Smith College students protest the ’Born Gay Hoax’ — Page 3

They've also succeeded in giving this man and his book a voice far beyond the confines of that room.

"They've also succeeded in giving this man and his book a voice far beyond the confines of that room. "

I know, but this is America, so there's always a venue for a jackass.


Like BWW is for me.

I rather agree with Smith College president Carol T. Christ's response. I certainly think that students had a right to demonstrate and protest, but I'm not certain that they chose the best approach. Nevertheless, they certainly got the attention they wanted. Whether that's ultimately the best way to go about it? I think it would have been better to do it in a way that made the speaker look like a complete idiot and not make the protesters look disruptive.

Whatever Sorba tries to do to add legitimacy, he has science working against him. Smith College's name isn't going to be dragged anywhere. Sorba was the invited speaker of an apparently (and hopefully) unpopular student group which was exercising its right as a student group to invite a speaker.

I don't know enough about the whole context of the events to say what should or should not have been done, but I can't help but wonder if there may have been a better way to approach the issue without making it look like a side show. But then the side show did draw a lot of attention and was probably fun to stage. It is an emotionally charged issue and maybe the protesters needed to vent.

There is an easy way to draw a line. If you don't like what someone says, you can fire a gun at their head. That will stop the person from talking forever and put to rest any worries about the person legitimizing his or her own argument.

All I am saying is that some approaches (like the gun) can backfire and can play into the speaker's own hands. I will be interested in hearing what the findings are of Carol T. Christ's investigation. Please keep us posted.