OPEN LETTER

Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider
President

Barbara Schaffer
Director, Sexual Harassment Policy Office
DePaul University
Chicago, Illinois 60614

Dear President Holtschneider and Ms Schaffer:

We were all present at the address on April 4, followed by a question and answer period with a man billed as "Warrior," whose legal name is said to be James Hellwig. The right-wing lecturer was sponsored by the DePaul Conservative Alliance.

We raise no objection to the teaching of Objectivist philosophy on campus. Indeed, the free flow of ideas is vital in a democracy. However, Mr. Hellwig does John Locke and Ayn Rand a great disservice by peppering their words with hate, then hurling them at supposed "illegitimate" groups.

Hellwig insulted several groups, for example referencing immigrants who "defecate and urinate on lawns." As gay men, we were personally attacked by Hellwig's repeated use of the term "queer," a pejorative term referring to gay men. This term of known insult is not quite as harsh as "faggot," but is close, perhaps similar to referring to an African American as a "darky" or "spook."

As examples, we site Hellwig saying, "Queers are not legitimate as are heterosexuals," and "Queering does not benefit society."

One of us confronted Hellwig verbally, demanding that he stop using a term of derision when referring to gays, which Hellwig refused to do. The person challenging the rank bigotry of the speaker was the one ejected from the hall, apparently upon the direction of the lecture sponsors.

We ask you, would the university tolerate public use of "nigger" in reference to African Americans? "Kikes" in reference to Jews? Was there not someone in the audience from the university administration who could have intervened to stop Hellwig's hate speech? Unlike the government, DePaul as a private institution is under no obligation to provide a platform for the promulgation of hateful terms and rhetoric which Hellwig represented.

Especially given the current climate charged with hate mongering calculated to demonize, isolate and legitimize discriminatory legislation against gays, and given Catholic social teaching, we suggest that DePaul has an obligation to exercise the option for the poor and the oppressed by saying no to right-wing hate speech.

As we know, churches in Germany laughed off the Nazi menace when it could have been stopped. Today, as members of one targeted group, we are not laughing.

Edward Farnham
Jeff Graubart
Bob Schwartz
Craig Teichen

Chicago

[Draft letter. Final version may be revised.]