By October 21, 2005
Under heavy security protection, conservative pundit and former U.S. Treasurer Bay Buchanan spoke on “the case for arming the citizenry” in Goldwin Smith yesterday evening. Buchanan spoke about what she said was a compelling case for the use of guns for personal protection. She also addressed other topics including abortion, immigration, President Bush’s Supreme Court nominations, and the current state of Washington politics. Two uniformed Cornell University Police officers were present, as well as a plainclothed CUPD officer and a private security guard retained by the conservative think tank that partly sponsored Buchanan’s talk. A University “event manager” was also present. Buchanan is president of the American Cause, a conservative think tank founded by her brother, pundit and perennial presidential candidate Patrick J. Buchanan. Buchanan is also chair of the Team America PAC, which campaigns for the reduction of illegal immigration. Buchanan served as the national treasurer of former President Ronald Reagan’s 1980 and 1984 presidential campaigns and in 1981 was appointed as the U.S. Treasurer for Reagan’s first term in office. At 32, she was the youngest person to ever hold that position. Buchanan was also chief of staff for all three of her brother’s presidential campaigns, and is currently a commentator on CNN’s Inside Politics, where she debates Donna Brazile. Buchanan advocated a strong pro-gun message. While many called for stricter gun controls in the wake of the school shootings in the late 1990s and early 21st century, Buchanan wondered if teachers should be armed in order to protect students from shooters. “If there’s a mad man in the school – wouldn’t you like to know that your math teacher is packing?” Buchanan said. Buchanan pointed to looting in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as an example of a case where she said lawlessness took over and people were not being adequately protected by police. “You don’t want somebody saying, ‘Oh, this is a terrible thing, lets call the police.’ No, you want someone saying, ‘Does anybody here have a gun?'” she said. “This is exactly what the founding fathers intended [in the Second Amendment], so that people could protect themselves, because the police aren’t always going to be there,” Buchanan said. Buchanan emphasized the use of guns for personal protection, and said that gun ownership deters crime. “Our crime rates are going down-precisely with the increase of concealed weapons licenses,” she said. Although Buchanan allowed that it’s “tough to look at” school shootings and accidental deaths and still be pro-gun, she said that “crimes are being prevented all the time” by privately-owned guns. “Criminals avoid communities where people carry [firearms],” she said. Further emphasizing the effects of guns as deterrents, Buchanan said, “All that’s needed is for the weapon to be brandished – that prevents the crime.” According to Buchanan, more than 50 percent of home invasions in England are “hot robberies” – when the victim is home. In the United States, where gun controls are looser, she said, “hot robberies” only make up 13 percent of home invasions because criminals know that citizens own guns. Buchanan, who lives in a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C., said that although she does not currently own a gun she is planning on buying one now that her three sons have all moved out of the house. Buchanan said she knows that Brazile owns a gun. Buchanan said that Brazile lives in Washington, D.C., where she said guns are outlawed. She said that she told Brazile, “Next time the terrorists attack, you come to my house in Virginia, because I need the gun and you need the safe house.” Citing a raft of statistics to support the idea that many more people die from non-gun related accidents than from gun-related ones, Buchanan disputed the idea that a gun in the home makes a dangerous home. Buchanan also talked about other issues in Washington politics. “Republicans are in deep trouble for ’06, and most of it’s their own fault,” Buchanan said. “[Republicans] keep spending like drunken Democrats,” she said, and are alienating their conservative base. Buchanan said she sees an opportunity for Democrats to regain power in 2006 and 2008. According to Buchanan, beyond alienating the conservative base, the Republicans’ biggest problem is “cronyism and corruption” that the Democrats can capitalize on in upcoming elections. Citing a recent spate of scandals in the Republican leadership, Buchanan said, “Frist is under investigation, DeLay is being indicted, Rove is in trouble, the vice president’s office is blowing up – and the president’s appointing his cronies [to top positions].” Buchanan said that “corruption works” as a strategy that the Democrats could use to attack the Republicans. The Buchanan family has a history of being at odds with the Bush administration, especially because Pat Buchanan has