Religious Tolerance at Cornell

mrsopresident
Tue, 13 May 2008 13:52:22 +0000

“But suggesting that concealed weapons are necessary on a rural college campus with a history of armed takeovers is the definition of ridiculous!”

The members of the CRs who also happened to be members of the Student Assembly wrote a resolution simply asking the University to change its policy to reflect a potential change in the laws of the land. It may sound “ridiculous” to you, but my point is that this is a view shared by many Republicans (or conservatives), and that the demonstration by the CRs in support of this view was not shared by those who plucked up the signs on the Arts Quad. To these people, conceal/carry (especially the way it was presented by the CRs, and not by the media and others) is not "ridiculous! Conceal/carry is a method aimed to offset the wave of criminal activity we’ve seen on campuses across America, a way to legally arm some against others who can obtain illegal firearms any day of the week.

Also, I am not sure whether or not the CRs got approval, but I’d assume that they did (they seemed to be pretty good at getting approval for nearly all of their events/actions). But even if they did not get approval, the removal of the signs (while possibly “okay” under university rules) still would have shown a case of close-mindedness and non-acceptance by many on campus. For when other groups on campus, and not all of them have permits to do so, place signs on the Arts Quad which support traditional “Liberal” positions, the signs remain until they are taken down by the issuing group or by Cornell staff (after all, the conservatives who oppose them are not out behaving like vandals).

“But to suggest these acts indicate that broad swaths of the campus are close-minded liberals who will scream at you if you are a Republican is disingenuous.”

I disagree with you here, but I never indicated what you write. In fact, I clearly stated that the “groups” of people who do so are the ones that are close-minded. Unfortunately, as would be the case the other way around, these groups help to create an unfavorable perception of the doctrine of open-mindedness as it pertains to Cornell.

Additionally, my point is not to speak for the entire campus. My point is to simply point out that Cornell is not as open-minded as people claim it to be. Because many of the same people who hail the virtues of being open-minded are the exact same people who turn around and disrupt Republicans’ events, simply because they disagree with a certain ideology presented. That’s wrong.