John McCain Does Not Speak For Us

To:  Dean Colombo, Dean Quigley, CC'06 President Kwame Spearman

As members of the Columbia College Class of 2006, we are writing to voice our concern at the university’s decision to invite Senator John McCain to speak at our Class Day on May 16, 2006. Class Day will be our last opportunity to sit together and celebrate our achievements, both academic and extracurricular, and reflect on our challenges and accomplishments as individuals and as a community. Senator McCain’s presence at this event would be disrespectful to members of our class and contradictory to our values as Columbia students.


Throughout his career, Senator McCain has shown a consistent record of intolerance and discrimination toward women and homosexuals. His seventeen-year voting record boasts consistent denial of a woman’s right to choose, and he recently voiced his support for South Dakota’s new law prohibiting abortion. He currently supports an initiative to ban same-sex marriage in his home state, Arizona, and he opposes the Employment Non-Discrimination Act which would make it illegal for employers to dismiss employees based on sexual orientation.


Further, on May 13, Senator McCain will deliver another graduation address to the students of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Liberty University’s founder and current chancellor, Reverend Jerry Falwell, has defined his career by radical and intolerant views towards homosexuals, Jews, feminists, civil rights activists and victims of AIDS, to name a few. Senator McCain’s politics may not be as radical as Rev. Falwell’s, but when he congratulates Liberty’s student body, he will effectively acknowledge Rev. Falwell’s hateful teachings as a legitimate voice in the American political dialogue.


As members and allies of the many communities negatively affected by Senator McCain’s policies, we ask that the administration reconsider its invitation. On May 16, we will bid farewell to a home which, for the past four years, has helped to shape and prepare us for our careers and our lives; it would be unfortunate to do so in the shadow of a speaker so disrespectful to our values and our diversity.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The John McCain Does Not Speak For Us Petition to Dean Colombo, Dean Quigley, CC'06 President Kwame Spearman was created by Columbia College Class of 2006 and written by Kate Mahoney (kbmahoney@gmail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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