Letter to the Editor:
Simcox not credible as 'academic'
Photos&Videos
ISSUE: 11/29/07 > Opinions > Simcox not credible as 'academic'
To the editor:
On Nov. 5 a large number of students, faculty and staff turned out to hear a presentation by Chris Simcox of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps. There are a few things that happened in and around that meeting that need to be clarified.
First, Simcox alleged that “a group of professors” tried to stop him from presenting his information on Belmont’s campus.” I was one of the professors who raised questions about this meeting with the department of Student Affairs. My intent was not to keep Simcox off the campus or stop him from distributing information. What I did was question the designation of this meeting as an “academic lecture” component of Belmont’s convocation program. The description of this meeting on BIC did not provide the name of the presenter or the academic credentials which qualified this person to provide an academic lecture on this topic, both of which are standard elements of BIC descriptions in this category.
When I inquired about this I was not provided with that information. On the day of the meeting, the person who introduced Simcox provided no statement of his credentials to give an academic lecture on this subject. I believe student groups should have the right to invite persons on campus who represent diverse points of view, even when those perspectives oppose the mission and values of Belmont, but the university is not obligated to designate these presentations in any particular way or provide convocation credit when they do not fit the criteria of any of the categories.
Second, what happened in the meeting was not an academic lecture. Simcox often reeled off lists of statistics without supplying any source for them. He made contradictory claims without acknowledging their contradictory nature. For example, he blamed bad publicity about his organization on “splinter groups” led by people who have left his group and still use the “Minutemen” name, but later claimed that his group has a rigorous membership screening process that includes psychological evaluation. He frequently tried to portray his group’s mission as “humanitarian” while the screen behind him was dominated with military imagery and language. These are the kinds of inadequate communication that academic preparation teaches us to avoid.
The most disturbing point in the presentation came when Simcox made the preposterous claim that those who protest his presence are illegal drug users who are angry that his group has so effectively slowed drug traffic from Mexico. This slanderous statement demonstrates exactly why Belmont’s convocation program should not hand out freely and easily the “academic lecture” designation. This statement needs to be addressed by the group that sponsored the program. The College Republicans, as members of the Belmont community, invited an outsider onto the campus, and other members of the Belmont community attended the meeting to protest this presence. The protesters were respectful of Simcox. They waited quietly through his presentation, after which some posed questions when the appropriate time came. For those whose presence was in protest, and that includes me, to be labeled by this guest as illegal drug addicts is not acceptable, and the sponsoring group needs to apologize to the Belmont community.
Because Belmont is a university, the campus needs to be open to diverse points of view. The Belmont convocation program, however, should only be expected to include such meetings in its offerings for convocation credit when they clearly meet the criteria of one of its categories. I support the freedom of the College Republicans to invite guest speakers of their own choosing onto the campus. At the same time, I can also hope they will demonstrate careful judgment in making these choices and will take steps to be sure that these guests to do not violate or disrupt the respectful and compassionate sense of community we all work so hard to build on this campus.
