Campus Report: Conservative Horowitz to Visit Duke
BY PAUL BONNER, The Herald-SunFebruary 27, 2006 10:35 pm
DURHAM -- Conservative writer and speaker David Horowitz, whose 2001 advertisement in the Duke Chronicle student newspaper against reparations for slavery sparked campus demonstrations, will speak on Duke's campus next week.
Horowitz's appearance at 8 p.m. March 7 in Page Auditorium will be sponsored by the Duke chapter of Students for Academic Freedom, whose national organization Horowitz founded. Through the organization, Horowitz seeks to address what he says is pervasive leftist indoctrination in academia. He urges universities to adopt an "Academic Bill of Rights" and for states to enact legislation governing public colleges and universities.
Two Duke professors are, in Horowitz' opinion, among the "The 101 Most Dangerous Academics In America," according to his new book by that title. They are miriam cooke, a professor in the Department of Asian and African Languages and Literature, and Fredric Jameson, a professor of comparative literature and Romance studies.
cooke, who does not capitalize her name, specializes in Arabic, and her research interests include Middle Eastern literature and feminist theory, according to a faculty Web page.
Jameson's research interests include 19th and 20th century French literature and Marxist literary theory, according to a faculty Web page at Duke.
Neither professor could be reached for comment Monday.
The president of the Duke chapter of Students for Academic Freedom, Stephen Miller, said Horowitz's speech will provide an antidote to a leftward tilt at Duke that disregards "hundreds of people who want to see a change," toward a more balanced political atmosphere. They include about 300 members each in the Duke Conservative Union and Duke College Republicans, he said.
The fact that the United States is having a conversation about intellectual diversity on campuses is because of a reform movement led by Horowitz, said Miller, who is a junior.
"It's electrifying," he said of Horowitz's speeches. "He has a vast knowledge of all things political."
Nearly five years ago, three days of campus demonstrations followed Horowitz's anti-reparations ad in the Chronicle, for which Miller writes a column. The paid ad, titled "Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Slavery is a Bad Idea -- and Racist Too," said American blacks are better off than Africans and objected that qualification for reparations would be based on skin color.
Miller said he doesn't expect campus demonstrations against Horowitz, although he wouldn't be surprised if the author faces some challenging questions.
Although Duke administrators have distanced themselves from Horowitz's ideas, they supported the Chronicle's decision to print the ad and have underwritten the cost of his planned speech.
About $500 came from the office of public affairs at Duke, university spokesman John Burness said. Other funding was chipped in by the university offices of the provost and student affairs, he said. Such support for speakers invited by student groups is common at Duke, he said.
What isn't common -- or likely at Duke -- would be for the university to subscribe to Horowitz's Bill of Rights, Burness said.
"We don't think we have a problem at Duke," Burness said the university has told Horowitz.
The university can address issues of intellectual diversity on its own, he said. University President Richard Brodhead and previous President Nan Keohane both addressed the issue in statements to faculty, Burness said.
Giving Horowitz a soapbox doesn't amount to endorsing his message, he said.
"We say all the time that when people come to Duke, it doesn't mean the university is sponsoring what he has to say," he said.
Nor can faculty members' beliefs necessarily be classified simply as either liberal or conservative, he said.
"We have between 1,600 and 1,700 faculty, and I would say that represents at least 2,000 opinions," he said.
URL for this article: http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-706846.html
DURHAM -- Conservative writer and speaker David Horowitz, whose 2001 advertisement in the Duke Chronicle student newspaper against reparations for slavery sparked campus demonstrations, will speak on Duke's campus next week.
Horowitz's appearance at 8 p.m. March 7 in Page Auditorium will be sponsored by the Duke chapter of Students for Academic Freedom, whose national organization Horowitz founded. Through the organization, Horowitz seeks to address what he says is pervasive leftist indoctrination in academia. He urges universities to adopt an "Academic Bill of Rights" and for states to enact legislation governing public colleges and universities.
Two Duke professors are, in Horowitz' opinion, among the "The 101 Most Dangerous Academics In America," according to his new book by that title. They are miriam cooke, a professor in the Department of Asian and African Languages and Literature, and Fredric Jameson, a professor of comparative literature and Romance studies.
cooke, who does not capitalize her name, specializes in Arabic, and her research interests include Middle Eastern literature and feminist theory, according to a faculty Web page.
Jameson's research interests include 19th and 20th century French literature and Marxist literary theory, according to a faculty Web page at Duke.
Neither professor could be reached for comment Monday.
The president of the Duke chapter of Students for Academic Freedom, Stephen Miller, said Horowitz's speech will provide an antidote to a leftward tilt at Duke that disregards "hundreds of people who want to see a change," toward a more balanced political atmosphere. They include about 300 members each in the Duke Conservative Union and Duke College Republicans, he said.
The fact that the United States is having a conversation about intellectual diversity on campuses is because of a reform movement led by Horowitz, said Miller, who is a junior.
"It's electrifying," he said of Horowitz's speeches. "He has a vast knowledge of all things political."
Nearly five years ago, three days of campus demonstrations followed Horowitz's anti-reparations ad in the Chronicle, for which Miller writes a column. The paid ad, titled "Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Slavery is a Bad Idea -- and Racist Too," said American blacks are better off than Africans and objected that qualification for reparations would be based on skin color.
Miller said he doesn't expect campus demonstrations against Horowitz, although he wouldn't be surprised if the author faces some challenging questions.
Although Duke administrators have distanced themselves from Horowitz's ideas, they supported the Chronicle's decision to print the ad and have underwritten the cost of his planned speech.
About $500 came from the office of public affairs at Duke, university spokesman John Burness said. Other funding was chipped in by the university offices of the provost and student affairs, he said. Such support for speakers invited by student groups is common at Duke, he said.
What isn't common -- or likely at Duke -- would be for the university to subscribe to Horowitz's Bill of Rights, Burness said.
"We don't think we have a problem at Duke," Burness said the university has told Horowitz.
The university can address issues of intellectual diversity on its own, he said. University President Richard Brodhead and previous President Nan Keohane both addressed the issue in statements to faculty, Burness said.
Giving Horowitz a soapbox doesn't amount to endorsing his message, he said.
"We say all the time that when people come to Duke, it doesn't mean the university is sponsoring what he has to say," he said.
Nor can faculty members' beliefs necessarily be classified simply as either liberal or conservative, he said.
"We have between 1,600 and 1,700 faculty, and I would say that represents at least 2,000 opinions," he said.
URL for this article: http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-706846.html
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