Dispatch from Academe

Jesse Walker | June 9, 2005

Reader Dave Lull informs us that the essayist Richard Rodriguez, previously scheduled to address the California State University East Bay commencement, has withdrawn from the program. Students and professors offended by his opposition to affirmative action and bilingual education had threatened a boycott; one prof told the San Francisco Chronicle that "We need to teach our students to be able to listen to diverse opinions, but they also need to be able to respond. As a commencement speaker, he gets free air time." That sounds like an argument against any commencement address to me, but perhaps there's some subtlety here that I'm missing.

From the Chronicle's account, you might get the impression that Rodriguez is a conventional conservative. His views are actually more interesting than that, as you can see in this Reason interview from 1994.

Comments

|6.9.05 @ 11:18AM|#

That sounds like an argument against any commencement address to me, but perhaps there's some subtlety here that I'm missing.

The subtlety being, that it is an argument against having any teachers, either.

R C Dean|6.9.05 @ 11:19AM|#

That sounds like an argument against any commencement address to me, but perhaps there's some subtlety here that I'm missing.

The subtlety is that no one has any legitimate need to respond to leftist orthodoxy, so leftist speakers may be scheduled without any worries.

|6.9.05 @ 11:24AM|#

I've always hated commencements to begin with. Cancel the whole damn, drawn-out, exhausting, sitting-a-black-polyester-gown-with-three-thousand-other-people-at-the-onset-of-Summer ordeal.

Adam|6.9.05 @ 11:25AM|#

That sounds like an argument against any commencement address to me

Historian David McCullough spoke at length at my graduation a few years ago, without saying much at all. Maybe they can book him.

Jesse Walker|6.9.05 @ 11:26AM|#

The subtlety being, that it is an argument against having any teachers, either.

Oh, I'm sure Prof. Gonzales runs her classroom as a democratic assembly, with no effort whatsoever to enforce an ideological orthodoxy. She couldn't possibly be a hypocrite, after all.

|6.9.05 @ 11:34AM|#

If Ward Churchill were scheduled to speak at Bob Jones University and the inevitable boycott took place, would we still be having this discussion? I'm not suggesting by a long shot that these two speakers are on the same level, but I'm trying to see if this is a free-speech issue or a documented case of "those leftist wackos are at it again!"

Even if students did boycott, why would this prevent Rodriguez from delivering a commencement address, anyway? He would just be giving it to fewer students.

Jesse Walker|6.9.05 @ 11:41AM|#

If Ward Churchill were scheduled to speak at Bob Jones University and the inevitable boycott took place, would we still be having this discussion?

No one said the students didn't have a right to boycott the speech, SPD. I don't think this is a First Amendment issue, and I didn't present it that way.

|6.9.05 @ 11:52AM|#

Jesse,

I'm sorry, but I wasn't quite sure what the point of this post was. I didn't know if the article was meant to convey the common opinion on H'n'R that this university, like most bastions of leftist ideology, was deliberately stifling opinions different than those of the majority(?) of the student body and faculty, or if Rodriguez simply had been bullied into withdrawing as commencement speaker by a vocal minority.

CSU East Bay has an education curriculum that produces bilingual teachers and emphasizes social justice

One wonders why they bothered to invite Rodriguez in the first place, considering the controversial nature of his views on affirmative action and bilingual education. The publicity certainly puts them on the map, though, doesn't it?

As for Professor Gonzales, if she's so concerned about Mr. Rodriguez delivering his speech without a rebuttal from the opposition, why does she not challenge him to a debate on stage during the commencement? Surely she would enjoy homecourt advantage, and with time limits imposed it would be a damn sight more livelier than the normal, stultifyingly dull ramblings of your average guest speaker.

|6.9.05 @ 11:57AM|#

Your right Jesse,

This is a "people are sensitive idiots who can accept an appearance by someone that may have written something they disagree with politically" issue.

From the tone of the Ms. Perez, and Prof. Gonzales, you'd think Mr. Rodriguez was able to charm his audience into hating bi-ligual education by being allowed unopposed in public about any issue.

|6.9.05 @ 12:03PM|#

Sorry,

should read can't accept and by being allowed to speak unopposed in public

|6.9.05 @ 12:21PM|#

I'm sorry, but I wasn't quite sure what the point of this post was.

I think the points were (and I hope Jesse corrects me if I'm wrong) 1) Gonzales made a nonsensical point in the newspaper, and 2) Rodriguez isn't what they thought he is, read our Reason article as evidence. No broader statement about the First Amendment, left-wing hypocrisy, boycotting, etc. Just another example of idiocy on the march for us to be aware of.

|6.9.05 @ 12:48PM|#

phocion,

I just read the 1994 interview with Rodriguez and came away very impressed with his insight and intelligence. If Rodriguez is too culturally conservative for CSU, who isn't?

|6.9.05 @ 2:08PM|#

From linked the article:

The book was chosen last year as summer reading for freshmen, who then discussed it online. Rodriguez was also the speaker during a campus orientation for new freshmen and their parents last fall.

In an e-mail sent Tuesday to a student who was critical about Rodriguez's appearance at the graduation, Rees wrote that she had heard no complaints or concerns about that earlier event.

"On the contrary, it was an enormous success. I had not heard that there were differences among the faculty and students regarding Mr. Rodriguez's writings and statements until a few days ago," Rees wrote.

It doesn't sound like "liberal" academics stifling speech, more like a "weak" administration caving to a few vocal students.

Why is he welcome to lecture and teach there but not give a cheesy graduation speech?

|6.9.05 @ 3:13PM|#

One wonders why they bothered to invite Rodriguez in the first place, considering the controversial nature of his views on affirmative action and bilingual education.

Are his views controversial because they are anti-affirmative action and bilingual eductaion? Or are any views on these subjects controversial?

|6.9.05 @ 5:53PM|#

Bob Jones University doesn't have to obey the Bill of Rights. Cal State does.

I'd be perfectly willing to give up my first admendment privledges within a university, provided they stop taking my tax money. Of course, it would be difficult for a fourth-rate university that doesn't believe in the principles of a liberal society to raise its own money.