Letter: DCU shows hyprocrisy in denouncing Whitehorn

The very day after the Duke Conservative Union brought Alan Kors, the "foremost defender of free speech and religious liberty on college campuses," to deliver a talk, it ran an ad in The Chronicle condemning the African and African American Studies department for inviting a convicted bomber, Laura Whitehorn, to speak. I'd ask Bill English and the rest of the DCU to defend Whitehorn as they defend other expressions of the First Amendment that more closely reflect their organization's agenda.

I'm not pleased about my money going to pay Whitehorn's honorarium, but I've come to Duke for an education, not just classes. If I wanted to hear only one type of agenda, that's my prerogative, but we should pay to support a broader education for all of Duke's students. While I doubt many of us will agree with her fully, Whitehorn will discuss what she deems "terrorist" government actions here and abroad. I expect that some of her points apply to our current thinking regarding Iraq and North Korea. We owe it to our open-mindedness to hear her opinions.

That said, I find it appalling that the AAAS department contrived to conceal Whitehorn's identity behind that of "political prisoner." Although they have now explained her crime - damaging a U.S. Capitol cloakroom and office, not the DCU's "demolishing a section - it is irresponsible to hide behind such a deceptive label, and even more dishonest given our current concern over terrorism.

Whitehorn is a terrorist, and the AAAS description should have reflected that. I am disgusted by the tactics Whitehorn's organization used against the symbols of our nation, and I am a bit ashamed to be paying her to speak about her crimes. However, curtailing her right to speak now sends the wrong message about what we should value most in our University and our country.

In a week in which we celebrate both free speech and Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy of peaceful resistance, this argument should strike us all the wrong way.