Wednesday, April 16, 2008

UST's President Dease Flip-Flops, Again.

.
Last Fall, the University of St Thomas forbade Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu of South Africa from speaking on their campus. He didn't meet their lofty standards, I guess. After a great public outcry, President Father David Dease changed his mind and allowed the appearance. But Tutu decided he would rather speak someplace else and did so last week in the Twin Cities.

Also last week, one of the St Thomas honchos, Vice-President for Student Affairs, Jane Canney, forbade Pro-Life, Civil Rights speaker and activist Star Parker, sponsored by the Young America's Foundation, from speaking at St Thomas, saying that she would not ever appear “as long as I am a vice president at St. Thomas."

President Dease changed his mind again after Parker said she would speak on the sidewalks if she had to. The public is eagerly awaiting the resignation of Vice-President Canney and also of President Dease, who pulls down a quarter of million simoleons a year; not bad for a diocesan priest. He probably doesn't need a job any more, anyway.

(LifeSiteNews.com) - Last week, LifeSiteNews.com reported that the University of St. Thomas, a Catholic university and private college in Minnesota, had cancelled the appearance of prominent Christian activist, writer and pro-life speaker Star Parker.

Yesterday afternoon, however, university officials announced that Parker will be speaking after all. She will appear on April 21 at 7:00 pm in the O'Shaughnessy Educational Center auditorium. Parker, who is African-American, will be addressing the impact of abortion on minority communities.

A news bulletin told the university's students that the school had "extended the invitation after the decision was made to use St. Thomas funds to pay her speaker's fee and related expenses, thus giving university officials more involvement in managing the event."

What is most interesting is that UST is wasting their own money to sponsor Parker because they won't allow anybody from the Young America's Foundation to speak on campus. Originally, Parker would have spoken at no charge to the university.

Pardon me, but don't most real universities believe in free speech? Why are Catholic parents paying a huge tuition fee to teach their children in a censored institution? Why would a Catholic school believe in censorship? What is so frightening about an African-American woman, speaking about abortion, pro-life issues and their effects upon minorities? Are we in a time warp? Is this the 1950s?

I stand corrected. Real universities no longer do believe in free speech. They only believe in modified-free speech for people with whom they agree. People like trans-gender speakers, for instance. I'd bet they would fight to get Barack or Hillary, both rabid pro-aborts to speak on their campus.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If I understand it correctly, UST is saying that Star Parker can now speak on campus, because the UST is paying her speaking fess. Does that mean that UST paid Al Franken, the trans-gender person who believes god is a black lesbian, and the 9-11 conspiracy nut to speak? Oh, that brings me great comfort.

Anonymous said...

You are only showing your ignorance by saying all these stupid things. If you really did your research you would learn that UST has it's hands tied by the archdioceses of St Paul and Mpls. There are many times that the pres tried to do things he felt were right but was stopped by the reigning archbishops...Things are not always as they appear you dumb ass.