The UNC 'fascists' and Tom Tancredo

We're getting more letters about the incident at UNC-Chapel Hill than we'll be able to print. Here's a look at 10, all from readers pretty much appalled by those students and faculty members who kept Tom Tancredo from being able to deliver his speech against in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. Find other letters on tomorrow's editorial page.

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On Tuesday, hundreds of students and at least one faculty member prevented a former U.S. congressman from speaking on the Chapel Hill campus. Their resort to threats and force and their aim to censor are not compatible with the stated mission of UNC, nor with our free society. You don’t have to agree with the congressman to see that this so-called protest was a disgrace.

What would George Washington say? From his “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior,” his first rule states, “Every action done in company ought to be with some sign of respect to those that are present.” The protesters failed to respect the speaker, fellow students, school property and UNC itself.

Terrence Lenahan
Holly Springs

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Hypocrisy at UNC-Chapel Hill is alive and well as demonstrated by the latest attempt at legitimate free speech on campus. Visiting former Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo's speech had to be terminated because of his own safety surrounded by angry liberal students and some faculty. One may argue that UNC officials should get some credit for actually allowing Tom Tancredo to speak, but allowing the angry mob to effectively make the visit a total waste of time and actually an unsafe environment nullifies their effort.

It's really very simple — the illusion of free speech is welcomed at UNC as long as those views expressed match their own. The demonstrators were actually a great example for all to see just how corrupt and imbalanced the university has become when it comes to creating an educational environment for real, balanced and open views about any important public interest topic.

Balanced free speech is simply dead at UNC, period. This is a sad testimony to witness.

Pete Vorenkamp
Cary
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Once again those defenders of free speech and tolerance, college liberals, have stopped a speech by a conservative simply because they disagree with his views. The speaker, a former Colorado conservative congressman speaking at UNC-Chapel Hill, opposes in-state tuition benefits for illegal immigrants. Labeling this viewpoint as racist, the students resorted to breaking the windows of the building when their rude disruptive behavior wasn’t sufficient.

Sadly, this approach is nothing new for the liberals. While they welcome any speaker who spews hatred against the U.S. or supports the liberal agenda, they are unwilling to extend even the most basic courtesies to speakers with opposing views. Whatever happened to the open exchange of ideas? More importantly, what happened to free speech?

Note to all liberals: You have every right to disagree with others, but you do not have the right to stop them from expressing those views. This is wrong for many reasons, and an anathema to this country’s guiding principle of the right to free speech. Every view you disagree with is not racist, homophobic, unpatriotic, etc. In fact, if you took time to listen to others, you might actually learn something.

Leave censorship to the federal government and the so called “fairness doctrine.”

Mike Ragland
Apex

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Regarding the protest at UNC, I just want to say that it’s a sad day not only for UNC but also for our country. When a former U.S. congressman is run out of town just because the left doesn’t agree with his message, it is troubling.

The fact that many Americans don’t believe people in this country illegally should be given in-state tuition is not hate. We are not the Radical Right Fringe as ACORN would state. I for one am tired of the name-calling if you’re a conservative. No one has appointed liberals as all-knowing. We simply believe that we are a nation of laws. We believe someone who has made the effort to become legal should be given the in-state tuition.

Hate and racism are today’s catch words for the left if you disagree with them. God help us when we are no longer a nation of laws, but a nation of how we feel. It’s a scary time to be an American when people are railroaded out of town for their honest beliefs.

Mark Pickard
Cary

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The way Tom Tancredo was ousted from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by such intolerant people is an embarrassment to me and to most native North Carolinians. This situation was handled badly by the school personnel, and changes in key leadership positions need to be made.

Tancredo was correct when he said, “When all you can do is yell epithets, that means you are intellectually bankrupt.” Is this the “real” UNC-CH? Regrettably I think so.

