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Should this college cancel this commencement speaker?

RedBedroom: …is a Chamber DEITY.; Join date : 2010-02-18
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Post n°1

Should this college cancel this commencement speaker?

by RedBedroom Thu Dec 29, 2011 7:19 pm

St. Norbert college is bringing the head of the Catholic Church in Chicago to speak at its May graduation. Cardinal Francis George is drawing ire from gay rights activists across the nation after he compared the gay rights movement to the Klu Klux Klan. George made the comments after organizers of Chicago's gay pride parade planned to march past a Catholic Church during the parade, which falls on a Sunday.

The Cardinal's comments came on a Chicago TV station, and have inspired online petitions to have him removed from his position. Another petition hits closer to home, as St. Norbert students and alumni started a petition asking the college to rethink its descion.

The petition had been online for less than 24 hours, and it had almost 300 signatures.

The college has no plans to cancel George's appearance. St. Norbert's communications department tells NBC 26: "St. Norbert College will be hosting Cardinal George as its commencement speaker in May. While the college appreciates various viewpoints of its campus guests, it is central to our mission to have ongoing dialogue with and exposure to Catholic Church leaders."

George will speak May 14th at St. Norbert. The school will also present the Cardinal with an honorary degree.

RedBedroom

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Post n°2

Re: Should this college cancel this commencement speaker?

by RedBedroom Thu Dec 29, 2011 7:23 pm

Am I alone in not understanding what the heck the school's statement actually means? It isn't articulate or coy, it's just words.

I feel what he said is heartless enough to prompt school officials to pull the plug on his apprearance. Is the the type of man these hard working students should look back on as the speaker marking the completion of four years of education, hard work and a hell of a lotta money? I don't think so.

Forgiveness Man

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Post n°3

Re: Should this college cancel this commencement speaker?

by Forgiveness Man Thu Dec 29, 2011 7:43 pm

Why should they pull him? Other colleges don't pull speakers that say much harsher things. He's entitled to his opinion. The march wanted to march past a Catholic Church during Sunday mass, so they aren't just helpless victims. They were shoving their views down the Church's throats, which makes them the intolerant ones and the hypocrites. If they had compared him to the KKK (and I'd like to see what he exactly said as I know the media blows things out of proportion), they'd be touted as heroes. (With eons of double standard excuses) This entire outrage is a load of phony crap.

A Catholic College bringing a Cardinal to speak is fine. He shouldn't be removed from his position or cancelled as a speaker. If they don't like him as a speaker, they don't have to listen to him. The college should hold it's ground and not cave to the micromanaging of society's bigoted double standards. He didn't say anything heartless or remotely worthy of having his speech cancelled.

Bluesmama

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Post n°4

Re: Should this college cancel this commencement speaker?

by Bluesmama Thu Dec 29, 2011 7:59 pm

I tend to agree with Forgiveness.

I don't think the choice is necessarily in the school's best interest but they have the right to hire him, and I highly doubt that the Cardinal's speech will focus on the topics that got him into such a hot seat. If his presence is ill-received by the students then it may be a lesson for the school.

RedBedroom

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Post n°5

Re: Should this college cancel this commencement speaker?

by RedBedroom Thu Dec 29, 2011 8:20 pm

Forgiveness Man wrote:Why should they pull him? Other colleges don't pull speakers that say much harsher things. He's entitled to his opinion. The march wanted to march past a Catholic Church during Sunday mass, so they aren't just helpless victims. They were shoving their views down the Church's throats, which makes them the intolerant ones and the hypocrites. If they had compared him to the KKK (and I'd like to see what he exactly said as I know the media blows things out of proportion), they'd be touted as heroes. (With eons of double standard excuses) This entire outrage is a load of phony crap.

A Catholic College bringing a Cardinal to speak is fine. He shouldn't be removed from his position or cancelled as a speaker. If they don't like him as a speaker, they don't have to listen to him. The college should hold it's ground and not cave to the micromanaging of society's bigoted double standards. He didn't say anything heartless or remotely worthy of having his speech cancelled.

The quote is from a televsision interview he gave. On our news they showed the clip so it is not taken out of context.

Forgiveness Man

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Post n°6

Re: Should this college cancel this commencement speaker?

by Forgiveness Man Thu Dec 29, 2011 8:42 pm

RedBedroom wrote:

The quote is from a televsision interview he gave. On our news they showed the clip so it is not taken out of context.

I wouldn't be surprised if it were. Video clips shown on the news are taken out of context all the time. But even if it weren't, it's his view and he's entitled to it, and it's not heartless at all. I'd argue they provoked it with their plans to essentially shove their views down throats. My college instructors have said much more inflammatory things about groups I care about, but I am not campaigning for them to lose their jobs. There is zero justification to cancel this guy's appearance.

