[NYTr] RESEND RE: Cole's Generous Assessment of St. Thomas Prez's Climbdown

Mon Oct 15 11:25:53 EDT 2007

[This was sent out yesterday and due to a technical snafu it
emerged in really hard-to-read form, and without an author. So
here's a re-send:]

Sent by Andy Pollack - Oct 14, 2007

RE: Juan Cole's Generous Assessment of St. Thomas President's Climbdown
http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20071008/070086.html

NYTransfer:

Good catch re Dease's silence on Toffolo. And instead of showing
fawning admiration, Cole should have realized that Dease knew he was
looking like a fool and a tyrant. 

PLUS: He is clearly NOT inviting Tutu to be the sole speaker as was
originally planned. Tutu is only welcome now because he will be part of
a panel discussion with pro-Zionists. Tutu should tell Dease to go fuck
himself. 

And email the address Dease gives for forum suggestions to say let the
Zionists sponsor their own panel, we don't need their "balance." How
insulting to Tutu! 

The relevant parts of Dease's letter on this score are copied below (and
the whole Cole-Dease piece below that for those I've cc'd). 

Dease says:

"St. Thomas will extend an invitation to Archbishop Tutu to participate
in a forum to foster constructive dialogue... 

"The Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas
has agreed to serve as a co-sponsor of the forum, and I expect other
organizations also to join as co-sponsors.... 

"Details about issues to be addressed will be determined later, but I
would look forward to a candid discussion about how a civil and
democratic society can pursue reasoned debate on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other emotionally charged issues....

"I have asked Dr. Nancy Zingale, professor of political science and my
former executive adviser, to oversee the planning for the forum. If you
have suggestions regarding either the topic or other participants,
please contact her at nhzingale @stthomas.edu."  -Andy

                         ****

We're repeating the whole post Andy refers to here, from Oct 12, 2007:

Juan Cole's Generous Assessment of St. Thomas President's Climbdown

[Juan Cole's reaction is very generous to the President of this
Catholic institution.  Note that Dease's letter, reproduced below, does
not address the question of Professor Cris Toffolo, who was removed
from her position as chair of the Justice and Peace Studies program at
the same time the invitation to Desmond Tutu was rescinded.  Toffolo is
tenured, but no longer heads the department.  Perhaps Dease will also
be as "thoughtful and humble" about that mistake as well. It remains to
be seen. -NY Transfer]

Informed Comment - Oct 12, 2007
http://www.juancole.com/2007/10/father-dease-president-of-university-of.html

Univ of St. Thomas President Reverses Himself on Tutu

by Juan Cole

Father Dease, the president of the University of St. Thomas in
Minneapolis, has reversed himself and invited Archbishop Desmond Tutu
to speak at UST. Dease had been misled by a smear campaign against Tutu
launched by the Zionist Organization of America, which was angered by
the archbishop's criticism of Israel for its mistreatment of the
Palestinians. ZOA falsely charged that Tutu had compared Israel to
Hitler and the Nazis, which was a bald-faced lie. Some Israeli
newspapers were taken in by the propaganda and some Jewish community
leaders in Minneapolis are continuing to spread the falsehood.

Father Dease's letter is remarkable for its intellectual humility and
ethical high-mindedness. You have a sense of a man of God trying to do
the right thing, in a very complicated world, and his powers of moral
reasoning are humbling.

He writes:

http://www.stthomas.edu/bulletin/news/200741/Wednesday/Dease10_10_07.cfm

'Dear members of the St. Thomas community,

One of the strengths of a university is the opportunity that it
provides to speak freely and to be open to other points of view on a
wide variety of issues. And, I might add, to change our minds.

Therefore, I feel both humbled and proud to extend an invitation to
Archbishop Desmond Tutu to speak at the University of St. Thomas.

I have wrestled with what is the right thing to do in this situation,
and I have concluded that I made the wrong decision earlier this year
not to invite the archbishop. Although well-intentioned, I did not have
all of the facts and points of view, but now I do.

PeaceJam International may well choose to keep the alternative
arrangements that it has made for its April 2008 conference, but I want
the organization and Archbishop Tutu to know that we would be honored
to hold the conference at St. Thomas.

