Respect student autonomy

I don’t think that because the Campus Conservatives invite a speaker to campus they should expect the university to halt all other operations. Dennis Lennox II suggests that students will then somehow be able to attend, as they wouldn’t be able to otherwise. I take this as an insult to our autonomy.

Lennox stated that CMU should have postponed Speak Up, Speak Out in order to “allow students the chance to hear Stossel,” their speaker. Because this events started simultaneously, he says, CMU should back off.

Can’t we, as college students, judge which event we would rather attend?

First of all, the events were held in different venues, so there wasn’t any “stealing” involved. I also doubt that CMU, upon hearing of the visit of Mr. Stossel, immediately changed this long-scheduled event in order to trump the Campus Conservatives’ speaker.

I do appreciate Campus Conservatives bringing John Stossel to campus; he is big name with reasoned things to say. But I don’t appreciate a spokesperson of theirs doubting my ability to choose which informative events I would rather attend.

If Lennox values diversity, as he says he does, he should recognize the diversity of university events and our ability to attend them as we please. Further, if CM Life values diversity, it should look into diversifying its news and editorial pages so as not to include Lennox every day.

Chris Allen

Lexington senior