I think the school felt the fairest left/right debate would be one where no one on the right actually speaks.
A planned left-right debate at the State University of New York at New Paltz was abruptly cancelled at the last-minute based on objections to the “right-wing” views of one participant.
Cliff Kincaid, Director of the Center for Investigative Journalism at Accuracy in Media, told Campus Reform that he had been scheduled to debate Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting founder Jeff Cohen on March 30 on the topic of media coverage of the presidential campaign, only to be informed of the cancellation that very morning as he prepared to board a plane bound for New York.
“It’s part of our purpose to engage in the free exchange of ideas…”
According to The New Paltz Oracle, Mike Patterson, director of the Office of Student Activities and Union Services, announced the cancellation in a campus-wide email that afternoon, explaining that “the intended purpose for our community would likely not be achieved” because opposition to Kincaid’s political positions was expected to overshadow the event.
“The whole conversation wasn’t going to be a debate but rather be a ‘we don’t like Kincaid’ conversation,” Patterson wrote. “All of the people in our office were in on the conversation to cancel the event. We collectively agreed that the goal of the program got out of hand and went beyond what it needed to be.”
Patterson did not specify the source of the objections to Kincaid’s appearance, but a faculty email exchange obtained by The Oracle reveals that sociology professor Dr. Anne Roschelle helped lead the opposition, raising the alarm about unflattering characterizations in the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Extremist File” on Kincaid.
“Masquerading as a media watchdog, Cliff Kincaid is actually an unrepentant propagandist for extremist right-wing causes who knows few boundaries in his attempts to smear liberal foes,” SPLC states. “Among his wild pronouncements … are the claims that global warming is a scam perpetrated by the ‘religious left,’ that President Obama is a socialist Muslim, and that Marxist elements have hijacked the Roman Catholic Church in order to facilitate a ‘foreign invasion of the U.S.’ by Latinos.”
Anyone handing any credence to the Southern Poverty Law Center is a complete dolt, ass, and racist. REALLY?
Its a circle debate… The participants tell the person sitting in the circle to their immediate right, what the person to thier left told them. Around and around it goes. Yeah, a circle debate.
The left’s idea of a left/right debate involves them deciding exactly how to execute us for thoughtcrime.
If the SPLC isn’t calling you a racist and a right wing extremist, you’re doing it wrong.
Dear SPLC,
http://i.imgur.com/mQ7baNf.png
Sounds like my kind of guy.
—
“Among his wild pronouncements … are the claims that global warming is a scam perpetrated by the ‘religious left,’ that President Obama is a socialist Muslim, and that Marxist elements have hijacked the Roman Catholic Church in order to facilitate a ‘foreign invasion of the U.S.’ by Latinos.”
“SPLC states”
anything that follows is most likely untrue or misconstrued.
liberal definition:
freedom of speech,
freedom of speech is qualified by your speech being in line with my agenda. if it isn’t in line with my agenda then it is “hate speech” and should not be allowed.
And here I thought all along that the purpose of a debate was to hear two sides of an argument, not listen to yourself in an echo chamber. Silly me.
So much for “the free exchange of ideas…”. I guess you can exchange ideas freely, so long as they fit the majority’s spoon fed propaganda indoctrination.
I’d love to see the LefTard’s heads explode at colleges like Hillsdale and patrick Henry.
every time a leftist Precious Snowflake debates a Conservative on a fair basis, the Conservative ALWAYS wins. Even if the Conservative has just a room-temperature IQ, they still win.
SPLC – Socialist/Progessive Liars Committee
dammit! I clicked on the SPLC link and I’m not on The List. What the fuck does one have to do to be recognized for your achievements?
All kidding aside, some Conservative billionaire needs to step up to the plate and fund a “Southern Conservative Law Center” and then we can list all the tens of thousands of leftists, leftist groups and leftist ideologies (Progressivism, Fascism, National Socialism, Communism, Environmentalism)