Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

The university will decide their opinions of Ward Connerly

A firebrand?

An instigator?

A reasoned individual?

He might be all of these and more and the campus will have a chance to judge today.

Today’s speech by California Board of Regents member Ward Connerly will not only be divisive – he is anti-affirmative action and will speak on a campus that tends to have a different view – but it will also be interesting. It will present an excellent opportunity for this campus to show its willingness to hear a different point of view.

Connerly, the President and CEO of Connerly ‘ Associates, a land-use consulting firm. After studying political theory at California State University, he served as the Chairman of the California Civil Rights Initiative. That organization campaigned for the passage of Proposition 209, legislation banning affirmative action policies. He serves on the California Chamber of Commerce, and is serving a 12-year term as a Regent.

We certainly don’t endorse Connerly’s belief on Affirmative Action, but we welcome his opinion and respect his right to express it. The things that he says in today’s speech will be considered inflammatory by a campus community that’s certainly more liberal than it is conservative.

But his speech will underline and embolden those very specific differences between individuals.

For the few conservatives present on this campus, Connerly is a breath of fresh air. Individuals who never get to hear such talk on this campus will no doubt appreciate his ardent anti-liberal stances. His views are quite legitimate and are too rarely heard around here.

For the liberals, Connerly serves as fodder for the internal fires. The things that Connerly says in today’s speech will poke and prod at campus liberals who are too rarely opposed. Instead of simply espousing a party line, Connerly’s going to provide a legitimate critique and offer, instead, a different road.

Connerly supporters are already on that road, cruising with the top down. But those who oppose them won’t have to take that particular highway; instead, they need only to consider it. Nobody’s forcing anyone to believe what the ‘other side’ believes. Instead, it is only asked that the ‘other side’ is understood.

That is what Ward Connerly can provide, a view from the opposing side that doesn’t coincide with the UMass politic. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have anything legitimate to say. His political beliefs not only are a salve for conservative individuals on this campus who rarely hear such talk; they are also coals for the fire for liberals who’ve lost their inspiration to care.

A good give and take, a solid battle over beliefs, strong arguments from both sides: that should be the reality of today’s lecture. Connerly might not make everyone happy, but he isn’t supposed to.

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