Duke Gets FIREd
Our friends at FIRE continue their meritorious work on behalf of free speech on campus, this time at Duke, which, as you may recollect, has had some problems with the idea over the years. In this instance, the Duke University Women’s Center had refused to allow a group of undergraduate women, members of Duke Students for Life, to use its facilities for a presentation on motherhood. Apparently, some of the others at the women’s center got quite exercised about the topic, and complained loudly, prompting one of the DWC’s staffers to refuse the request. Remember that the Women’s Center, like many other student organizations on Duke’s campus and elsewhere, is supported by the activities fees that come out of everyone’s tuition. Its use, in principle at least, isn’t restricted to a specific set of viewpoints or groups. Ah, but as I’ve learned over the years, that’s often exactly how it works in practice, especially at Women’s Centers, where being a “woman” is less about being female, and much, much more about feminist ideology. Sad to say, but I’ve heard this record many, many times before. That’s why it’s so heartening that FIRE has been able to talk sense to Duke’s administration, and that they’ve responded by doing the right thing and rescinding the ban. Too bad, though, that there was ever a need for such action in the first place. There’s a long, long way yet to go, but FIRE’s efforts certainly have us moving in the right direction.
You say feminist “ideology” as if there are no facts to back up any research done by feminists. You, like most women actually, know absolutely nothing about feminism. If some ill-informed women wish to spread misinformation does not mean that women who actually know better must be forced to allow their facilities to be abused for that purpose.
I’m confused: what “research” are you referring to that would justify the exclusion of Duke Students for Life from making their case at the university Women’s Center? The issue for me, as I indicated in my post, centers on free speech and the engagement of clashing visions on what it means to be a “woman?” If you still say that DSL shouod be banned from using the Women’s Center – or “abused” as you say – why is that preferrable to allowing them to speak and then presentong your own view in response?
Glenn M. Ricketts, NAS