Providence College blocks speech by ex-congressman (Tom Tancredo)

[cali]

Associated Press - April 27, 2009 2:54 PM ET

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Providence College has blocked a campus speech by former Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo, a vocal opponent of illegal immigration.

The Roman Catholic college said in a statement Monday that the student group that planned to host Tancredo was not officially sanctioned.

It also said Tancredo's stance on illegal immigration "directly contrasts" with Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, a member of the college's Board of Trustees.

Tancredo briefly sought the Republican nomination for president but dropped out of the race in December 2007. His speech earliier this month at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was interrupted by a student protest.

http://www.krdo.com/global/story.asp?s=10257265

[RB TexLa]

1. Good, I don't think anyone should welcome that anti-American.

[Still Sensible]

2. Just to be consistent, I don't like censorship

While Tancredo is a proven asshole and about as removed from my politics as possible, I don't care for the idea of someone being denied a voice. Obviously this appears to be on some technicality about the group that invited Tancredo, but the (admittedly suspect) AP report hints that it was the views of the Catholic Bishop that influenced the decision. If I were that group, unsanctioned as they are, I would invite speakers to an off campus setting. That said, I would encourage protests against the jerk like the ones he ran into in North Carolina.

[Bucky]

3. Honestly, I think this is as much crap as the Obama-banners of Notre Dame

Academic institutions should be a place where ideas--yes, even ideas we disagree with--get aired out. You don't have to like someone in order to listen to them. This kind of crap, carried to an extreme, will kill democracy.