Shame on you, UST!

This is appalling, and makes me truly angry as a Roman Catholic of this archdiocese. According to the StarTribune, the University of St. Thomas has decided not to invite Desmond Tutu to speak on campus because <blockquote>“He [Tutu] has been critical of Israel and Israeli policy regarding the Palestinians, so we talked with people in the Jewish community and they said they believed it would be hurtful to the Jewish community, because of things he’s said.”</blockquote> In addition, UST has removed Chris Toffolo as director of the university’s justice and peace studies program.</p>

Since when has being critical of a government's policies been grounds for having one's freedom to speak removed? I imagine that Desmond Tutu has a lot of previous experience with such suppression, but it is shameful that in this case it's the University of St. Thomas, a diocesan educational institution, that's doing so. [Note: Metropolitan State University has wisely agreed to host him, so he WILL be able to be heard locally.] I do not know the precise details of Rev. Tutu's past statements, but I DO know something of the global respect in which he is held, and it behooves us to listen to him. We may then disagree, but not being able to even HEAR his criticism is ridiculous. Something similar happened to Jimmy Carter several months ago when his latest book came out.

We live in a democracy. Israel is also a democracy. Both nations thrive when free criticism is allowed. When we cut down on the ability to engage in critical thought, we harm democracy. There are all sorts of appropriate reasons to criticize the Israeli government's recent actions -- and indeed many Israelis regularly do so -- and many people who care about Israel criticize the Israeli government precisely because of that support.

Further, if the paper is correct, removing the director of the university's peace and justice studies program from that post because of this controversy is senseless (actually, I have stronger words I'd use, but they're not appropriate in a public setting). I hope that the university wakes up to the appalling implications of their recent actions and changes course.