Indifferent or Supportive? Cornell Administration and Cornell Daily Sun stunningly silent about the Julius Kairey flyers for far too long
Welcome to Cornell, where the expression of contrarian political beliefs in a well-reasoned, thoughtful manner inspires such great indignation and fury that the only appropriate responses are personal attacks and smear campaigns.
Such must be the thinking of the anonymous culprits behind the distribution of the Julius Kairey flyers. Hiding behind the small, white flyers that so proudly and boldly lie to all those who happened to see them, these cowards are actively trying to change Cornell’s precious motto of “Any person, any study” to “Certain people, certain studies.”
In a free society, there is nothing wrong with different individuals and groups holding different opinions; there is equally nothing wrong with expressing them. But to the distributors of these flyers, there is no correct ideology, no acceptable way of thinking, except for their own. On their high and mighty thrones—completely absolved of privilege and prejudice, no doubt—they dictate who may think and what they may think.
My purpose here, however, is not to rip into the flyers’ distributors or defend Kairey, as the front-page piece in this issue already addresses that topic.
Really what stuns me the most about this entire incident is the fact that both Cornell’s administration and the Cornell Daily Sun have not outright condemned the flyers.
The Sun’s chief editors, on the Monday following the Thursday and Friday discovery of the flyers, did publish a paltry Letter from the Editor entitled “Fostering Appropriate Conversation.” The letter makes an oblique reference to the incident, and fails to use key words like “Julius Kairey,” “flyers,” and “condemn.” Evidently the Sun’s three most senior staff members cannot even muster the courage to defend Kairey, one of their own writers, in name.
On Monday, Sep. 29, over a week after the flyers were first discovered, President David Skorton published an editorial entitled “Free Speech and Civility: Are They Incompatible?” basically re-iterating the Sun editors’ vague, gaseous treatment of the situation. Only Daily Sun columnist Deon Thomas wrote a meaningfuly condemnation the flyers, in a piece entitled “The Art of Constructive Criticism.”
Despite national news outlets covering the story, there has been no official press statement from any administrator condemning the flyers. Inquiries sent to Cornell Media Relations and the Bias Response Program have gone unanswered.
The point here is not that the Daily Sun or Cornell officials have to defend the content of Kairey’s writing, but that they have failed to defend his dignity and his freedom of speech. Weakly saying that students should be civil is a start, but it is not an acceptable end. Essentially, the Sun and the administration have cavpitulated to the students behind the flyers.
If only the most influential groups on campus would adhere to the wisdom of Voltaire: “I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend to the death your right to say it.”
Casey Breznick is a sophomore in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He can be reached at cb628@cornell.edu.