On Ward Churchill (Am I the only blogger left who hasn’t commented on this guy yet?)

A pet peeve of mine for years has been the tendency by the less-than-tolerant "open-minded" liberals on college campuses to dissuade and protest the invitation of conservative speakers to college-sponsored events, even to the point of causing some events to be cancelled or invitations to be withdrawn. Such immature, self-serving, and selfish antics deprive everyone else of the equally important opportunity to hear someone speak, simply because the protestors don’t like what the “eeeevil conservative” in question may have to say. This is antithetical to one of the fundamental purposes of the university – the free and open exchange and debate of competing ideas.

Repugnant as his views may be, the same principles that should be governing the rights of unpopular conservative speakers to be heard on campus, ought to apply in Churchill’s case as well. You don’t have to go see or hear him; I don’t have to go see or hear him; but people who want to go see and hear him should not be deprived of that opportunity simply because we detest what he has to say. Counter what he has to say by presenting the facts and the better argument, not by suppressing his speech. Conservatives need to grit their teeth and let the same principles that they wish would be applied to their benefit, apply to those they disagree with as well. Otherwise, they sink to the same depths as those who suppress conservative speech on campus have already descended.

So he’s free to say what he wants, as far as I’m concerned. Having said that, as a Colorado resident, I’m none too happy that part of my tax dollars are going toward subsidizing his salary. Perhaps the American Indian Movement (AIM) will be able to find a place for this pseudo-Indian in their organization, and Mr. Churchill will voluntarily choose another form of employment. I’ll continue to hold out hope for that unlikely event.