Fr. Dease never called event organizer Katie Kieffer to ask for her opinion. You would think before making a statement Fr. Dease would at least contact the event organizers to hear their points-of-view. A few days ago, Katie attempted to meet with Fr. Dease and was told by his assistant, "He is not meeting with students on that issue." [I understand that Father Dease has subsequently found time to schedule a meeting with Ms. Kieffer in mid-May.]
Fr. Dease seems to have forgotten that his university invited liberal commentator Al Franken to speak in March [Franken spoke at the University of St. Thomas Law School on February 24]. Of course, Al Franken is the author of the timeless book, "Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat Idiot." Is that not "hateful" speech? I suppose since Al Franken is a liberal, and Rush a conservative, that is acceptable by Dease's standards.
Since most university presidents are so eager to support "diversity" and ensure others are sensitive to opposing ideas, perhaps Dease and [St. Olaf President Christopher] Thomforde should institute sensitivity training for campus leftists who use hateful speech that "vulgarize our culture" with cursing, cat-calls, and heckling during a public lecture.
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In referring to Franken's best-selling book on Rush Limbaugh, Coyle understandably misses the humorous intent behind the title of Franken's book. Since the expiration of the "Al Franken Decade" fifteen years ago, Franken hasn't been funny; he has become just another crude political hack. Of course, that didn't stop St. Thomas from paying the freight for Franken's appearance at the law school this past February, or cause Father Dease to hesitate before issuing his condemnation of Coulter's talk.
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