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Churchill's Speech Canceled out of Concern for Student SafetyThis letter to the editor appeared in the February 19, 2005 edition of the Capital Times (Madison, Wisc.). Dear Editor: John Nichols, in a recent column on the Ward Churchill controversy, wrote, "Campuses in other states, where there is less of a tradition of academic freedom and respect for the First Amendment, have responded to the pressure from right-wing media to cancel Churchill's talks. But Wisconsin has a long history of setting a higher standard -- and Chancellor Miller's decision honors that standard." Since the controversy began at Hamilton College and since Churchill's appearance was canceled on our campus, I believe readers can only assume that Nichols was including Hamilton in his reference to campuses in other states. It was certainly not a lack of academic freedom or respect for the First Amendment that prevented Hamilton, a college that had previously hosted the head of the Nazi Party among other controversial speakers, from hosting Churchill. Nor was it media pressure. In fact, it is well documented, beginning with a death threat recorded on voice mail at the Denver Post (on reporter Howard Pankratz's phone) that there were over a hundred threats directed toward Churchill, Hamilton's president and Hamilton's community prior to the cancellation of the event. Quite a few of these were death threats, and five are currently under active investigation by state and local police. One caller announced that he planned to bring a gun to campus. At the same time, unlike your governor, our governor issued a statement of harsh criticism toward our college for hosting Churchill. Given his words, we couldn't help but wonder what kind of state police assistance might have been available to our small rural college should we have needed it. When the director of public safety on campus as well as local police told us that they could not guarantee the safety of our students, we canceled the event. True, the safety of our students superseded all else, but I believe any rational individual held responsible for the safety of 1,750 students would have made the same decision. Vige Barrie |
Upcoming EventsMCAT Prep Class (11/22)Thanksgiving Reces... (11/23) A trio of exhibiti... (11/23) More ... News Highlights Boilermaker Draws Many Hamilton RunnersMore than 50 Hamilton students, employees and alumni and their family members participated in the 32nd annual Boilermaker, a 15k road race in Utica, on July 12. This year's race boasted 10,580 finishers, led by Moroccan Ridouane Harroufi, who won with a time of 43 minutes, 56 seconds. The Boilermaker annually attracts elite runners from all over the world, including Olympians and world record holders. The 9.3 mile Boilermaker is rated as one of the top 100 races in the U.S. by Runner's World magazine. See statistical summaries for 2009 here. More ... John Murad '80 Appointed to SUNY Board of TrusteesJohn L. Murad Jr. '80, a partner with the Syracuse law firm Hancock & Estabrook LLP, has been appointed to the State University of New York Board of Trustees. SUNY is the nation's largest public university system. Murad was nominated for the position by Gov. David Paterson, and his nomination was confirmed by the New York State Senate June 3. The Board of Trustees is responsible for the overall central administration, supervision and coordination of the SUNY institutions. More ... |
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