TO THE EDITOR:
In response to Joe Swain’s letter published on March 1 in The Daily Tar Heel:
Mr. Swain referred to the invitation of Dr. Mike Adams as an unintentional “trap,” laid for campus liberals.
I recognize that Dr. Adams is somewhat controversial, so as CEO of the Carolina Liberty Foundation and editor-in-chief of Carolina Review, two co-sponsors for the event, I thought I’d elucidate the reasons my organizations invited Dr. Adams to UNC.
At a time when conservatives and liberals alike fear being silenced for their political views, there is arguably no issue more important than free speech.
With that in mind, the Carolina Liberty Foundation has sought to invite speakers to UNC who have fought against a system that attempted to silence them.
Earlier this semester we hosted the famed social rights activist Chen Guangcheng, who fought for the rights of women and the poor in China.
For his efforts, he was imprisoned and tortured by the Chinese government.
While never imprisoned, Dr. Adams has experience with censorship as well here in the United States. He was denied a full professorship at UNC-W on the basis of his conservative views. That’s not my opinion, that’s not Dr. Adams’ opinion, that’s what a federal court decided in 2014.
