Statement from Robert C. Holub, UMass Amherst Chancellor, on Reports That Ray Luc Levasseur Has Been Denied Permission to Travel to Amherst to Speak

Nov. 11, 2009

Contact:

Patrick Callahan 413/545-0444

AMHERST, Mass. - We are pleased with this outcome. The administration at UMass Amherst has consistently questioned the appropriateness of this speaker in an academic setting. Without equivocation we have condemned his past violent acts and the notion that violence is an appropriate way to accomplish social change. We also consider his appearance to be an act of disrespect toward those who have suffered violence at the hand of the organization he founded and led. For these reasons we question the invitation that was extended to him and the value of the presentation he would have provided.

While the principle of academic freedom prevents us from barring such a speaker, no matter how repugnant his views, we call on the faculty and the campus community to find better-qualified, more appropriate speakers and to be more judicious in seeking ways to engage the important issues of the day. Provocation in and of itself is not necessarily thought-provoking; indeed, it can lead us away from the seminal issues that ought to concern us. We should never shy away from controversy, but we should also not seek it for its own sake.

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