Sightings, June 2002

Michelle F. Cohen, who wrote the Navigator cover story on Victor Hugo's novel Ninety-Three, will give a presentation on the same work at the October conference of the Association of Literary Scholars and Critics (ALSC): "The Historical and Fictional Levels in Victor Hugo's Quatre-vingte Treize." The conference will be held at the Hotel Washington in Washington, D.C., on October 18-20.

According to ALSC's mission statement, it "is an organization that was formed because of a deep and widespread concern about the present state of literary studies. Its purpose is to foster appreciation of the literary imagination, of the value of literary study, and of a shared literary culture. It will hold to broad conceptions of literature rather than the narrow, highly politicized ones often encountered today." The association's Web site is http://www.bu.edu/literary/

An article by Andrew Stuttaford in the June 3 National Review suggests that at least a few mainstream American conservatives are beginning to appreciate the value of the Enlightenment's secular approach to philosophy. During the Easter weekend, Stuttaford attended the 28th National Convention of American Atheists. In his report on the convention, Stuttaford wrote with understandable disappointment about the disproportionate amount of time that the conventioneers spent on small-minded sniping against minor manifestations of theism, such as America's national motto. "On September 11, the United States was subjected to murderous assault at the hands of religious extremists. In addition to the carnage, bin Laden's war represents an attack at the ideological and spiritual level: It is a challenge to the West and to its enlightenment. Hog-tied by the pieties of multiculturalism and constrained by a perceived need to appease Muslim 'allies,' this country has proved incapable of mounting an intellectually effective response. If ever there was a moment for a clear, sensible leadership from supporters of the secular, it is now." Nevertheless, Stuttaford praised secularism as a potential counterweight to religious fanaticism, and, more interesting still, he praised the Enlightenment's rationalist essence as a potential counterweight to postmodernism: "You do not have to be a nonbeliever," he said, "to see that [atheism's] theoretically rational philosophical method could play a part in restoring notions of reason and objectivity to a society that regards both with suspicion."

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), whose president is Professor Alan Kors of the University of Pennsylvania, continues its admirable opposition to politically correct attacks on campus speech. A FIRE press release reported on one recent success: "On June 19, 2002, the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), announced that it had dropped its charge of 'disruption' against a student humor publication, The Koala. 'The UCSD administration has failed to drive The Koala from campus,' said Thor L. Halvorssen, executive director of FIRE, 'but the threat of similar proceedings chills free speech on UCSD's campus.'

"The Koala is a satiric student humor publication. In November 2001, a student photographer (not a member of The Koala) sent it photographs that he had taken of a meeting of a student group, MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil de Chicanos de Aztlan). The Koala then used the photographs in a critical parody of MEChA's president, Ernesto Martinez. In February 2002, UCSD charged The Koala with violating the Student Code's prohibition of 'disruption of teaching, research, administration, disciplinary procedures, or other UCSD or University activities.'

"On May 22, 2002, FIRE wrote to remind UCSD of a 1995 case when another UCSD student publication, Voz Fronteriza, celebrated the death of a Latino Immigration and Naturalization Service officer and called for the murder of other such 'race traitors.' In that case, UCSD -- including Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Joseph W. Watson, whose office oversaw this year's trial of The Koala— vigorously affirmed Voz Fronteriza's 'right to publish their views without adverse administrative action,' because 'student newspapers are protected by the first amendment of the U.S. constitution.'"

Objectivists may reasonably disagree about the extent to which a college or university should demand decent behavior from the members of its community. But there can be no question about the travesty involved in enforcing political correctness under the guise of demanding decent behavior.