The following letter by Professor Bergman to UConn President Susan Herbst is mentioned by Chris Powell and others in articles detailing the University's hypocrisy.
Dear Ms. Herbst,
I heard on Fox News this morning that the upcoming speech at UCONN by Ben
Shapiro that will be hosted by the College Republicans will be closed to the
public -- and therefore likely to have a much smaller audience than a speech
that is open to the public.
The President of the College Republicans at UCONN, Tim Sullivan, stated on
the program that a recent talk at the university by Anita Hill was open to
the public, and argued that this disparity is traceable to the fact that Mr.
Shapiro is a conservative while Ms. Hill is a liberal.
Can you explain the difference in the university's treatment of the two
speeches in this regard, which seems to penalize Mr. Shapiro and the College
Republicans for their political opinions.
The broadcast also stated that students who feel threatened prospectively by
Mr. Shapiro's speech will be provided "psychological counseling" by the
university.
Can you tell me why you believe such counseling is necessary? After all,
students who somehow feel "threatened" by the speech can simply not attend
it. Indeed, I would respectfully suggest that disagreement is an inevitable
concomitant -- and at times an essential prerequisite -- of higher education
and that anyone who feels threatened by the expression of opinions he or she
disagrees with has no business attending a university and should re-enroll
in elementary school.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Jay Bergman
Professor of History
Central Connecticut State University
University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA. by Daderot // CC0
