UNC is liberal. No one will challenge that. However especially during election season UNC becomes about as receptive to conservatives as a Southern Baptist church would be to Elton John.
I came to UNC as a liberal person but my disappointment has been in the difficulty to find diverse thought in a marketplace of ideas where anything nonliberal is tucked away in the back. But the contrast is something we need.
After four years here all my views have been reworked but with little thanks to the efforts of the University. UNC desperately needs to encourage both sides of the spectrum and that means bringing in some voices not everyone might want to hear.
A year before I came to UNC I spent a summer working for Habitat for Humanity picking up supplies and donations in an old 27-foot truck with a busted radio capable of picking up only one station. And on that one station I was exposed to the omnipotent brilliance of Rush Limbaugh.
Just kidding; I think Limbaugh is an idiot. But a lot of people don't. A lot of people listen to him and form their opinions off thoughts like his. It was insightful to hear how he and those who call in think about issues. Listening to his show became a thought-provoking experience valuable in that it forced me to reconsider my own views but above all else let me in on how the other side (the Right) thinks and thereby allowed me to refine how I develop my counterarguments to views opposing my own.
UNC botched a similar prime opportunity a year and a half ago when John Ashcroft visited campus. Aside from the embarrassing display of hospitality (or lack thereof) inconsiderate students ruined an opportunity to really absorb and understand the mind-set of such a powerful man in government who many felt had done the nation and world wrong. They were depriving themselves of the opportunity to intellectually engage the man firsthand.
Last year my global issues class compiled a panel of a dozen students including myself who supported the war in Iraq ... in front of a lecture hall of at least a couple of hundred who despised people like us.
For about an hour students brought every question (and comment) they could to discredit us and try to make us see the ignorance of our views.
My view is that President Bush botched the war and started it in the first place to benefit his corporate cronies. But it's the human rights atrocities that get to me and I am glad that at least there is a chance of justice there now.
Such are my views on the war. I don't know if I changed anyone's mind but I was at least able to explain and expose people to a relatively suppressed view on a campus vehemently in opposition to the war. For those who remained unchanged in their views at least they reconsidered their own views and ultimately better know and understand the opposition they're attacking.
Besides who would want to hear a panel of people agree with everything the audience thinks for an hour straight? It's one reason there's such a fascination (yes we all have it whether or not we stop and engage) with the Pit Preacher. Of course practically no one agrees with him and it's not like he's in a position of authority. But it's still interesting to listen to the polar opposites of our own views to help us refine and improve our thought.
I'm not saying UNC should invite Neo-Nazis or bring back the KKK's David Duke just to diversify the speaker landscape. People like Ashcroft add so much perspective and with many Bush administration members out of real jobs in less than a year there ought to be some very interesting speakers available and it wouldn't hurt us to hear what they have to say.