Randell Willard
Cary

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It has become quite apparent over recent years that liberals believe that freedom of speech applies only to them. When Congressman Tancredo was invited to speak at UNC, liberals showed us yet again how they want to silence those they don’t agree with and squash intellectual debate. UNC graduate student Tyler Oakley said, “You have to respect the right of people to assemble and collectively speak.” What about the respect that should be afforded to Tancredo and his right to assemble and speak?

Perhaps if Oakley and others would listen instead of preventing others from speaking, one might just learn something and just maybe start to respect others and their views regardless of one’s beliefs or political affiliations.  

David Smith
Selma
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The April 15 article “Furious protest stops Tancredo’s UNC speech” yet again proves the left-wing, liberal profile of some UNC students. There is nothing wrong with disagreeing with someone; however, to yell profanities in the midst of breaking a window during a prominent speech is nothing more than juvenile and immature behavior.

More importantly, why those students would disagree with Tancredo, who is advocating fairness and the rights of legalized American citizens, baffles me. Unauthorized immigrants should not receive in-state tuition benefits because giving them a “free ride” in our universities only reinforces the “free ride” that many illegal immigrants are already living on while in the United States. Condoning and essentially rewarding a crime with college incentives is absurd to the success of our nation.

Considering the economy, why would the idea even be presented to offer benefits to illegal immigrants? Citizens have priority over the education we pay for, rather than undocumented immigrants’ education, which they do not pay for. I would like to think that maybe the protesters missed the part about unauthorized immigrants, but if not Tancredo should come to N.C. State, a place free of blue with no room for the unauthorized.

Mary Harris
Raleigh

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The recent incident with former Congressman Tancredo at UNC-Chapel Hill points out the hypocrisy of some in the academic institution. I would defend everyone’s right to state their beliefs, even to mischaracterize, as the protesters did with Tancredo. I do not defend their actions of violence and shouting him down with vulgarisms and epithets.

The Nazis, the Stalinists and the Taliban have different ideologies yet they share something in common with the Chapel Hill “protesters.” They all share the behavior to silence anyone who disagrees with their point of view, be it by riots, book burnings, concentration camps, gulags, broken windows or even murder. The goals and objectives are the same … only the means are different.

The University of North Carolina should be a bastion of free speech and a place for the free exchange of all ideas, not for the fascist tactics as displayed. I am ashamed that “students” and faculty would resort to violence and frankly despicable behavior. Ashamed but not surprised as the Duke lacrosse incident has proven that the academy doesn’t practice what it preaches.

Frank T. Morgan, Ph.D.
Chapel Hill
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Let me see whether I understand this. A guest of UNC was invited to express his opinions about illegal immigration. A UNC graduate student, either unable or unwilling to peacefully discredit the guest’s position, chose violence and intimidation instead. Aided and abetted by faculty members, he organized a mob that violently disrupted the peaceful expression of ideas, “clashed” with university security forces, forced Its way into the building, destroyed university property and threatened physical harm or worse to the speaker (“… we know where you sleep at night”).

UNC’s response was to investigate the actions of its security force. What about the actions of its students and faculty? It will be very interesting to see whether the university chooses to punish them for their lawless and vicious behavior.

Tom Clemmer
Raleigh

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The protest of former Congressman Tom Tancredo’s presentation at UNC-Chapel Hill was a disgraceful display of the complete intellectual bankruptcy of the supporters of illegal immigrants. Apparently in their minds, using violence and intimidation to stand up for people who have entered our country illegally is more important than having a peaceful dialogue with a citizen exercising his First Amendment rights.

The complete lack of decency on the part of the protestors merely highlights their rabid hatred of anyone who simply suggests that we enforce the laws we have. However, their arguments are based on falsehoods and sheer emotion, which is why they cannot win an argument, they can only silence intellectual conversation.

The fact remains, this nation was built by legal immigrants, people who wanted to come here and make better lives for themselves. Illegal immigrants break our laws from the moment they illegally cross our border. It is no wonder that many illegal immigrants are involved in gangs and other forms of crime once they settle into an area. It is also not surprising that their supporters will not hesitate to trample on free speech in order to defend this crime.

Brian Sears
Waynesville