Rumsfeld to join Hoover Institution at Stanford:
Academics and students at California’s prestigious Stanford University have launched a vigorous protest against the appointment of Donald Rumsfeld as a visiting fellow to a right-wing campus think-tank, saying the former defence secretary and architect of the Iraq war offends their ideals of truth and tolerance.
Outrageous hypocrisy for defenders of academic freedom to attack Stanford/Hoover for offering Rummy a fellowship?
I don't think so. While he may or may not be guilty of crimes against humanity, there is little doubt that Rumsfeld is directly implicated in a war of aggression built upon lies, and authorized interrogation techniques at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere which approach the threshold of torture. Rumsfeld enjoys the right of free speech along with the rest of us. I would not try to prevent him from speaking on my campus; in fact I would welcome it as an opportunity to express dissenting views in his presence. But a fellowship is not a speech. What does it mean to extend to such a person the privilege (not, let us be clear, the right) of a campus fellowship? It implies welcoming him into the community of knowledge seekers whose highest value is to present reasons and evidence without deliberate distortion, manipulation, or prevarication. But he stands exposed as someone who does not respect the core values of this community he now wishes to join, so that it may shelter him in its fellowship. He does not deserve that privilege.
They will surely be painted by O'Reilly and Horowirtz as left-wing hypocrites, but the Stanford faculty are right not to welcome Rumsfeld into their community. By his own words and actions he has proven that he is not, and cannot be, a member of the academic community, and is not entitled to its privileges.
