On Wednesday, former Harvard president Lawrence Summers will visit Tufts for the Snyder Lecture Series. Due to his prior controversial remarks, many faculty and students do not wish to attend the lecture.
This is legitimate, as is Professor John McDonald's suggestion to boycott the event. Unfortunately, the manner in which McDonald proposed to do this is juvenile at best.
The idea of buying tickets and then not attending is not only foolish but it also excludes those who may wish to see the event.
To deny anybody the opportunity to attend is unfair and unjust.
An important thing to recognize is that although former president Summers may have had some prior controversy, the lecture tomorrow is not on such topics. As president Bacow mentioned, as quoted in Tuesday's Daily article ("Faculty, students speak out against former Harvard president," Feb. 13, 2007), Summers was invited because he "had something interesting and important to say about undergraduate education." Considering his background as president of Harvard, it is definitely clear that his viewpoint on undergraduate education would be a great asset to the thought of the university. It is important to remember that although we may not like some of a person's opinions (or any of them for that matter) we should not silence them. If all students at Tufts had the same ideas and opinions, Tufts would be a very boring place.
Diversity at Tufts is something students should hold with pride. When one speaks of diversity however, it does not just mean the race of the student body. It is diversity of thought that must also be considered. Consider the days of Martin Luther King, Jr. when civil rights were first being challenged.
If King were to speak at Wednesday's lecture and the same boycotting tactics were used against him, many who wished to attend the event would be denied the privilege of seeing such an integral crusader in the fight for civil rights.
I believe that sometimes when we think we know what is right, we find it our duty to make other people believe in the same opinion. This way of thought is not only counter productive to open discussion, but is also dangerous to free speech.
Some professors and students believe that bringing people who have had controversial views could be detrimental to the campus.
As Professor Gary Goldstein mentioned in the aforementioned article, "I would like to see the series bring people to campus with views we want to foster." Although teachers are an integral part of the campus life, it is important for their teachings to be as unbiased as possible. No one has the right to decide what we listen to and what thoughts we may have. To deny access to such speakers simply because a collection of people does not wish to "foster" those views is a sign of poor judgment. If this idea were the norm at Tufts, lecturers like Shelby Steele (discussion on "White Guilt") and Chris Loughlin's discussion on socialism would not have occurred.
At a school where diversity is such an important asset, it is surprising how some can only see diversity at skin level. Of course racial diversity is important; however, we must never forget about diversity of thought.
When the issue in question is not even a controversial speech but merely a lecture by a controversial lecturer, it is even more absurd to consider boycotting the event in such a manner as described by Professor McDonald.
Think of yourself in the same position trying to see a lecture from someone you admire or just want to hear only to be denied because others had bought tickets merely to boycott the event.
I hope that the majority of students opposed to the event do not submit to the juvenile boycotting tactics that have been suggested. If you do not agree with him or do not want to listen, don't attend. However, do not deny other students the same opportunity.
