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Only standing room was available in the tight confines of the Bangor Room of Memorial Union on Tuesday when conservative speaker David Horowitz took the stage. Horowitz was invited to campus by the University of Maine College Republicans to discuss the Academic Bill of Rights, or ABOR, as well as the political state of the nation’s college campuses.
ABOR was drafted by Horowitz to counteract what he sees as a “liberal bias” on most college campuses. Mainly citing liberal professors as the reason for political bias, Horowitz went on the offensive.
“[As a professor], you teach students how to think, not what to think,” he said. “It’s a matter of education versus indoctrination.
“We need to restore integrity to our nation’s public universities,” said Horowitz, after discussing how some Republicans on campuses are referred to as fascists.
“Professional means you don’t intrude personal politics into class,” Horowitz said, again criticizing professors.
Horowitz claims ABOR is very liberal as far as he is concerned, in that it stresses the need for political diversity in universities. Drawing an analogy from the fact that many colleges try hard to have racially and ethnically diverse campuses, Horowitz feels that a politically diverse campus is equally important.
“I think it would benefit liberal students to have conservative professors on campus, if for no other reason, then they would finally have someone to challenge them,” he said. “You’ll be a stronger leftist for having dealt with a conservative professor.”
The lecture came to a major turning point one-third of the way through when Horowitz informed the audience that it was “time to rain fire and brimstone.” Discussion quickly turned from discussing ABOR to everything from famous liberal personalities, who Horowitz aired grievances against, to support for the war in Iraq and criticism of college professors.
Horowitz displayed a passionate demeanor when discussing the Iraq war, saying it was obviously the right war to fight, just as World War II was the right war to fight. At one point, he dubbed Iraq and the Muslim Middle East the “Heartland of Terror.”
Horowitz discussed how he saw the elections held in Iraq as a triumph for democracy, saying that when 70 percent of the Iraqi people voted, “they voted with their hearts, with their lives, for democracy, against terror, for the war policy of George Bush.”
When discussing the contentious issue of the Iraq war, the room became obviously more polarized between liberals and conservatives.
Tensions rose a little higher as Alex Smith of Bangor, who attended the lecture after having just returned from filming a documentary in Afghanistan, immediately criticized Horowitz for his comments on Iraq.
“The Iraq war is illegal by every standard of international law,” said Smith.
Horowitz and Smith engaged in an argument over politics, foreign policy and ethics that lasted only a short time before Smith made a direct verbal attack against Horowitz and was asked to relinquish the microphone.
When Horowitz finished, a question and answer session took place, followed by a book signing and autograph session.
Matt McCarthy of the College Republicans felt the talk went well.
“It brought in a new view from what we typically see at UMaine,” McCarthy said. “It did a good job in bringing a new perspective into politics.”
“I agreed with it,” said fourth-year student John Merry. “It was hilarious and at the same time, informative and educational.” Merry said he would fully support ABOR.
As far as UMaine is concerned, Horowitz feels that while not overly liberal, it certainly isn’t conservative.
“There is an unwelcoming atmosphere here from what I have heard from students, although I’m sure it’s just a small portion of faculty that causes this,” Horowitz said. “I feel that the university community should take steps to change the situation.”
Horowitz will be speaking at Bates College on Wednesday, then will travel out of Maine to further discuss ABOR.
Bangor Daily News