I have heard and read a great deal of quibbling over the past two weeks regarding the new library policies. People have written lengthy articles regarding the plausibility of a new student center and heated written exchanges have occurred among alumni, faculty and current students on what constitutes acceptable library policy. I am not suggesting that the quality of our social life at PA is unimportant as we do work very hard and deserve to have some fun, but frankly, when this issue is compared to other matters of Andover policy, I feel that we, as a school, are missing the bigger picture. It would be cliché to bring up the widely acknowledged phenomenon of the “Andover bubble;” however, recent events in New York City remind me just how pervasive and potentially dangerous the “bubble” mentality is. On Monday September 24, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran spoke at Columbia University. Though the invitation of Mr. Ahmadinejad was hotly contested, Columbia’s Dean Lisa Anderson defended the university’s decision on the grounds of freedom of speech and the importance of exposing students to different worldviews. The Iranian Head of State arrived to student protests, edited images of him in Nazi regalia and a biting opening speech from the university’s president, Lee Bollinger, who accused the Iranian president of being “a petty and cruel dictator” among other things. During the course of his speech, Mr. Ahmadinejad stated matter-of-factly that women are well-off in his country and that “there are no homosexuals in Iran.” He went on to blame science as a source of oppression and accused Western nations of violating their citizens’ individual liberties. Anyone with even a dim knowledge of Iran’s less than stellar human rights record and the nature of its theocratic political system would likely laugh at Mr. Ahmadinejad’s statements, and laughable those statements would be if they were not made in earnest by a man who was chosen to represent a nation of millions. It might seem absurd, even outrageous, to us in Andover that a man so often compared to Adolf Hitler would be invited to speak at a university like Columbia. If this is the case, then our reaction is exactly the problem. I love America and the ideals of liberty and tolerance on which it was founded. Propaganda sits uneasily on my ears as does hate speech, but even so, this urge to block out the Ahmadinejads of the world and our natural compulsion to withdraw beneath an umbrella of blissful ignorance is a major flaw in our community. By and large, Andover is a liberal community. Speakers at All-School Meetings usually come to discuss such matters as racial inequality, genocide in Darfur and world poverty, moving topics that inspire contemplation and conclusions most of us can agree on. When was the last time we invited a prominent anti-Israeli politician to speak about the “evils” of International Zionism? Has Ann Coulter ever been called in to share her opinion on gay marriage? Lest you think me Eichmann or Jerry Falwell reincarnate, let me assure you that I abhor such people, but the fact of the matter is they are out there and if we are going to be able to deal with extremists, we must be exposed to their ideas. Evil exists and it has many faces. It is made manifest in people such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who run governments with poor human rights records. It exists commonly in the third world where genocide occurs daily and in global hot spots such as Afghanistan and Iraq, where radical Islamists kill innocent civilians. But it is not confined to radical Islam. There are those in our government who ostensibly espouse traditional conservatism and limited government, but in practice seek to expand the powers of the executive office through wiretapping and suspension of habeas corpus under the guise of fighting terrorism. While complications arising from such events as Commons renovations, the institution of new OWHL policies and Non Sibi Day may be exasperating and seemingly all-important here in “the bubble,” we are here to get an education. In a world that seems to be constantly shrinking, All-School Meetings are an important part of that education, and the content of those meetings should be a matter of greater concern not just among the administration and faculty but among the students who sit through them every Wednesday. Andover is poised to send students to some of the top universities in the world from which a portion of those students will likely rise to positions of prominence and influence in the national and global community. We are taught that with great power comes great responsibility, and among those responsibilities is being aware of one’s world and what forces, good and bad, exist within it. It is our place, indeed our responsibility, as students to urge this institution to bring speakers of all types, from all across the political spectrum and sometimes from extreme points of view to our weekly meetings with Mrs. Chase and Teddy Collins in the chapel. As controversial as it may be—visits from such people as Mr. Ahmadinejad usually are—students would certainly be less inclined to fall asleep if stirred to passion by a contentious figure. Furthermore, Andover has always been proud of its progressiveness. Bringing in controversial speakers to All-School Meetings would certainly be a new, edgy idea and should be considered. I understand Andover is a community built around tolerance and dedicated to fostering the ideals of peaceful coexistence among people from different backgrounds, religious beliefs, races, ethnicities, opinions and lifestyles. I acknowledge that bringing in speakers who do not share these ideals might lead to anger from alumni and students on campus. However, I urge you to remember Kate Iannarone’s article in last week’s Phillipian that discussed recent efforts of the school to live up to its motto: “The truth about non sibi is that we have to step outside of ourselves to do necessary tasks that we may find unpleasant…that is exactly what non sibi is all about.”
