The range of special lectures on this campus is huge. Every once in a while a lecture comes along that provokes the question: Why was it ever here? And so it happened last week when the University Republicans invited a speaker to explain why reparations are a bad idea. The distinguished speaker was Deroy Murdock, a syndicated columnist, who argued reparations were a bad idea because “not all white people are descendants of slave owners.” Reparations are not a hot topic and inviting someone to speak out against them seems a waste of energy.
College campuses are inherently liberal; therefore campus Republican organizations have an especially important role to play in offering an explanation of their views. If they want to make an impact they ought to bring in speakers that intelligently debate currently relevant agenda items like abortion, fiscal conservatism and foreign policy, not some issue that sits on Washington’s back burner and rarely makes the paper.
The reparations lecture is sure to only further polarize politics between campus liberals and conservatives, nor is it likely to change any minds. It also diminishes the credibility of the University Republicans because they portray themselves as biased ideologues that are more focused on maintaining a right wing image than they are with changing minds.
A few weeks ago the University hosted the “Day of Dialogue,” a series of lectures and panels debating issues that pertain to tomorrow. “Day of Dialogue” cannot fairly be compared to a reparations lecture as it was organized by a much larger and more organized group. While those lectures raised issues that served a more liberal agenda – questioning the PATRIOT Act, Democracy and the Media and prison scandals among many others – they engaged the audience in matters that are important in the world right now. What it offered most importantly was sophisticated dialogue in a relatively fair forum. Political organizations may have strong and obvious agendas, but they can earn credibility with their political opponents if they offer reasonable and valuable arguments.
The presence of organizations like the University Republicans, Students Against Injustice and Women of Action are important because they offer a place for likeminded students to come together. These organizations, when backed by a significant group of people, can be very influential and contribute a great deal to the lacking discourse on this campus. They need to remember credibility is everything.