December 1, 2016

LETTER TO THE EDITOR | Santorum Deserved Respect, Not Insults

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Re: “Santorum Calls Protests Disrupting Lecture Sign of ‘Liberal Intolerance’ at Cornell,” News, Nov. 23

To the Editor:

I hope Cornell can become an institution where different points of view are celebrated, not silenced. Any university, particularly an Ivy League school, should encourage respectful debate with opposing viewpoints. Unfortunately at Wednesday’s Rick Santorum event a small, but vocal group of students inappropriately interrupted his speech claiming that his views are “offensive” to some.

The Cornell Republicans did not invite Senator Santorum to campus because we expected a majority of the student body to agree with him; rather we hoped that his perspectives would be educational to students at a university which typically only provides one point of view. When Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) spoke at Liberty University last year, students treated him with the utmost respect even though Senator Sanders holds views which are incredibly offensive to many Liberty students. I hoped that Cornell students would offer Senator Santorum the same respect extended to Senator Sanders at Liberty. Sadly, many did not.

Although the jeering was completely inappropriate inside Statler Auditorium, I commend the protesters who demonstrated outside of the venue. While I particularly disagree with “Rick Santorum go away,” I nonetheless admire their dedication to exercising the American right to peacefully protest. Going forward, I hope speakers of all political persuasions will be greeted with respect and civil discourse.

David Navadeh ’19, second vice chairman of the Cornell Republicans