I read with a combination of bemusement and disdain “University’s neutrality shows support of Iraq war,” (ODE, Feb. 12), and felt compelled to respond as a member of this campus and the surrounding community.
What seems ironic to me is the willingness Todd Pittman has to assert an opinion not held by everyone on this campus as though it were embraced and accepted as the norm, and yet the rapidity with which he would deny this University the right to take the opposing position. It leads me to a conclusion that I have personally held for quite some time: That democracy, in its purest form, its both inherently evil and untrustworthy.
Let me ask you, Mr. Pittman, had Oregon, via the voters, approved Measure 13 — in case your pre-candescent memory has failed you, this is the measure sponsored by the OCA that would have made it illegal to discuss homosexuality in the classroom — would you have nodded your head and acknowledged the majority’s right to determine such a position?
I think not. You would have complained, bellyached and screamed that it was not the state’s place to make such a statement, and you would have been right. We live in a constitutional republic, whose rule of law is set up in such a way that the minority is protected from the savagery and passion that often times accompanies the majority. You very rightly pointed out that as far as the Iraqi war issue is concerned, it is one “that the University community is not in agreement.” If this is the case, how dare you assert the right to speak on everyone’s behalf when you have openly acknowledged that yours is not a view shared by everyone?
Are you now claiming that there are, in fact, absolute rights and wrongs? Beware the dangers of such a stance, sir, for it would readily place you in the same court and arena as the Christian right, a place I am confident you would not like to find yourself.
In concluding, let me ask you a very simple question. Pretend for a moment that you were born and raised in a conservative state somewhere in the Midwest, and because of economic reasons were forced to attend a conservative state university in that area. Let us assume you were passionately against the war with Iraq, but then the campus voted, your view was soundly defeated and the University took an official pro-war position. Would you be at all comfortable with this, as a taxpayer and student? I think not. Given that, then, how can you presume to make such a moral statement on behalf of the entire University campus?