Spring Break
'Campaign for Peace' to dissolve
by Claire Moses and Miranda Neubauer
News | 4/17/07
Posted online at 10:29 PM EST on 4/16/07
/ Last updated at 9:53 PM EST on 4/16/07
The Student Union's Campaign for Peace, a committee formed to provide a contextual and educational framework to events discussing the Middle East, will be dissolved at the end of this semester.
The committee was meant to be active for only one semester, Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer and Union president Alison Schwartzbaum '08 both said.
Formation of the committee elicited criticism among students concerned that it would restrict free speech.
"It is an outrage to free speech," Kevin Conway '09 told the Justice at the time. "Ms. Schwartzbaum and the rest of the gang have quite some nerve in thinking that they have the authority to act as the vanguard of the student population and determine [who may speak] on its behalf."
Although the committee was only formed after former President Jimmy Carter spoke on campus in January, Sawyer said he has felt that a framework for inviting campus speakers has been necessary for a long time. Such concerns have been abundant in the aftermath of Carter's visit.
But Union president-elect Shreeya Sinha '09 said the Campaign for Peace may continue to exist in some form once her term begins.
"I want to look at the benefits from it, and either call it something else or break it up and put in a different form," Sinha said. "Or even give it to the Student Union to put it on its shoulders to make sure that there's dialogue on campus."
The committee has met occasionally since its formation. It consulted with the student organizers who invited Norman Finkelstein and Daniel Pipes to campus, both of whom are scheduled to visit this month.
The committee was meant to be active for only one semester, Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer and Union president Alison Schwartzbaum '08 both said.
Formation of the committee elicited criticism among students concerned that it would restrict free speech.
"It is an outrage to free speech," Kevin Conway '09 told the Justice at the time. "Ms. Schwartzbaum and the rest of the gang have quite some nerve in thinking that they have the authority to act as the vanguard of the student population and determine [who may speak] on its behalf."
Although the committee was only formed after former President Jimmy Carter spoke on campus in January, Sawyer said he has felt that a framework for inviting campus speakers has been necessary for a long time. Such concerns have been abundant in the aftermath of Carter's visit.
But Union president-elect Shreeya Sinha '09 said the Campaign for Peace may continue to exist in some form once her term begins.
"I want to look at the benefits from it, and either call it something else or break it up and put in a different form," Sinha said. "Or even give it to the Student Union to put it on its shoulders to make sure that there's dialogue on campus."
The committee has met occasionally since its formation. It consulted with the student organizers who invited Norman Finkelstein and Daniel Pipes to campus, both of whom are scheduled to visit this month.
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