Herman Cain is coming to Tufts!
Last week's news that the Tufts Republicans are bringing Cain to speak on campus was met with a flurry of both excitement and amusement. Tufts students are apparently cerebrally tickled by Cain's intrusion into our left-leaning bubble.
But the student body's lukewarm response to the announcement of Cain's appearance, which is scheduled for April 12, supports the complaints often heard from conservative students that the average Jumbo struggles to take Republican speakers seriously.
Tufts students, it seems, are conditioned to exclusively expect big-name speakers who represent their collective political worldview. Consider this academic year alone - the most well-attended speaking events have been Noam Chomsky, a self-proclaimed anarcho-syndicalist and libertarian socialist; Cornel West, a self-identified neo-Marxist socialist; comedian Lewis Black, who performed "Daily Show"-style stand-up comedy that consisted primarily of blasting GOP presidential candidates (including Cain); and former President Bill Clinton. Notice a trend?
All of these speakers are valuable and interesting, to be sure, and they contributed a great deal to intellectual discourse on campus. But the fact that Herman Cain's planned appearance has raised so many eyebrows underscores the fact that Tufts students are resistant to bringing conservative speakers to campus - even when those speakers may have something worthwhile to contribute.
The resistance to exposure to conservative points of view has long been a reality of life on the Hill. In 2003, when former President George H. W. Bush was brought to campus to speak on U.S. relations with the Middle East, then-University President Lawrence Bacow faced a fierce backlash for inviting Bush to campus.
Tufts Democrats announced yesterday that former Ohio Congressman and Governor Ted Strickland and former Chair of the Democratic National Committee Steve Grossman, both Democrats, will be speaking at Tufts on April 17. Meanwhile, Tufts alumnus and current Senator Scott Brown, a moderate Republican, has yet to speak in any official capacity at his alma mater.
We do not share Herman Cain's beliefs about social, economic or foreign policy. We do not support his 9-9-9 plan. There are few presidential candidates over whom we can even fathom endorsing Herman Cain. But he is an accomplished businessman, a leading conservative voice in the media and a former presidential candidate in an ongoing primary election - and we welcome the opportunity to hear in person what he has to say.