a history of isolationist foreign policy – what he has called “American-centered nationalism” – that is directly at odds with neoconservative policies of intervention. “There is unrest in this country [about the war] and I don’t know that it’s going to be that smooth [for the Republicans].” Buchanan said that she believes the Democrats could capitalize on the war issue if they would only come out against it, but are intimidated into supporting staying in Iraq because they don’t want to be seen by the electorate as being weak on national security. According to Scott C. Hamilton, the plainclothed Cornell officer who is a senior investigator with the CUPD, Cornell often provides security for controversial speakers. Hamilton also said that it is “standard procedure that when [speakers] bring their own [security detail to campus, the Cornell University Police Department] works with them, whether it is the Secret Service, the State Department, or whatever.” Buchanan was driven up to Goldwin Smith across the Arts Quad in a black sedan followed by an unmarked CUPD SUV. The security was intended to prevent disruption of Buchanan’s talk. No incidents occurred. About 45 people attended the event, which took place in the Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, including about ten members of the Cornell Review and the College Republicans. The event was sponsored by the Cornell Review and funded in part by the Student Activity Fee.Archived article by David WittenbergSun Contributor
By October 21, 2005
The Cornell University Library opens a new exhibition today titled “Vanishing Worlds, Enduring People: Cornell Library’s Native American Collection”. The exhibition features a selection from a collection of 40,000 books and materials documenting aspects of Native American art, languages, sociological data and major historical events. Some of the notable elements of the exhibit include the original Treaty of Peace signed in 1765 by the Delaware Nation, agreeing to become allies of the King of England, a $5 receipt signed by Geronimo in 1896, and a non-English Bible published in 1685 by John Eliot, a preacher in the Massachusetts Bay area. Selected works of artists such as George Catlin and Karl Bodner are also displayed, among other works of art chronicling Native American life as far back as the 16th century. “This phenomenal collection deserves wider use, and we need to ensure that the public can consult and learn from these books and other documents for centuries to come,” said Sarah Thomas, University librarian, in a statement. The collection was originally housed in the Huntington Free Library in the Bronx, New York, but due to financial issues, in 1999, the library decided to look for a new home to effectively maintain it. The library feared the rare materials were not being safely stored and hoped to find better means of conserving them. “The attorney general contacted us and several other institutions which might be interested in [acquiring the collection],” said Katherine Reagan, curator of the Rare Books collection at the Carl A. Kroch Library. “After a process of evaluation … the Huntington Free Board of Trustees voted for Cornell.” “We hope by having this collection here, since we live in an area with many Native Americans, that they’ll be interested in using this collection,” said David Block, curator of Native American and Latin American Studies at Kroch Library. “This is just the tip of the iceberg … People will have access to the entire collection. We could take out parts of [this exhibition] if people need access to it.” The entire collection is valued at $8.3 million, but the University acquired the collection for $2.5 million from the Huntington Free Library. Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) announced on Wednesday that a $250,000 federal grant was given to aid the library in preserving this collection, as part of the federal “Save America’s Treasures” grant program. “I’m delighted that Cornell University has received this federal award, which will allow for proper preservation of this incredibly fascinating collection,” Hinchey wrote in a press release. “Cornell University is well suited to safeguard this collection and display it in a way that scholars and the public will find useful when examining Native American history.” Prof. Jane Mt Pleasant, horticulture, director of the American Indian Program, said in a statement, “This outstanding collection of materials will serve scholars in multiple areas of American Indian Studies, enhancing the academic work of faculty and students at Cornell and elsewhere for decades to come.” The exhibit will be displayed until June 2006 and the entire collection is held at Kroch Library. “Cornell’s Preservation and Conservation Department has deep expertise that can preserve these records of our history, the touchstone of our past and the inspiration for our future,” Thomas added.Archived article by Julie GengSun Senior Writer