The Faculty Senate met for a special session on May 7 to discuss concerns faculty have raised about the 2013 commencement speaker.

The Senate recognized that recent comments by Ben Carson are personally hurtful, insensitive, offensive, and alienating.

In addition, the Senate further recommended that a process be established to select future commencement speakers.

The motion was passed 14-4 by secret ballot and stated “the process should include students, faculty, and administrators so that recommendations for candidates for speaker can be made to the president.”

The resolution was accepted to ensure both future faculty and students alike will have more power in the selection process of potential speakers.

When students at Johns Hopkins University protested Ben Carson as their graduation speaker this spring, Carson backed out.

Now,  faculty are expressing similar concerns after learning of Carson’s views on homosexuality and gay marriage.

At the Faculty Senate meeting on May 2, Julie Wood, assistant professor of kinesiology, attempted to make an amendment to the agenda to open a discussion about concerns faculty and students have about Carson speaking at graduation.

Wood was not allowed to speak her concerns at the meeting, but requested and was granted a special session to be held on Tuesday, May 7 at 4 p.m.

“A number of people are aware of the large gay and lesbian community on campus,” Wood said. “The concern becomes a question of whether he [Carson] is someone appropriate for a graduation experience.”

If he were here for some type of debate on campus where opposing values could be discussed in a smaller setting, Wood said his presence would probably not be questioned.

“No one is questioning his right to speak values,” she said. “Graduation is a very different thing. He is antagonistic to a certain group on campus, which in my opinion, creates a hostile environment.”

According to Julie Gaynor, director of marketing and public information, a representative from Carson’s office did contact the university several weeks ago in an effort to make sure that Dr. Carson’s presence would not overshadow the celebration of our graduates.

The Wichitan has confirmed the donor money to pay Carson for his appearance originated from Kathryn Dillard, a primary benefactor of Dillard College of Business Admisistration..

“Dr. Rogers was approached by a friend with an offer to invite Dr. Carson to speak at an MSU commencement ceremony,” Gaynor said.  “As such, Dr. Carson’s speaking fee is being paid by a friend of the university, not with university funds.”

Gaynor also said Carson’s speech will focus on his rise from the inner city slums of Detroit to become one of the world’s most famous surgeons.

At the core curriculum meeting on May 1, many faculty expressed their disapproval for the openly anti-gay speaker being paid to address students at next week’s graduation.

There have been reports that faculty and staff are planning a protest in response to the controversial speaker.

“There has been discussion by various members of MSU to make some kind of statement at graduation,” Wood said. “The concern is that we do not want to disrupt the service–this is the students’ special time. Some feel that graduation is the appropriate venue, and some do not.”

According to Laura Jefferson, chair of the theater department, Carson was turned down at Johns Hopkins University due to petition from students and faculty.

“If we’re a COPLAC [Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges] university, look up the basic mission of COPLAC universities. This violates the mission of a COPLAC university,” she said.

Jefferson also said ideas are being discussed such as petitions and letters to the president.

“I just know that I am not going to sit there and listen to him,” Jefferson said, “so I can only speak for myself.”

According to Jefferson, faculty are in the midst of planning exactly what they want to do about the situation, and they want to have a show of solidarity.

“If there is some sort of statement made at graduation, it would be both positive, professional and not in anyway disruptive or disrespectful,” Wood said. “All the discussions I’ve had have been very positive. It’s just unfortunate that it came about this way.”

Jefferson also said if MSU is all about promoting diversity, having Carson speak at graduation is counter to that.

At the same time, Wood said that there needs to be a process of discussion to be able to move forward in the future, as nothing like this has ever happened before on campus, and there has never been a need for this type of discussion.

“There has never been an issue at MSU with my being gay,” Wood said. “I have nothing but respect for the administration. You truly can’t place fault on any one individual about Carson speaking at graduation because no one was aware of his statements when he was presented the opportunity to be keynote speaker.”

However, Wood emphasized that the statements Carson has publicly made “really do matter,” and his opinion is “very hurtful” to a number of people for various reasons.

Wood also said the only apology he has ever given was that he was sorry he possibly hurt the feelings of those to whom he was referring, but never apologized for the statements themselves.

She believes that these sensitive issues will never be resolved until there is some form of open dialogue to allow people to become more educated on topics they might not understand.

“Being a member of any group–unless you make yourself known and share, you can’t educate or make people comfortable [with your values.]”

Larry Williams, study abroad director and professor of sociology, said the commencement is about the students and their families and the university’s presentation to the community.

“It’s [the walk-out] a disruption to the ceremony and to the family who came to see it,” he said. “The speaker’s presentation isn’t about the controversy in and of itself. We should not get into analyzing every nuance of each potential speaker’s values. That’s why we have opinions.”

Elizabeth Lewendowski, theater professor, plans to take part in a peaceful protest when Carson begins to speak.

“For me and for others, this is about human rights. Do not remain silent. Set an example.”

Lewendowski said she has students who intend to get up and to walk out because they are offended and they are unhappy Carson is speaking at their graduation.

“For those individuals wishing to participate in a peaceful protest against the prior hate speech of the speaker, Dr. Ben Carson, at Commencement, rainbow ribbons to wear on your regalia will be available at no charge from members of the Core Curriculum Committee.”

LETTER FROM FINE ARTS DEAN RON FISCHLI

LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT FROM INSTRUCTOR ELIZABETH MINDEN