Mike Hanley: There Are Better Choices Than Whitehorn
Writer says university must do more to present a wider range of voices on important issues
Wednesday, January 1, 2003
I am a graduate (Trinity '82) that believes there is no reason to have Ms. Whitehorn speak at Duke. There must be many other "experts" on HIV/AIDS in prison who do not happen to be convicted terrorists. The thing that surprises me is why that obvious point was not raised with Becky Thompson [editor's note: Thompson issued the invitation to Whitehorn].
Is the administration not allowed to question the speaker choices of its faculty under any circumstances? (My guess is that if a professor invited David Duke to speak, the administration would have something to say.)
With regard to the assertion that you have speakers covering a wide range of topics, my comment is "so what". That is irrelevant. The real question is whether the University is presenting a range of views on specific topics. Ms. Whitehorn is someone from the fringe whose opinions can only be described as radical. Will the University insist that Becky Thompson have a speaker with views that are significantly different than Whitehorn's so that a complete picture is presented? If not, then the result is only a partial education, something not worthy of the great traditions at Duke.
It is this lack of diversity in viewpoints where Duke is really cheating its students. To put it in simplistic liberal vs. conservative terms, the speakers and their perspectives at Duke are overwhelmingly liberal. You owe it to your students to present a total picture on all issues. While it is probably true that the overwhelming majority of professors and members of the Duke administration will find inviting conservative speakers to be akin to eating worms, it must be done if you are to be considered educators rather than indoctrinators.
Best regards,
Mike Hanley
VP, Business Development
Precision Remotes, Inc
Other Comments
Roy Kiefer: I went to war to protect American freedom of speech