I think the university should not spend money to bring Ann Coulter to USF, and I think Ann Coulter should agree with my position. In a June 2005 column titled “Thou Shalt not Commit Religion,” Coulter blasted liberal (and some just-plain-stupid) speech that was paid for with tax dollars. If she is against tax paid leftist speech, she should be opposed to using tax money to pay for her speech also.
That is the core of the issue: the government placed a gun against your head and told you to give it money, and then spent the money on Ann Coulter. True, the money spent is from students’ fees; so technically, if you don’t attend USF, you aren’t paying for Ann Coulter. However, USF is a state-subsidized institution; therefore, tax dollars are being used to pay Ann Coulter.
Think of it this way: the state subsidizes university education, ostensibly because there is a public interest in having educated students. Students make a decision to attend USF based on the total cost to the student of attending, not merely on the cost of tuition. If the university did not pay for speakers, it could provide that same education for a lower total cost. The government could then educate the same number of students for a lower subsidy. Thus, the burden of payment for speakers is on the tax payer. The university even acknowledges this to some extent: the speeches are open to the public in general, not just to USF students.
If the protesters for Ann Coulter’s speech are opposed to all of the speakers paid for by tax dollars, then I applaud them. However, I think instead they are opposed only to spending the money on such a conservative speaker. What they are saying is, “We don’t have a problem stealing your money to make our views heard; we just don’t want to pass the stolen megaphone.” To this I say either, “Woe to ye hypocrites,” or in my best sarcastic and disdainful Jay Leno, “Shut-Up.”
As for Ann Coulter: don’t give the money back Ann, even if it is stolen. They wouldn’t give it back to us, but would just use it to pay some socialist to speak. We already have enough of those on campus.
This article was originally published by the USF Oracle as a letter to the editor, October 19, 2006. Discrepancies between this post and the letter are due to editorial changes I made to this post after the letter was submitted.