Azusa Pacific University, a private, Christian University in Los Angeles, California, canceled a planned address by famed libertarian scholar Charles Murray out of concern that his talk might upset “faculty and students of color.”
Murray, a political scientist and libertarian intellectual, is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. For months, he was scheduled to give a speech at APU on Wednesday. But APU President Jon Wallace abruptly canceled the planned speech, insisting that the campus was not yet “ready” to hear what Murray had to say.
According to Murray, an APU faculty member told him that Wallace was worried Murray’s speech might hurt the feelings of minority students and teachers.
Murray has written novels on the subjects of race and IQ. Though the work is considered controversial to some, it is well researched, and devoid of malice, he wrote:
The task of the scholar is to present a case for his or her position based on evidence and logic. Another task of the scholar is to do so in a way that invites everybody into the discussion rather than demonize those who disagree. Try to find anything under my name that is not written in that spirit. Try to find even a paragraph that is written in anger, takes a cheap shot, or attacks women, African Americans, Latinos, Asians, or anyone else.
Murray encouraged Azusa students to read his body of work and decide for themselves whether it it is something from which they need protection.
Go to YouTube and search “Charles Murray.” You will get links to dozens of lectures, panel discussions, and television interviews. You can watch Q&A sessions in which I field questions from students like you, including extremely hostile ones. Watch even for a few minutes. Ask yourself if I insult them or lash out. If I do anything except take their questions seriously and answer them accordingly. Ask yourself if I’m anything more dangerous than an earnest and nerdy old guy.
Azusa Pacific’s administration wants to protect you from earnest and nerdy old guys who have opinions that some of your faculty do not share. Ask if this is why you’re getting a college education.
This has been a strong month for the censoring of AEI scholars at the hands of politically correct campus administrators. Brandeis University — named after avid free speech fan and Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis — recently rescinded an invitation to Ayaan Hirsi Ali to receive an honorary degree. Hirsi Ali, an AEI scholar, is known for her strongly anti-Islam views. Brandeis decided that allowing her to speak would be hurtful to Muslim students. (RELATED: University’s decision to rescind degree to critic of Islam not going over well)
