Dear Father Leahy:
After reading an article in The Heights regarding an appearance by the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson at Boston College - an event sponsored by the BC Republicans and Young America's Foundation and presumably sanctioned by the administration - I was concerned that someone with his reputation and record of making controversial, if not detestable, remarks would speak here.
At this event alone, which took place March 21, Peterson had the following to say about African-Americans in the United States: "The majority of black Americans hate white Americans in this country." Surely, that statement represented an isolated incident in which he made a widely inaccurate and overly broad generalization. Certainly, he wouldn't have gone any farther.
Except that he did. On America's "corrupt" public school system, of which I, many Catholics, and many BC students are a product: "You have to be blind, cripple, and crazy to send your child to a public school today." He had the following to say of the Democratic Party, to which I, many Catholics, and many members of the BC community belong: "It is liberal, elitist, and racist … there is no way that you can believe in God and vote for the Democratic platform, that is immoral."
But these statements are downright pleasant compared to what he has said and written in the past. In regard to AIDS and sexuality, he has written, "AIDS punishes anyone who is sexually immoral," and "homosexuals hate God - that's why they're homosexuals, anyway." On Islam: "The Islamic religion is an evil religion." Appearing on the Fox News Channel, he openly implied that Senator Barack Obama, who spoke at BC and whom you introduced, was a racist. Most provocatively, he's written the following on the American black community in general: "Blacks are suffering nowadays primarily due to the lack of moral character." After Hurricane Katrina: "Had New Orleans' black community taken action, most would have been out of harm's way. But most were too lazy, immoral, and trifling to do anything productive for themselves … It was blacks' moral poverty that cost them dearly in New Orleans."
As utterly reprehensible as I find everything that Peterson says and stands for, what truly troubles me is your hypocrisy. The administration has consistently invoked the notion that the Catholic identity of BC means that this institution is about respect for learning and respect for Catholicism. It is on these grounds that the administration has refused to allow the Women's Health Initiative a space to meet or the ability to bring speakers who articulate a respectful and well-reasoned pro-choice perspective. It is on these grounds that the administration has refused to allow a dance sponsored by the GLBT Leadership Council, for that would sanction a lifestyle in conflict with church teaching.
But in bringing an individual to this campus who says that I am racist, that I am immoral, that I am godless, that I am a product of a corrupt system, all while refusing to provide any explanation for his remarks (his only response to someone at last week's event who asked him to explain his feelings on the immorality of homosexuality was "Are you a homosexual?"), how does that show respect for learning and Catholicism, Father Leahy? Peterson has never met me, or spoken with me, and yet he has no problem assassinating my character and the character of thousands within the community that you have been charged with guiding. In what way does that promote respect for learning and Catholicism?
The fact of the matter is that it does not. The truth of your leadership is that academic freedom, respect for learning, and maintenance of the Catholic identity are not important. Whether it is allowing a working relationship between BC and defense contractors, allowing Ann Coulter and Paul Cameron to bring their odious messages here, conferring honors upon a secretary of state who is as culpable as anyone for planning and defending a war that has cost thousands of American lives and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives, or sanctioning an individual who has slandered Democrats, blacks, Muslims, homosexuals, and public schools (all without the balance that would supposedly be required of anyone who speaks at BC and supports reproductive rights, contraception, or marriage equality), all the evidence points to complete abdication of your responsibility as the moral leader of this campus and a complete embrace of hypocrisy. When deciding to permit or oppose defense contractors who profit from war and slanderous right-wing extremists, you opted to permit. When deciding to permit or oppose legitimate, respectful, thoughtful, and faithful student groups that may not conform to Catholic ideology and seek endorsement not of their views but of their right to exist, you opted to oppose. My friends haven't been taking it from you, and now I won't either. The moment has come to back away from your hypocrisy or risk more righteous outrage; an opportunity to renew your commitment to morality and justice, or continue the pretenses of piety. The choice is yours.
Sincerely,
Andrew Kaplun
Andrew Kaplun is a Heights staff columnist. He welcomes comments at kaplun@bcheights.com.
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