Not Every BC Professor is Against Free Speech

This was a letter to the editor in BC's Heights newspaper. I'm publishing the whole thing. While the subscription is free, you still have to register:

The furor over the choice of Condoleezza Rice as the 2006 commencement speaker once again illustrates why the "real" world views academia as an "unreal" and hypocritical world.

In the case of a Catholic university, both sides of this debate will say that they uphold "freedom of speech."

But in order to avoid hearing opinions that are contrary to their own, they will appeal to those church documents that conveniently support their banning of another opposing point of view.

Let's say that the University had invited Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) to speak. The uproar from conservatives on campus would center on how a Catholic university could give an honorary doctorate to someone who is an abortion-rights activist. Meanwhile, the liberals on campus would maintain that you would need to look at the "whole" Catholic thought. Thus, because of the other positions that Kennedy takes in favor of the poor, it would make him a worthy recipient. Isn't the same true with Rice? While the Iraqi war certainly flies in the face of Catholic teachings,don't her other positions grant her a hearing from a University audience?

It would be virtually impossible to invite a major public figure who would not have some difference from Catholic thought.Isn't the ability to listen and think about differing points of view the hallmark of a truly liberal education?

Rev. Richard McGowan, S.J. Carroll School of Management