Free Speech

In the aftermath of Ahmadinejad speaking at Columbia University it is interesting to see Stanford University's response to Donald Rumsfeld being invited to become part of a campus think tank. Thousands of protesters have decried this appointment and have started a petition to rescind this offer. The petitioners state that Rumsfeld should not be allowed on the the think tank because,"We view the appointment as fundamentally incompatible with the ethical values of truthfulness, tolerance, disinterested inquiry, respect for national and international laws, and care for the opinions, property and lives of others to which Stanford is inalienably committed." Others have stated that Rumsfeld is a war criminal and should not get this appointment. These people are of course talking about the former U.S secretary of defence who patriotically served his country, although his policies might be controversial. I'm sure that many of these same protesters were fighting for Ahmadinejad to speak at Columbia, but then show disdain for a former secretary of defence. I personally am speechless at the hypocrisy of these people and wonder what freedom of speech and academic freedom even mean any more.

Thanks to CNN