RedBedroom

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Post n°7

Re: Should this college cancel this commencement speaker?

by RedBedroom Thu Dec 29, 2011 10:19 pm

Forgiveness Man wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if it were. Video clips shown on the news are taken out of context all the time. But even if it weren't, it's his view and he's entitled to it, and it's not heartless at all. I'd argue they provoked it with their plans to essentially shove their views down throats. My college instructors have said much more inflammatory things about groups I care about, but I am not campaigning for them to lose their jobs. There is zero justification to cancel this guy's appearance.

I honestly look at college professors differently than a guest speaker. The college does not have religious leaders at every graduation ceremony. Last year the guy was an author who had a history in sports writing, I believe. So to bring in someone who has compared the gay rights parade to the KKK demonstrations is not the right way to go.

I did think a lot about this before feeling truly it was the wrong thing. I am sure other commencement speakers have said inappropriate, even hateful, things in months or years prior to their appearance. However, I do think if they get over 50% of the student body to sign the petition, they should cancel him. Truthfully, I don't know the process that happens to select a speaker. If students are solely responsible, then maybe they should just have to deal with the indiscretion of the man they selected. But I can't imagine being a gay student at SNC and having this man deliver the commencement speech.

CeCe

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Post n°8

Re: Should this college cancel this commencement speaker?

by CeCe Thu Dec 29, 2011 11:08 pm

They were not "shoving" anything down anyone's "throat". There was a meeting between the organizers & the CITY. They determined this route to be in the best interest of everyone.

2012 PRIDE PARADE CHANGES

December 21, 2011

The following joint statement from Alderman Tom Tunney and parade organizers was sent out to media sources on Wednesday by the alderman's office as a result of a meeting held LAST week:

"We met with representatives from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church last week to hear the parish's concerns about the proposed changes to the 2012 Gay Pride Parade. We discussed moving the start time back to 12:00 Noon to help accommodate Sunday services along the parade route. After consulting with the various City departments, we believe this is an agreeable compromise to help keep the parade safe and manageable while respecting the diversity of our neighborhood."

Alderman Tom Tunney (44th Ward)

Richard Pfeiffer (Pride Parade coordinator)

October 4, 2011

An increase in the number of spectators at both LGBT and non-LGBT parades has been an issue in recent years across the country. Many cities have made adjustments to their parades, and Chicago is no different. Due to the increase in the number of spectators at recent Chicago Pride Parades, several changes and adjustments are planned for the 2012 Pride Parade.

Each year in Chicago, Pride Parade coordinators meet with city representatives both before and after the parade. After this year's parade, coordinators met with representatives from city departments and agencies including police, fire, office of emergency management, streets and sanitation, human relations, aldermen, and the Mayor's office. As a result of those meetings, updated plans for next year's Chicago Annual Pride Parade on Sunday June 24, 2012 include the following:

1. New starting time: 10 AM.

2. Modified parade staging area and route: The parade route will be lengthened by five blocks to accommodate the increased amount of spectators. It also adds two additional elevated stations to accommodate arriving spectators (in addition to the four already there).

The staging area: Montrose (from Broadway to Clark) and Broadway (from Montrose to Wilson)

The parade route: Step off from the Montrose/Broadway corner, proceeding south on Broadway; then south on Halsted; then east on Belmont; then south on Broadway; then east on Diversey to Cannon Drive.

3. Parade entries: 200 (instead of 250, to keep the parade at a manageable time frame).

The goal is to make the parade a safer and more enjoyable event for all.

http://www.chicagopridecalendar.org/parade.shtml

Except that Pride Parade organizers did move the start time for the parade so that it would not interfere with the services at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church and was amenable to working with the church so that the Pride Parade wouldn't interfere with parishioners who wanted to attend mass. It should have been enough for George to simply wait out the fire while it burned out. Now his defending his statement has LGBT activists calling for his resignation.

Anthony Martinez of The Civil Rights Agenda released a statement.

“The Cardinal is obviously avoiding the calls for his resignation and apology. His statement not only lays the blame for his comments squarely on the parade organizers by saying they ‘invited’ his comments, but he does not take responsibility for his brazen and hurtful words. Additionally, he only further asserts his claims by stating that the KKK is not an organization that should be emulated.

“The LGBT community and our allies march in the Pride Parade every year to assert our pride in being an LGBT person or ally, and to advocate for our civil rights and equality. We do not march against any religion; in fact many faith communities join the parade. We march to assert our identities and freedoms. For the Cardinal to think that the entire parade is marching against the one Catholic Church on the parade route only shows that he sees the LGBT movement for civil rights as his opposition. Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that this man does not have a very political motive for making these statements. They are not the only church on the route, but they are the only church complaining and asking for special treatment.

http://chicagoist.com/2011/12/28/cardinal_george_defends_chicago_pri.php

So no.