Wants to Clarify Her Point of ViewOne misconception that everyone has is that I have helped select Coble as a speaker. I do sit on Convocation and Celebration Committee as a Student Representative. When we were given names to choose a speaker out of the five people Kent named in last week’s Guilfordian, I did not oppose Coble because of my experience with meeting him in Washington.
Regarding what Coble said: “We were at war. They [Japanese Americans] were an endangered species. For many of these Japanese Americans, it wasn’t safe for them to be on the street. Some probably were intent on doing harm to us, just as some of these Arab Americans are probably intent on doing harm to us.”
I am offended because he has put down humanity. I just want to clarify this to the community: I sit on the committee as a student voice, but due to the choice constraints and time constraints given by Kent Chabotar, I did not oppose Coble’s speaking at graduation. But most importantly, if I knew Coble would say those words, I would have been the first one to oppose him. But he didn’t say anything until after we had given our opinion about his speaking at the graduation.
However, this year the process of choosing the graduation speaker was in the hands of Kent. People who sat on the committee meeting were just discussing and giving opinions about the speaker, and not necessarily making the decision.
I hope this clarifies come of the confusion about my representation on the committee.
Thanks for listening and understanding.
Naz Urooj
Community Senate President

Cartoon in Poor Taste – Student Wants to Hear Coble Speak at Graduation

Liz Baltaro’s Senior-itis cartoon last week was in poor taste and extremely unfair to a man who has given much time and effort to our school. Rarely does anything in The Guilfordian inspire me to more than a passing glance, but the cartoon and the other articles regarding Rep. Coble’s speaking at graduation angered me because they are in direct contradiction to the free speech that Guilford prides itself on.
Having met and spoken with Rep. Coble multiple times in my year and a half at Guilford, I have found him to be a warm, welcoming presence, a good listener, and completely dedicated to Guilford, which he left over 50 years ago. His pride in this school is inspiring and contagious, and it would be our loss not to hear him speak at Graduation. Condemning him as a horrible person for one comment, taken out of context, is unfair and an unbecoming representation of what Guilford is supposed to be about.
We pride ourselves on supporting free speech, and claim to be open to new ideas. However, in this circumstance, all the presented opinions seem to be of one mind; that because Howard Coble made a statement that, when taken out of context, sounded like he was promoting internment of American citizens, he is to be denied the honor of speaking at the college he has dedicated so much of his life to helping.
Is this how we wish to be treated by the future students of Guilford when we are gone?

Susan Rahmsdorff ’05