Robert Shibley on ‘College Insurrection’ on Fordham’s Ann Coulter Controversy

FIRE Senior Vice President Robert Shibley has a new piece at College Insurrection about Fordham University's condemnation of the College Republicans' now-rescinded speaking invitation to Ann Coulter, which we discussed earlier this week on The Torch. 

Robert's column focuses in particular on the Catholic university's strikingly selective outrage—as you may remember, the university president chose to condemn Coulter while remaining silent on the upcoming appearance of Peter Singer, who has stated that "killing a disabled infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person. Very often it is not wrong at all." Robert writes:

In the end, the only reasonable conclusion can be that [President] McShane and the Fordham administration have allowed their politically driven distaste for Ann Coulter to overcome their responsibility as academics to allow the marketplace of ideas to function as intended at Fordham.

The wisest and soundest course would have been to avoid wading into an unnecessary political debate, let both Coulter and Singer speak without commenting on their views, and trust Fordham's adult students to make up their own minds in an unfettered marketplace of ideas.

Belittling students who dare to invite a speaker to campus as a way to disincline them from expressing their views or inviting future speakers is beneath the dignity of a university president. Father McShane should be ashamed.

You can read Robert's full column here.