Author: Asaf Romirowsky and Jonathan
Calt Harris
Publication: FrontPageMagazine.com
Date: January 28, 2004
URL: http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=11945
The university exists for the free
exchange of ideas, right? Then why is it that representatives of one half
the argument - the conservative half - need bodyguards and metal detectors
when they speak on North American campuses, and their leftist counterparts
almost never do?
Consider three suggestive parallels
of how the Right needs security and the Left is welcomed.
Government officials. In September
2002, Benjamin Netanyahu, a former Likud (conservative) prime minister
of Israel was to speak at Concordia University in Montreal, but he never
made it. Nearly a thousand anti-Israel protestors rioted prior to the event,[1]
smashing windows and hurling furniture at police, kicking and spitting
on people going to the event. "By lunchtime," notes the Globe & Mail
daily, "the vestibule of Concordia's main downtown building was littered
with paper, upturned chairs, broken furniture and the choking aftereffects
of pepper spray."[2]
In contrast, Hanan Ashrawi, a well-known
Palestinian politician and activist, never faces such opposition. As she
makes the rounds of American universities (such as the University of Colorado,
Beloit, and Yeshiva), she speaks without interference, and what protests
take place are completely non- violent. At Colorado College, students held
small signs and a rebuttal was offered after the speech.[3] At the University
of Pennsylvania, protesting students were so respectful, Tarek Jallad,
president of the Penn Arab Student Society which sponsored her visit, commented:
"I was very happy with the way the crowd showed her a lot of respect."[4]
1960s activists. David Horowitz,
a founder of the New Left movement in the 1960s and now a high-profile
conservative, speaks often at campuses and often faces problems. Protestors
at the University of Chicago shouted at him and disrupted his talk before
he uttered a word.[5] At the University of Michigan, "the university administration
assigned 12 armed guards and a German Shepherd to protect the safety" of
those who came to hear him speak. [6]
By comparison, Angela Davis, a former
Black Panther and still today a far-leftist, enjoys the highest of esteem
when visiting campuses. As she tours American colleges, she meets no protests,
requires no excessive security, and is dutifully acclaimed by campus newspapers
for her "wise presence."[7]
Middle East specialists. Daniel
Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, a Harvard University Ph.D., author
of twelve books, and a recent Bush appointee to U.S. Institute for Peace,
needs security precautions at more than half his campus appearances. At
York University in Toronto, for example, security provisions included "a
24-hour lockdown on the building beforehand, metal detectors for the audience,
identification checks."[8] Multiple bodyguards escorted Pipes through a
back entrance and kept him in a holding room until just before his talk.
More than a hundred police, including ten mounted on horses, stood by to
ensure the speaker's safety and the event not being disrupted.[9]
In contrast, John Esposito, head
of Georgetown University's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, a
Temple University Ph.D., the author of more than twenty books,[10] and
key advisor to the Clinton State Department,[11] enjoys honor and praise
at the campuses. He recently served as keynote speaker for the inauguration
of Stanford University's new Islamic Studies program,[12] for example,
with no hint of special security.
A clear pattern emerges. Speakers
on the left are welcomed, conservatives require strict security measures.
This contravenes a post-9/11 statement
by the American Association of University Professors that "specific attention
should be given to the freedom to invite and hear controversial speakers."[13]
Some "controversial" positions - vilifying the United States and its president
- are just fine on the campus, whereas those who support the president,
the war on terror, Israel, the free market, or personal freedom must summon
(and sometimes pay for) a small army.
The incipient threat of violence
on the university makes it unique in North American life. Minority views
can be espoused without intimidation in the media, in political forums
and even in corporations. Far from being the institution where ideas are
freely exchanged, intolerance that would never be permitted elsewhere has
become the norm on campuses.
The message is clear; if visiting
conservatives require police protection to speak for an hour or two, local
conservatives and others who support causes unpopular on the campus must
tread even more carefully. And that message is indeed received. One visiting
conservative reports hearing from a Harvard student "that her open identification
could cost her, damaging her grades and her academic future. That her professors,
who control her final grades, were likely to view such activism unkindly,
and that the risk was too great."[14]
This environment - so one-sided
that students censor themselves for fear of harassment or retribution -
is exactly what parents, donors, and taxpayers do not expect to receive
for their education dollars. They need to do something about the crisis
that afflicts North American universities.
ENDNOTES:
[1] Peritz, Ingrid and Ha, Tu Thanh,
"Concordia: A campus in conflict," Toronto Globe and Mail, Saturday, September
14, 2002. Pg. A1.
[2] Peritz, Ingrid. "Israel's Netanyahu
greeted with violence in Montréal," Toronto Globe and Mail, Tuesday,
September 10, 2002. Page A1
[3] Pipes, Daniel, The War on Campus,
New York Post, September 17, 2002.
[4] http://www.campaigntoendthesanctions.org/ashwari.htm
[5] Horowitz, David. "Little Totalitarians,"
FrontPage Magazine, May 14, 2001
[6] Horowitz, David. "Ad Censored
By Emory Left," FrontPage Magazine, October 22, 2002.
[7] Stevens, Jeff, "Schools Not
Jails," Ruckus, March, 2001.
[8] Brean, Joseph. "Pro-Israel scholar
wins bid to speak," National Post, January 29, 2003.
[9] Pipes, Daniel. "The Rot in Our
[Canadian] Universities," National Post, January 30, 2003.
[10] Trei, Lisa. "A hard look at
the future of Islam: Overflow crowd attends inaugural lecture," Stanford
Report, November 19, 2003.
[11] King, Ruth. "Reflections on
Recent Events," January, 2002.
[12] Rashed, Dina "ISNA Convention
Honors Esposito." August 31, 2003
[13] http://www.aaup.org/statements/REPORTS/911report.htm
[14] Sharansky, Natan. "Tour of
U.S. Schools Reveals Why Zionism Is Flunking on Campus," Forward, October
24, 2003.
Asaf Romirowsky is a research associate
for the Middle East Forum. Jonathan Calt Harris is managing editor of www.Campus-Watch.org,
a project of the Middle East Forum to review and improve Middle East studies
in North America.