IN LATE January, Gov. Bob McDonnell was selected by the University's Committee on Commencement and Convocations to speak at the 2011 graduation ceremony. Traditionally, the new Virginia governor is invited to speak at the commencement immediately following his election. According to University spokesperson Carol Wood, however, "Last year the committee wanted to stray from tradition to ask [former University President John T.] Casteen to be the speaker, as it was his final year. We deferred [McDonnell's] invitation to this year."
The selection committee composed of faculty, staff and students typically nominates a variety of speakers for commencement. The University president then makes the final decision. This year, however, the selection process was especially streamlined as no other candidate was even considered for the honor. "This was a one-nominee, unanimous year," Wood said.
McDonnell's selection, predictably, has aroused controversy at the University. The contentious decisions of the new state administration - decisions made not only by McDonnell but also by his polarizing attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli - have both alarmed and alienated the University's liberal contingent. McDonnell's selection as commencement speaker has garnered opposition from those who disapprove of his political policies, particularly his perceived conservative social agenda.
The general tack taken by the factions aligned in opposition to McDonnell being commencement speaker is that his social views, especially his opinions concerning women, gays and the Civil War, are ill-suited to an institution as diverse as the University. This position was evident in a recent Cavalier Daily column [A degree of controversy, Feb. 2] in which columnist Ashley Chappo criticized McDonnell's selection, arguing that his "sentiments are far from enlightened and only serve to reverse Virginia's struggle to embrace diversity."
This line of reasoning is not confined to Virginia. It has been employed to silence speakers on campuses across North America. Last March, conservative commentator Ann Coulter cancelled a talk at the University of Ottawa after the school's provost sent her an e-mail suggesting that her views, if not properly moderated, could warrant a criminal prosecution under Canada's hate speech laws. A similar incident occurred at Princeton in November 2009, when student groups withdrew a speaking invitation to controversial lecturer and writer Nonie Darwish. Darwish was effectively censored after students and faculty expressed their outrage at Darwish's incendiary, anti-Islam views.
Those who oppose potentially offensive campus speakers cloak intolerance in the mantle of tolerance. Dictionary.com defines tolerance as "a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one's own." Excluding views that conflict with your own is the opposite of tolerance; Advocating censorship under the guise of promoting openness and diversity is both dishonest and hypocritical. Censorship is the tool of the bigot and can only be employed to advance an agenda of intolerance and conformity.
There is a tendency within the modern liberal establishment to exclude individuals who are deemed insufficiently pluralistic, diverse or open-minded. Such exclusion is merely a manifestation of a well-disguised prejudice. Tolerance is not just a wishy-washy catchphrase used to promote political correctness. It requires a willingness to be subject to views with which we do not agree, even if those views are themselves intolerant. A willingness to embrace diversity necessarily includes accepting those who do not embrace diversity.
Speech is not free if it is allotted only to those with whom we agree. This is especially important at a university, where a variety of influences contribute to a flourishing marketplace of ideas. An uninhibited intellectual discourse is conducive to the ultimate victory of truth. Ideas should not be excluded from this discourse simply because we disapprove of their content. Intolerance - regardless of whether it is sanctimoniously cloaked in the garb of "diversity" - cannot be permitted to trump free speech rights.
McDonnell's selection as commencement speaker is in keeping with a University tradition. It is absurd to suggest that this tradition be abrogated simply because the current governor has incited debate and opposition. To reject McDonnell because of his political views is unworthy of the University's intellectual heritage.
As Thomas Jefferson so famously noted, "This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it." To justify censorship in the name of progress and toleration is to make a mockery of those values.
Austin Raynor's column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at a.raynor@cavalierdaily.com.
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