St. Thomas under Fire for Disallowing Tutu on Its Campus

In the aftermath of disallowing Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu to speak at its campus for fear of offending the Jewish community, the University of St. Thomas is under intense pressure to reconsider its position.  Leading the chorus are members of its faculty and student groups.

On Monday, 18 faculty members of St. Thomas’s law school sent a letter to the president of the university, the Rev. Dennis Dease, urging him to reverse his decision.

“That an otherwise distinguished speaker should be rejected because he has made statements on disputed political issues that hurt or offend some people is a principle of breathtaking scope,” wrote the group. “Under this rationale, it appears, the University would refuse to invite former President Jimmy Carter or Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to speak on any matter of human rights or public affairs.”

Carter recently drew the ire of pro-Israel groups when he wrote a new book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” Asked whether Carter would be allowed to speak at St. Thomas, Doug Hennes, vice president for university and government relations, said he wouldn’t answer hypothetical questions.

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Nor would Julie Swiler, a spokeswoman for the Jewish Community Relations Council, or JCRC. Her organization is the one that voiced concerns about Tutu’s 2002 remarks, in which he said, among other things, that the plight of Palestinians reminded him of apartheid South Africa.

Dease’s office has received thousands of e-mails from individuals and national peace groups, many of them Jewish. They urged him to reconsider his position on Tutu

Other members of the St. Thomas faculty and students have also started a petition to urge Dease to invite Tutu and to reinstate Dr. Cris Toffolo, an associate professor who was demoted from her position as director of the university’s justice and peace program.

Separately, Jewish faculty members at Metropolitan State University, where Tutu’s speech has been relocated, have launched their own letter of support for Tutu.

“We, the undersigned Jewish members of the faculty of Metropolitan State wish to express our respect for Bishop Tutu and look forward to his visit to our University,” they wrote.

“Not always like this” 

Some St. Thomas faculty members say the Tutu incident is an isolated case. They cite the university’s decision to allow Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, a controversial Palestinian legislator and fierce critic of Israel, to speak on campus a few years ago.

Theology professor Terry Nichols said that while the university’s decision to disallow Tutu to speak on campus “is bad…and unfortunate, it’s not a policy of the university, nor does it reflect on its administration. It’s not always like this.”

Dease and others in the administration have been “extremely helpful in establishing the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center,” he said. The center will hold its first open house next Monday.

Recognizing the unwanted bad publicity it received from this episode, the university “will probably take a conscious step to remedy this,” Nichols said.

He wouldn’t elaborate on what could that be, but media accounts suggested the university will hold a conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.