The outcry from within the Tufts community over the recent remarks of Tufts School of Medicine Assistant Clinical Professor Keith Ablow has been, to say the least, palpable.
In his Sept. 2 editorial on FoxNews.com, "Don't Let Your Kids Watch Chaz Bono on ‘Dancing With the Stars,'" Ablow said: "I'm going to take heat for saying all this, by the way." He was indeed correct.
Ablow argued that children should not be allowed to watch episodes of "Dancing With the Stars" featuring Chaz Bono, the transgender son of Cher and Sonny Bono, because doing so may result in children questioning their own gender identities. Ablow said children seeing Bono in an environment where he is cheered on by an audience could result in them seeking out gender reassignment surgery, against which he comes out strongly.
"The truth is that Chaz Bono should be empathized with and treated with dignity. Any contribution he makes to the world should be applauded as it would be for any other person," Ablow wrote. "But Chaz Bono should not be applauded for asserting she is a man (and goes about trying to look like one) any more than a woman who believes she will be happier without arms, has them removed and then continues to assert that she was right all along — her self−concept was that of a double amputee."
The Daily strongly disagrees with Ablow's notion that children seeing Chaz Bono in a celebratory environment will somehow change their gender identity. According to experts, there is currently no hard scientific evidence to support Ablow's claims.
Furthermore, Ablow's inflammatory remarks about the nature of gender reassessment surgery went against Tufts' environment of inclusiveness. His language was hurtful to transgender individuals, both to those that have chosen to undergo gender reassignment surgery and those who have not.
However, the calls for Ablow's resignation or firing based on his comments in his editorial and recent interview are overzealous.
Firstly, Ablow is not a full−time faculty member. His position at Tufts is not paid and he has not given a lecture in five years. Those that he did give were infrequent and to residents who already had their M.Ds. These lectures were not related to the subjects he addressed in his editorial.
More importantly, however, is that most of the calls for Ablow to resign are due to disagreements with his personal views.
Ablow's opinions on transgender issues are certainly more conservative than the general Tufts consensus. His association with Fox News, an organization often used as the butt of jokes by liberal Tufts professors, only compounds this notion.
However, if we call for the removal of individuals with views different from ours, we remove the debates that are key to growth. Universities are places where we learn to have our ideas and views challenged and learn how to logically defend our convictions.
If we insist on Tufts being a liberal bubble where no dissenting opinions are accepted, we eliminate diversity. If we do that, we make Tufts a weaker institution.
