Bravo for Not Sanctioning a Sham

Reader Ben Rathbone pointed me to this letter that he wrote, and I applaud the position taken. Here’s the background:

[On February 22, 2003, the] 24-hour Arabic cable news network, Al-Jazeera, will be broadcasting a two hour “open dialogue” from the Harris Theater at GMU. Our campus newspaper, Broadside, has a writeup about it here. It was organized by GMU’s Center for Global Education. The idea was hatched for this event after CGE program officer Julie Ryan-Silva’s trip to Baghdad, sponsored by Conscience International. In preparation for the event, the CGE wrote to me requesting participants. The letter included the line, “AT THIS POINT, WE ARE PARTICULARLY IN NEED OF STUDENTS VIEWS ARE SIMILAR TO THOSE OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION” (All caps in the letter). In response, I, with the fantastic help of the rest of the GMUOC wrote up the following response. I sent it to the GMU College Republicans and they agreed with our position.

Here is the letter:

Ms. Williams,

Thank you very much for contacting us with regard to participating in tomorrow’s Al-Jazeera broadcast. I appreciate your contacting us and offering us the chance to participate.

After careful consideration and consultation, the GMU Objectivist Club and the GMU College Republicans will respectfully decline the invitation to be participants or audience members.

You mention in your invitation that, “The goal of the event is to allow for an educational and constructive exchange between Iraqi and American people.” Due to the nature of the current regime led by Saddam Hussein in Iraq, we believe this goal would be unattainable in an event such as this. Hussein’s regime has a well-documented record of brutally suppressing the free exchange of ideas in Iraqi society, as well as continuous violation of the rights of Iraqi citizens using included imprisonment, torture, and murder. In this context, we do not believe the participating students from the University of Baghdad will be free to express any opinions contradicting the official Iraqi government position.

We also believe this event exploits the good name and good faith of George Mason University. The event stages free individual speech beside ideas expressed at the point of a gun. To participate in this event, pretends that the integrity of intellectual discourse on this issue in Baghdad and Fairfax are comparable. This would be giving the veneer of legitimacy and intellectual freedom to the University of Baghdad, and the regime of Saddam Hussein, at the expense of the name of George Mason University. How can anyone or any institution dedicated to intellectual freedom allow this?

So, in good conscience and integrity to the principles of freedom, again, we will not participate.

Respectfully,

Ben Rathbone
President
GMU Objectivist club
www.gmuoc.org

Dana Loeser
Chairman
GMU College Republicans

Sometime later, Ben also put together a join statement with other student groups regarding the event, which they submitted for publication in their campus paper the Broadside. Here is the version that was submitted:

Last week, we (the undersigned) were invited by GMU’s Center for Global Education to participate broadcast of a live “Open Dialogue” between GMU students and students from the University of Baghdad. The event was broadcast live by the Al-Jazeera cable news network.

We all respectfully declined the invitation and believe this event exploited the good name and good faith of George Mason University. In the invitation and publicity regarding the event it was stated that, “the goal of the event is to allow for an educational and constructive exchange between Iraqi and American people.” Due to the nature of the current regime led by Saddam Hussein in Iraq, we believe this goal is unattainable in an event such as this. The current Iraqi regime led by Saddam Hussein has a well-documented record of brutally suppressing the free exchange of ideas in Iraqi society by means of imprisonment, torture, and murder. While there is no question that an open and truly free dialogue would benefit both American and Iraqi citizens, in the context of this event, we do not believe the students from the University of Baghdad were free to express any opinions contradicting the official Iraqi government position. To have spoken to these students in this context would be no different than speaking to a hostage while he has a gun to his head and pretending that the hostage-taker wasn’t there.

The consequence of this event having taken place on the campus of George Mason University is that the University has now participated in the charade that the integrity of intellectual discourse on the campuses in Baghdad and Fairfax are comparable. We believe there is fundamental difference between a university that exists within a society dedicated to freedom of speech, inquiry and expression, and a university subject to a totalitarian dictatorship. As an institution dedicated to intellectual freedom, we believe George Mason University should have had no part in this. As individuals dedicated to intellectual freedom, we could not participate in this event in good conscience. We think it is unfortunate that the University did.

Respectfully,

Ben Rathbone
President
GMU Objectivist club

Dana Loeser
Chairman
GMU College Republicans

Max Pfeferman
Chairman
GMU Israel Action Committee