Yesterday, I
diaried about Ann Coulter appearing at the University of Florida, just days after the Gators won the NCAA basketball championship. She spoke last night, as reported
here and
here, repeating her call to invade Muslim countries and kill their leaders.
The juxtaposition of Coulter at UF and the Gator team is sickening: center Joakim Noah's father, Yannick Noah, was the first black man to win the French Open. Three other starters are black, two with fathers who played pro ball. They were all highlighted by CBS Sports on game day. Three nights later, the UF Student Government speaker bureau Accent sponsors Coulter, paying her $32,000, nearly 10% of its annual budget.
There is a potential wedge issue here between colleges' sports and speakers programs. More below the fold.
On one hand, major college sports programs regularly feature minority players who help bring in money and prestige; on the other, speaker programs frequently give bigoted advocates of violence tens of thousands of dollars, publicity, and a platform for hate speech. The key are alumni, potential or existing donors who passionately care about sports and the reputation of their alma mater.
What I have in mind would be a rolling protest, one that tracks where and when Ann Coulter and other hate speakers will be appearing at colleges and universities around the country, then researching the role that current or past minority players have had in a given institution's sports and academic programs, and encouraging its alumni to write letters protesting the talks and pointing out the contradiction between the school's commitment to diversity and their hiring of bigoted hate mongers. Believe me, in the triad of sports/academic diversity, alumni donations, and hate speakers, campus officials will have no problem deciding on their priorities.
In response to my brother's letter of protest to Accent and the UF Alumni Association, he was told that Accent is student funded ("irrelevant" was his response back) and that the organization values a balance of views (my brother's response: "when did the school decide paying racists provides `balance'?").
This use of diversity discourse as justification for hiring hate speakers is one that needs to be countered directly. In its story on the Coulter talk at UF, the student newspaper The Alligator quotes Accent's Nicole Trueblood(!) equating Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, with the likes of Ann Coulter.
"Coulter's appearance was sponsored by Accent, Student Government's speakers bureau, at a cost of about $32,000, according to Accent spokeswoman Nicole Trueblood.
"Coulter's visit is a way to offer an alternative viewpoint to that of environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who spoke in March, Trueblood said."
My response: Let me get this straight: a racist hate monger who advocates killing people and "raping" the Earth is an "alternative" to a moderate environmental activist whose father and uncle were both assassinated? What moral compass are Accent and Ms. Trueblood using?
The battle against racism, bigotry, and hate speech has many fronts: this may be a most effective one since brings together activism, education, sports, and money.