Last Thursday when I read in The Daily Collegian that conservative pundit Ann Coulter was coming to campus courtesy of the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) and thanks in part to our student activity fee money, I cringed a little and thought about how much I don't like her.
The next day there was a letter to the editor from a student named Therese Jones, who was also critical of the speaking engagement. Jones wrote that Penn State shouldn't use student money to bring Coulter's intolerant hate speech to our campus.
I strongly disagree with just about everything that comes of Coulter's mouth, as well as the garbage that she regularly disseminates in her bestselling books and award-winning columns. I laughed in hearty agreement when I heard MSNBC commentator Keith Olbermann call her the "Connecticut Screech."
After the September 11 attacks, Coulter wrote that our country's response should be to "invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." She also calls for racial profiling, calls Christians "perfected Jews", complains that Timothy McVeigh didn't bomb the New York Times building and refers to Joseph McCarthy as an American hero.
All of this disgusts me. It makes me ashamed to live in an America where someone can become so popular while throwing rhetoric like that around.
That being said, I plan to attend her lecture on April 2. I probably wouldn't be going if I had to pay for tickets, but since I already paid for her visit via the $68 semesterly activity fee, I might as well avail myself. Besides, sometimes it's fun to listen to people you disagree with and get really pissed off. Check out the crowd in front of Willard Building once the weather gets nice and you'll see plenty of people who enjoy that sort of thing.
Furthermore, I'm proud of an America where people with something to say are allowed to be heard, even if that person is a lanky shrew spewing hateful, ignorant nonsense at a crowd of Penn State students in the Eisenhower Auditorium. At least there'll probably be a question-and-answer period and we are all blessed with the right to disagree.
Back in September when Columbia University extended a speaking invitation to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and paid for it with student money, a lot of people were pretty upset.
I'm not exactly comparing Coulter to Ahmadinejad (although they both appear to be anti-Semites), but the situation is similar. Just because we disagree with what people may have to say does not mean that there's no value in hearing it.
An academic landmark like Penn State is certainly one place where the marketplace of ideas should thrive.
Bringing compelling, politically-biased speakers to State College is a good way to spend our activity fee. We should do as much as possible to maximize debate, especially with a quickly approaching Pennsylvania primary and what may very well be the most important election of our time in November.
I would like to see a left-wing speaker come to campus around the same time as Coulter's visit. When the College Democrats brought Michael Moore to the Bryce Jordan Center in 2004, YAF countered by scheduling conservative radio personality Michael Gallagher for the same day. Conflict, after all, is the essence of debate.
I wonder if Al Franken is busy next Wednesday?
