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The
words “Freedom and Learning” grace the seal of
George
Mason
University.
And they also are the best answer to questions
from six
Northern Virginia
legislators seeking to stir their political bases
at the expense of a great institution. Each of
these legislators needs to sip daily from a
beverage container with the GMU seal on the side
just to keep the words “Freedom and Learning”
in front of them. The 15-ounce coffee mug in
either green or white would be good: The 16-ounce
tankard or 2-ounce shot glass could be even
better.
The
background for this recommendation is a letter to
George Mason University President
Alan G. Merten
in April from Delegates Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince
William, Richard H. Black, R-Loudoun, L. Scott
Lingamfelter, R-Prince William, Mark L. Cole,
R-Spotsylvania, and Jeffrey M. Frederick, R-Prince
William and state Senator Ken Cuccinelli,
R-Fairfax stating opposition to a
student-sponsored sex-education fair. Media
reports indicate the fair drew representatives
from a diverse set of groups, including Campus
Catholic Ministries, Planned Parenthood, GMU
Students for Life and NARAL Pro-Choice America.
Information and discussions about sexual
abstinence occurred side-by-side at the fair with
other information on health examinations, sexual
assault and preventing sexually-transmitted
diseases.
“We
are at a loss to understand how this activity is
compatible with the GMU mission statement,” the
legislators wrote in their letter released to the
media. Senator Cuccinelli suggested the event
promoted sexual promiscuity and exhibited moral
depravity.
Perhaps
the legislators could have read the university’s
mission statement online before writing. That
would have given a freedom and learning footnote
in the stated university commitment to “superior
education enabling students to develop critical,
analytical and imaginative thinking and to make
well-founded ethical decisions” or in the
commitment to “prepare students to address the
complex issues facing them in society and to
discover meaning in their own lives.”
Instead
of attempting to understand, however, the six
decided to play to the media, misrepresent the
event and attack the university regional residents
expect them to champion. By choosing to lash out,
the legislators actually revealed they’re at a
loss to understand a lot more than just the
imaginative thinking that went into the event.
They don’t understand what higher education
means, the role of a public university in a
diverse state or the specific vision articulated
by President Merten for
George
Mason
University
to become “a center of inquiry, knowledge, and
professional expertise” in “a region and world
driven by new social, economic, and technological
realities.”
Regrettably,
the six legislators signaled something more
disturbing that the activities they chose to
highlight. They suggest they know it all and
they’ll let us know, particularly university
presidents, faculty and students, when Virginians
need to discuss things or learn something
different. New social, economic and technological
realities apparently don’t have to be realities
in their world, which actually may work better
with ignorance about some things, shibboleths as
guideposts to living and stifling self-censorship.
No freedom, no learning.
Further,
they confuse their role as elected officials, who
have broad oversight and accountability functions,
with a carte
blanche to intervene at the detailed
operational level based on personal views of what
is appropriate, moral, important, proper, correct
or even a fact. That approach on a host of matters
earned five of the six legislators extremely low
ratings in Stewardship and Effectiveness announced
this week by Virginia FREE, the Virginia
Foundation for Research and Economic Education.
Senator Cuccinelli, in fact, was ranked at the
bottom among 40 Senators in Stewardship and
Effectiveness in the General Assembly. Delegates
Black, Cole, Frederick and Robert Marshall were at
the bottom of the 98 Delegates rated. Delegate
Lingamfelter rated higher.
In
the end a university spokesperson noted that
George
Mason
University
wouldn’t respond to the legislators’ media
initiative, but that it did support what its
students had organized and were pleased with how
things turned out. Two days later, the university
did what it does best. While rock icon Sting
performed at the Patriot
Center,
GMU staged a dinner to honor members of its
faculty and staff who most recently have been
awarded patents or copyrights. The dinner and
light presentation ceremony made the ideas, the
inventors and the imaginers at the university seem
a lot less complex than they are -- a new
algorithm for drawing straight lines, a better
manager for sensor systems, recorded performances,
a new method for controlling seizures, fractal
image compression, micro-droplet cell culture
techniques.
Each
honoree, patent, licensed technology and
copyrighted work spotlights the benefits of
freedom and learning. Now drink up.
PLATINUM
POLITICAL CARD II
What’s
good for the elephant is good for the donkey.
That
neighborhood friend no longer has to be content to
be a special champion of just one political party
("The
Platinum Party Card",
March
28, 2005.)
The Democratic National Committee has added its
invitation to his list of solicitors.
For
$5,000 DNC Chairman Howard Dean is offering a
Chairman’s Circle membership. But unlike
Republican National Committee invitations, there
is no DNC invitation to advise a president or
legislative leaders in special meetings or social
outings. That’s seems strange for a party out of
power in Congress that could
benefit from listening. Membership in the
Chairman’s Circle entitles one only to “be
briefed by Senators, House Members and other
elected officials about the progress the
Democratic Party is making and updating you on our
specific goals for the DNC.” Wow. And there is
no reference to the importance of the race for
governor in
Virginia
in 2005, only to the 36 governor’s offices up in
the 2006 elections.
Alternatively,
the invitation does offer the opportunity to
become a Raiser for the Chairman’s Circle. As a
Raiser one has the chance to put the arm on family
and friends for the $5,000 for the DNC. Wow.
It
is good that Howard Dean is “honored and
energized” and he is right in his letter to add
that people have the power. But I’m guessing the
neighborhood friend will use his power to decline
the invitation and the welcome kit that includes a
list of benefits, a lapel pin and a personal
contact at the DNC. The neighbor, like so many
Virginians, can leave home without it.
--
May 9, 2005
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