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February 9, 2005

Ward Churchill Appearance at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater May Not Happen

Commenter David Coles left this cry for help on Moonbattery:

HELP ME!!! I go to UW-Whitewater and I don't want this unpatriotic creep coming to my school. What can I do?

There may be good news. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Churchill's March 1 appearance at Whitewater is in some jeopardy. Reference is made to emails received by Chancellor Jack Miller, encouraging him to cancel the Churchill appearance.

A statement regarding Churchill's visit has been posted on UW-Whitewater's website, announcing that Miller is conducting a review of Churchill's appearance:

Miller is seeking input from a variety of sources, including the sponsoring student groups, university faculty and staff, First Amendment attorneys, and police and safety officials with the university. He has requested more information from Churchill directly. The review will be used by Miller to ultimately make an informed decision about whether to continue Churchill’s lecture. The results of Miller’s review and the rationale for his decision will be posted on the university’s Web site later this week.

Although Miller's direct email doesn't seem to be listed on the UW-Whitewater site, the statement offers a contact address for Brian Mattmiller, who is the Director of News and Public Affairs. Badly in need of a few emails from irate students is Dean of the College of Letters and Sciences Howard Ross, who appears ready to go to the wall for Churchill in order to establish his credentials as a hardcore moonbat.

My advice would be emailing both of these individuals, as well as anyone else in the school administration who might be relevant, and get everyone you know at UW-Whitewater to do the same. Circulating a petition might do some good. The people who tend to have the most leverage with educrats are alumni, especially alumni who donate to the school, so if you have any relatives who belong in this category, their letters and emails would be particularly valuable.

Hamilton College, Wheaton College, and Eastern Washington University all backed down when people objected to Churchill appearances, so it's highly possible that UW-Whitewater will too. Of course with Hamilton, it helped to be close enough to NYC that relatives of World Trade Center victims were planning to show up in large numbers, which would not have been good publicity for the school. The official line was that they had to cancel for security reasons because of death threats, but I suspect this was just an excuse. A lot of public figures get death threats, which generally aren't taken that seriously, since they tend to come from kooks. But if enough decent, normal people get it across in a measured, intelligent way that they are fed up with their schools promoting depraved lunatics like Churchill, it will have an effect.

If any readers have further advice to offer, please comment.

Posted by Van Helsing at February 9, 2005 1:37 PM

Comments

Posted by: David Coles at February 10, 2005 12:32 AM