Andy Sabai, chairman of the campus greens, has a response letter posted over at talktotony.
It is a nice thoughtful letter, though I take issue with comparing Barrett to the great scientists who challenged the traditions of the church. They had evidence provided through detailed observation. If Barrett were actually a structural engineer who could demonstrate any of his claims, I might be more inclined to take him seriously. He is a scholar of Islam--how that gives him authority to make claims about the sinister nature of 9/11 is difficult for me to fathom.
In any case, read Andy's response. . .
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That is a nice, thoughtful letter by Andy Sabai.
As one who schedules a lot of campus-wide events, I think about two goals that I try to achieve in them: to get a lot of people in the seats and to have an intellectually worthwhile, thought-provoking experience for students. I have no doubt that the Barrett appearance will satisfy the first goal. A lot of people will show up to his talk. But I do have doubts about the second. Kevin Barrett has shown himself to be something of a kook and a publicity hound. Is he, then, the best spokesperson for intellectual integrity, freedom of speech, and an academics' insulation from political retaliation? Well, I hope he does well defending these important values, but I'm not convinced that he will be a great spokesperson for them. Instead, I suspect he will do a lot of finger pointing at the politicians who have made political hay out of his grandstanding. Once again, I hope I am wrong.
Of course we can have a very serious discussion about these very issues with non-polarizing figures doing most of talking. Hopefully that is what we will have with the events the Chancellor's office has put together.
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