[DEBATE] : Tutu Invited Back to University of St. Thomas

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Wow, a victory!

<http://www.stthomas.edu/bulletin/news/200741/Wednesday/Dease10_10_07.cfm>
UST president says he made wrong decision, invites Tutu to campus

Father Dennis Dease, president of the University of St. Thomas, has
asked that the letter below be sent to St. Thomas students, faculty
and staff:

Dear members of the St. Thomas community,

One of the strengths of a university is the opportunity that it
provides to speak freely and to be open to other points of view on a
wide variety of issues. And, I might add, to change our minds.

Therefore, I feel both humbled and proud to extend an invitation to
Archbishop Desmond Tutu to speak at the University of St. Thomas.

I have wrestled with what is the right thing to do in this situation,
and I have concluded that I made the wrong decision earlier this year
not to invite the archbishop. Although well-intentioned, I did not
have all of the facts and points of view, but now I do.

PeaceJam International may well choose to keep the alternative
arrangements that it has made for its April 2008 conference, but I
want the organization and Archbishop Tutu to know that we would be
honored to hold the conference at St. Thomas.

In any event, St. Thomas will extend an invitation to Archbishop Tutu
to participate in a forum to foster constructive dialogue on the
issues that have been raised. I hope he accepts my invitation. The
Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas has
agreed to serve as a co-sponsor of the forum, and I expect other
organizations also to join as co-sponsors.

Details about issues to be addressed will be determined later, but I
would look forward to a candid discussion about how a civil and
democratic society can pursue reasoned debate on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other emotionally charged issues.

I also want to encourage a thoughtful examination of St. Thomas'
policies regarding controversial speech and controversial speakers. In
the past, we have been criticized externally and internally when we
have invited controversial speakers to campus – as well as when we
have not. Rather than just move from controversy to controversy, might
there be a positive role that this university could play in fostering
thoughtful conversation around difficult and highly charged issues? We
also might explore how to more clearly express in our policies and
practices our commitment to civility when discussing such issues.

I have asked Dr. Nancy Zingale, professor of political science and my
former executive adviser, to oversee the planning for the forum. If
you have suggestions regarding either the topic or other participants,
please contact her at nhzingale at stthomas.edu.

I sincerely hope Archbishop Tutu will accept our invitation. I
continue to have nothing but the utmost respect for his witness of
faith, for his humanitarian accomplishments and especially for his
leadership in helping to end apartheid in South Africa.

Sincerely,

Father Dennis Dease

President

-- 
Yoshie