So, President Ryan, Provost Baucom and members of the Board of Visitors, which is it? Do “all views, beliefs and perspectives deserve to be articulated and heard, free from interference” or not?
The tiki-torching white supremacists who invaded the Lawn were fans of the Trump-Pence administration. Are their chants covered or are they not? Is “Jews will not replace us! Blood and soil! White lives matter!” welcome speech on the Lawn or is it not? What good is a statement on free speech that doesn’t tackle these questions directly? Are we supposed to get out into the tiki parade and engage in “generous listening”?
So, “Concerned Faculty,” are you so sure that your disdainful attack on The Cavalier Daily’s editorial — where you say that the editors disrespect civil rights heroes and Ukrainian soldiers by speaking out against the immoralities of Mike Pence — really gets it right? What’s more outrageous — that students stand up for vulnerable members of the University community, or that faculty attack them in print for doing so?
Enthymeme — The first amendment doctrine of free speech does not protect “all views,” and it’s wrong to imply that in statements by officials.
Fact — Pence is world-famous for publicly making hateful, exclusionary, inflammatory statements that appeal to the very worst in our society, as the good research of The Cavalier Daily’s editorial documents — thanks, y’all! Pence has a public record of harmful incitements.
Therefore — Hey, great idea! Let’s give him a free campaign stop where he can look as if he’s supported by Mr. Jefferson! No masks required! If we can get reasonable students and faculty to complain — please don’t claim that an op-ed piece is “interference” — it will make him look like a hero of tolerance!
In support of The Cavalier Daily’s eloquent Editorial Board,
With hearts lacerated by sæva indignatio,
Elizabeth Fowler, English
Allison Bigelow, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese
Dudley Doane, International Studies Office and Summer and Special Academic Programs
David Edmunds, Global Studies
Lisa Goff, English and American Studies
Laura Goldblatt, English
Grace Hale, History and American Studies
Richard Handler, Anthropology
Paul Kershaw, History
Victor Luftig, English
Geeta Patel, Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures
Lisa Woolfork, English
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