Wednesday October 12th
started out well. This was Yom Kippur,
the highest holiday on the Jewish calendar.
Although I am not religious, I was, as is my custom, fasting. Doing so is my way of reminding myself of my
heritage and reaffirming my intention to be a moral person.
But it was also a teaching
day. My first class was to begin at
11:00 and the last would end shortly before 5:00 PM. Nonetheless I left home at 8:00 to make sure
I could get a parking space. It was thus
not until almost 10:00 that I discovered the Atlanta Journal Constitution had
run a story about the Great Pre-election Debate to be held on the KSU campus
the next day.
I was pleased. This, I
thought, would be good publicity for the event.
Dr. Ken White and I had debated four years earlier to a standing room
crowd and I hoped this might be bigger.
The article also mentioned that the Cobb County Tea Party would be
backing the event and this too pleased me because I had invited its members.
It was not until my last
class ended that I realized there might be trouble. It was then I learned that our moderator was
withdrawing. He emailed me to say because
the Tea party was “sponsoring” the debate, and that this organization was
“partisan,” he could not, in good conscience, participate. To do so, he stated, was against KSU policy.
Although deeply
disappointed, I went back to my office in hopes of scrounging up another
moderator. That evening, however, when I
went home, my chief concern was breaking the fast. My practice is to do so with a big bowl of
matzo ball soup—which I made and eagerly consumed.
It was therefore not until
the next morning I learned my debating partner had cancelled the event. This was done without consulting me—as had
been the case with the moderator.
Anyway, before I knew what happened, an official email went out notifying
the campus that the debate was called off.
I was livid. How could this have been done without even
talking to me? I thus quickly contacted
the Dean and my department chair to let them know that I would show up as
planned—even if I had to do so at the front door of our building. Both of these administrators had no
objections.
That evening I did, in fact,
talk to a room full of mostly Tea Party people.
Not many students attended because they had been informed there would be
no debate. For an idea of what I said,
the reader is referred to my Saturday column in the Cherokee Tribune or to my
blog (professionalized.blogspot.com).
Exactly why this unfolded as
it did, I still do not know. What I do
know is that the stated reason is erroneous.
First, the Tea Party is officially non-partisan. It does not endorse candidates. Second, it did not sponsor the event—whatever
the AJC said. It did not fund it or have
any part in organizing it.
Ken White must have been
aware of this. After all, he was the one
who invited me to debate, wrote up the schedule of questions, and solicited our
moderator. Ken is a liberal and knows
there was absolutely no attempt to influence him.
How do I explain what
transpired? So far as I can tell, this
was political correctness run amok. My
guess—and it is only a guess—is that some KSU faculty members saw the AJC piece
and were horrified. How could a right
wing organization be allowed to sponsor anything on campus?
This, so far as I can see,
was akin to disinviting conservative speakers.
Liberals and radicals are acceptable—whereas traditionalists, who might
corrupt young minds, are not. For me,
the supreme irony is that I had just published a book on courage (Unlocking
Your Inner Courage).
Why are so many academics
afraid to hear opinions that contradict their own? Why, even when they have a partisan defending
their positions, do they need to shut down those who disagree with them? I am still prepared to debate, but it appears
that the other side wants complete control over political messaging.
Melvyn L. Fein. Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Kennesaw State University
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