Michael Moore Speaking at Del Mar Fairgrounds Tuesday, October 12

After many mechanizations, and probably gnashing of the teeth, Michael Moore has been scheduled to speak at the Del Mar Fairgrounds at 7pm on Tuesday, October 12.

For those of you who missed it, this has been quite an adventure. The student body at California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) authorized to invite speakers, voted 12-3 to invite Moore. They said that they saw this as a way to raise political awareness on campus. They have.

CSUSM President Karen Haynes, however, disagreed with the decision. After meeting with others she described as “campus administrators” she overruled the student representatives. She said, “As a public university, we are prohibited from spending state funds on partisan political activity or direct political advocacy.”

Haynes stated, “Simply allowing him to appear as proposed would be illegal, and as president of the university, I cannot allow that.”

One of the things she mentioned that makes Moore partisan is his endorsement of John Kerry. He's on a tour to do that. Also taken into account was that the speaking engagement would be too close to the election to allow them to find “a speaker of comparable impact with an alternate point of view.”

She did offer one alternative. If someone could appear, that would “balance” Moore, before the election, then he could speak. She offered that the governor of California was someone who was acceptable to “balance” Moore, but also said there was no time or funds to have the governor.

But does he balance Moore? Moore is an equal opportunity offender. Don't we need both a Democrat and Republican to balance Moore's criticism of Congress? If you've seen Fahrenheit 9/11 you know that the Saudi's need defending. The Bush family would need a defender and Al Gore didn't come our looking very good either.

What a tangled web. Does the law really say no funds can be spent, but it's okay if you spend it in a balanced way on both sides?

With the help of individual donation, students raised about $40,000 and booked Moore. Haynes praised their leadership for that.

The administration objected to the students voting to spend $6,500 to help bring Moore to speak. The Fairgrounds was chosen because it can hold 10,000 people. If about 3,000 tickets were sold to the public (students are free) for $15 instead of $10, wouldn't that cover the expense? Wouldn't that be better than declaring free speech cancelled due to lack of time and funds.

They might even make a profit. Shouldn't university administrators see this as income, especially during a budget crunch? Time will tell how much they bring in. So far the students sense of business and free speech get my vote.

The natural “balance” is the student's ability to question, challenge and think, which you want a university to nurture. Why not bring a steady diet of those the administration perceives as unbalanced? Consider it training for our real, unbalanced world. Don't forget these are students who are also eligible to vote—not children.

Personally I'm worried for our governor. Now judged to be unbalanced enough to balance the unbalanced Michael Moore, will the governor be allowed on campus in the future without Moore? Is this a new policy for State University speakers? Will only those who are not members of a political party or those who don't endorse anyone for President be allowed to speak? Who will speak at graduations? Politicians on “good” behavior? Who decides how “good” that is? What a tangled web.

Sometimes the Founding Fathers were so right you have to wonder if there weren't just lucky. Maybe they just knew how convoluted censorship is, doing it a little bit here and a little bit there, before the election, balanced, etc., and were just saving their teeth from being gnashed while deciding how to properly censor.

The Public may purchase tickets for $10. per ticket only at the ASI Cougar Recreation Center in the M. Gordon Clarke Field House at 333 S. Twin Oaks Valley Road. Parking is available adjacent to the M. Gordon Clarke Field House. Tickets are available to the public on a first come first serve basis, but not at the event. Complete details are at www.csusm.edu/asi, or call 760/750-4582.

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