Christian Union: The Magazine Spring 2017 | Page 59

PR I N C E T O N | On Campus
Truth Seeking, Democracy, and Freedom
of Expression
R O B E R T G E O R G E A N D C O R N E L W E S T U N I T E F O R D E C L A R AT I O N
By Catherine Elvy, Staff Writer
O
and Middlebury professor of inter-
national politics and economics was
taken to a local hospital, according
to news accounts.
Murray, a scholar at the American
Enterprise Institute, co-authored The
Bell Curve, a 1994 book that sparked
2
live-streamed his presentation.
After the session, a group of dem-
onstrators approached Murray’s en-
tourage, sparking a confrontation that
involved pushing and shoving, as well
as an attack upon Stanger and on a
school official’s personal vehicle. A
college spokesman described
the individuals as “outside
agitators,” rather than Mid-
dlebury students.
While politically liberal,
Stanger had agreed to mod-
erate a question period at
the original site of the talk,
in part, to encourage a
thoughtful debate, accord-
ing to Inside Higher Ed.
In the wake of the Mid-
dlebury altercation, George
and West, as two of the
Scholar Robert George and philosopher
Cornel West joined forces in March to issue a
country’s most prominent,
declaration defending the necessity of unfettered
but philosophically antithet-
public discourse, especially on campuses.
ical, intellectuals, stepped
forward to speak up for un-
encumbered discourse.
Within an academic community
controversy for its analysis of the role
of IQ in shaping class structure across and beyond, “all of us should respect-
the United States. Murray also penned fully seek to engage with people who
Losing Ground, which served as the challenge our views. And we should
intellectual foundation for an exten- oppose efforts to silence those with
sive welfare reform initiative in 1996. whom we disagree – especially on
At Middlebury, protestors shout- college and university campuses,” they
ed down Murray as the Harvard alum- wrote.
Students benefit from hearing
nus of 1965 attempted to deliver his
speech, which originated at the invi- robust debate, even when some of the
tation of a student organization. Col- commentary runs contrary to strong
lege administrators then escorted personal views, the men asserted.
An individual who has not “fallen
Murray to a nearby studio, where he
n the heels of a high-profile skir-
mish at Middlebury College, a
pair of ideological opposites with ties
to Princeton University jumped in
to defend the necessity of unfettered
public discourse.
“All of us should be willing – even
eager – to engage with anyone who is
prepared to do business in the curren-
cy of truth-seeking discourse by offer-
ing reasons, marshaling evidence, and
making arguments,” wrote scholar
Robert George and philosopher Cor-
nel West in their joint declaration,
Truth Seeking, Democracy, and Freedom
of Thought and Expression.
Despite ideological differences, the
two academics joined forces to issue
the thought-provoking declaration in
March, just days after protests over a
speaker at Vermont-based Middlebury
sparked a violent confrontation.
The success of a free, democratic
society requires the “cultivation and
practice of the virtues of intellectual
humility, openness of mind, and,
above all, love of truth,” wrote George,
a Princeton professor, and West, a
Harvard professor.
As for the incident that sparked
the declaration, protestors confront-
ed famed libertarian Charles Murray
and Middlebury Professor Allison
Stanger on March 2 as they left a
campus facility. Murray, an author,
scholar, and polemic figure, had just
delivered a lecture. After one demon-
strator pulled Stanger’s hair and in-
jured her neck, the Harvard alumna
57