http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/07/08/nyu
Inside Higher Ed, 8 Jul 2009, Scott
Jaschik
Rights for Some
People
Should someone who teaches
human rights back human rights for all
people?
That's the question being
raised by some students at New York University's law school, who
are upset that a visiting professor in the fall semester, slated to
teach human rights law, is Thio Li-ann of the National University
of Singapore, an outspoken opponent of gay rights. Thio has argued
repeatedly and graphically that her country should continue to
criminalize gay sexual acts.
In a speech to lawmakers in Singapore, Thio said that gay sex is
"contrary to biological design and immoral," argued that gay people
can change their sexual orientation, said that anal sex is "like
shoving a straw up your nose to drink," and rejected arguments
based on a diversity of sexual orientations by saying that
"diversity is not license for perversity." (The text of her talk is
here, and YouTube video is available in three parts -- here and
here and here.)
NYU OUTLaw, a group of gay and lesbian students at the law school,
last week sent an e-mail message to all students drawing attention
to Thio's statements, saying that it was crucial to "raise awareness of
anti-gay statements made by an NYU visiting professor" because "it
is important for LGBT students and allies to be aware of her views
in order to make fully informed decisions regarding class
registration."
The letter does not call for the invitation to Thio to be
rescinded. Ethan Park, co-chair of the group, said that the
organization wanted to gather reactions before deciding what it was
going to ask NYU to do, and that discussions were taking place
electronically as students are scattered for summer
internships.
"One of the options would be to take a strong position and demand
that the law school rescind the appointment, but others say that
this could be an opportunity to teach about why we have somebody at
the law school who promotes hatred," he said. Park said that the
group has been receiving many strong reactions from students and
alumni. He said there is widespread anger over Thio's appointment,
but a range of views about what to do now.
In an e-mail interview,
Thio said that those who are attacking her are engaged in political
correctness.
"Everyone is entitled to their opinion, free conscience, free
thought -- that is a cardinal principle for every academic
community. I hold to it, in my own law school, and I would expect
the NYU law community to do so as well. We can be united in
commitment to this principle, without slavishly bowing to a
demanded uniformity or dogma of political correctness set by elite
diktat. I cannot say I am impressed by this ugly brand of
politicking which I hope is not endemic," she wrote.
Thio added that she "was encouraged when the president of an NYU
student organization committed to free debate wrote to welcome me
and to point out that the negative, prejudicial and frankly,
hostile views expressed are not representative of everyone in the
student body. While I am disappointed at the intolerant animosity
directed at me by strangers who do not know me and have decided to
act on their own prejudices, forged from whatever sources, I am
nonetheless glad that there are still some at NYU, who uphold a
commitment to academic freedom and who entertain dissent with
respect. As a recent NYU graduate, a Muslim friend of mine said,
one must have courage in the face of bullying."
On the substance of her views on gay rights, she argued in the
e-mail that plenty of Americans may agree with her, and those who
don't have no right to impose their values on other
countries.
She wrote: "Do some Americans by appropriating the rhetoric of
human rights assume they can impose their views on another
sovereign state? Is there a human right to sodomy? Is this a core
right or a contested one? There are countervailing views that this
is the wrong way to characterize the issue -- so do students who
dislike this view refuse to engage with dissenting views? Or seek
to censor views they disagree with? That's hubris. I think certain
Americans have to realize the fact that there are a diversity of
views on the subject and it is not a settled matter; there is no
universal norm and it is nothing short of moral imperialism to
suggest there is. Correct me if I am wrong, but there is no
consensus on this even within the U.S. Supreme Court and American
society at large, even post Lawrence v. Texas." (The court case is
the 2003 Supreme Court ruling that barred states from criminalizing
consenting sexual acts between adults of the same sex.)
Thio will be teaching at NYU under a program that brings legal
scholars from all over the world to the campus as visiting
professors. John Beckman, an NYU spokesman, said that faculty
panels review and select candidates based on "a record of excellent
scholarship and fine teaching." He added: "Professor Thio was
selected on the basis of her published academic scholarship, not on
the basis of the statement she made to the Singapore Parliament as
a member of that body. We believe that she will make a valuable
contribution to our global classroom and to the intellectual life
of the law school when she is here this fall."
Beckman also noted that the law school at NYU "has a long record of
opposing discrimination based on sexual orientation, and we are
well known for being a supportive home for an activist lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender community. Many in our faculty, staff, and student body
will be in sharp disagreement with Professor Thio on the content of
her speech, and we expect there will be a dynamic exchange on these
issues."
Cary Nelson, national president of the American Association of
University Professors, said that he would not advise NYU to rescind
the invitation to Thio to teach there. But he said that it would be
legitimate to raise questions about whether she should be teaching
human rights.
"Academic freedom protects
you from retaliation for your extramural remarks, but it does not
protect you from being prohibited from teaching in an area where
you are not professionally competent, and there are doubts on
whether she has the competency in human rights," Nelson
said. He said that there is in fact an
"international consensus, save a few countries like Iran" that gay
people should not be treated as criminals.
Nelson also said that in a tenure decision, he would judge a
candidate -- however offensive his or her views on unrelated
subjects -- only on a question of whether the person's scholarship
and teaching in his or her discipline met appropriate standards.
But in a hiring decision (whether for a visiting or permanent
position), he said, it is appropriate to consider other factors,
and the reality is that it's impossible to know what professors are
really thinking when they vote one way or another.
Professors can appropriately ask prior to appointments, he said,
whether hiring someone whose views on certain subjects are
"poisonous" could limit "the department's ability to do its
business."