In any event, St. Thomas will extend an invitation to Archbishop Tutu
to participate in a forum to foster constructive dialogue on the issues
that have been raised. I hope he accepts my invitation. The Jewish
Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas has agreed to
serve as a co-sponsor of the forum, and I expect other organizations
also to join as co-sponsors.

Details about issues to be addressed will be determined later, but I
would look forward to a candid discussion about how a civil and
democratic society can pursue reasoned debate on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other emotionally charged issues.

I also want to encourage a thoughtful examination of St. Thomas’
policies regarding controversial speech and controversial speakers. In
the past, we have been criticized externally and internally when we
have invited controversial speakers to campus – as well as when we have
not. Rather than just move from controversy to controversy, might there
be a positive role that this university could play in fostering
thoughtful conversation around difficult and highly charged issues? We
also might explore how to more clearly express in our policies and
practices our commitment to civility when discussing such issues.

I have asked Dr. Nancy Zingale, professor of political science and my
former executive adviser, to oversee the planning for the forum. If you
have suggestions regarding either the topic or other participants,
please contact her at nhzingale @stthomas.edu.

I sincerely hope Archbishop Tutu will accept our invitation. I continue
to have nothing but the utmost respect for his witness of faith, for
his humanitarian accomplishments and especially for his leadership in
helping to end apartheid in South Africa.

Sincerely,

Father Dennis Dease
President'

-------------- next part --------------
NYTransfer:
Good catch re Dease's silence on Toffolo. And instead of showing fawning admiration, Cole should have realized that Dease knew he was looking like a fool and a tyrant.
PLUS: He is clearly NOT inviting Tutu to be the sole speaker as was originally planned. Tutu is only welcome now because he will be part of a panel discussion with pro-Zionists. Tutu should tell Dease to go fuck himself. And email the address Dease gives for forum suggestions to say let the Zionists sponsor their own panel, we don't need their "balance." How insulting to Tutu!
The relevant parts of Dease's letter on this score are copied below (and the whole Cole-Dease piece below that for those I've cc'd).
Dease says:
"St. Thomas will extend an invitation to Archbishop Tutu
to participate in a forum to foster constructive dialogue...
"The Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas has agreed to serve as a co-sponsor of the forum, and I expect other organizations also to join as co-sponsors....
"Details about issues to be addressed will be determined later, but I
would look forward to a candid discussion about how a civil and
democratic society can pursue reasoned debate on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other emotionally charged issues....
"I have asked Dr. Nancy Zingale, professor of political science and my
former executive adviser, to oversee the planning for the forum. If you
have suggestions regarding either the topic or other participants,
please contact her at nhzingale @stthomas.edu."

-- "All the News That Doesn't Fit" <nytr at blythe-systems.com> wrote:
Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit

[Juan Cole's reaction is very generous to the President of this
Catholic institution.  Note that Dease's letter, reproduced below, does
not address the question of Professor Cris Toffolo, who was removed
from her position as chair of the Justice and Peace Studies program at
the same time the invitation to Desmond Tutu was rescinded.  Toffolo is
tenured, but no longer heads the department.  Perhaps Dease will also
be as "thoughtful and humble" about that mistake as well. It remains to
be seen. -NY Transfer]

Informed Comment - Oct 12, 2007
http://www.juancole.com/2007/10/father-dease-president-of-university-of.html

Univ of St. Thomas President Reverses Himself on Tutu

by Juan Cole

Father Dease, the president of the University of St. Thomas in
Minneapolis, has reversed himself and invited Archbishop Desmond Tutu
to speak at UST. Dease had been misled by a smear campaign against Tutu
launched by the Zionist Organization of America, which was angered by
the archbishop's criticism of Israel for its mistreatment of the
Palestinians. ZOA falsely charged that Tutu had compared Israel to
Hitler and the Nazis, which was a bald-faced lie. Some Israeli
newspapers were taken in by the propaganda and some Jewish community
leaders in Minneapolis are continuing to spread the falsehood.

Father Dease's letter is remarkable for its intellectual humility and
ethical high-mindedness. You have a sense of a man of God trying to do
the right thing, in a very complicated world, and his powers of moral
reasoning are humbling.

He writes:
http://www.stthomas.edu/bulletin/news/200741/Wednesday/Dease10_10_07.cfm