2017/04/21: Disinvited to Linfield College: My response

So back in February, I received the following letter from a student at Linfield College. According to its website, with campuses in McMinnville, Portland, and a prestigious online program, Linfield College is a premier choice in the Pacific Northwest for a high-quality traditional liberal arts education. Want to learn more? Contact us for details about our degree and certificate program offerings.

A student there, who I won't name, sent me the following letter:

"Dear Dr. Peterson,
I'm an undergraduate student at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon. The International Students for Liberty Conference recently granted me a small sum to organize pro-liberty events on campus, with an emphasis on the importance of free speech. I'm writing to ask you if you're accepting speaking invitations at this time, and if your schedule, sometime between now and May, would allow it. To help narrow down my options, I would like to offer you $1500 and an invitation to speak here this spring semester. Your travel and accommodation costs will also be covered.

I perceive Linfield as an institution at an ideological crossroads. I feel it is my responsibility to pick the most effective voice possible for helping Linfield chart a course that will ensure its future as a place of reason and academic integrity. After listening to many of your lectures and interviews, I believe your message is ideal for our campus. Honest and productive argumentation is one of your specialties. Linfield would greatly benefit from being introduced to your ideas on the subject. We are a small college of roughly 2,000 students situated in quiet wine country. Your work continues to have a deep impact on my personal and intellectual growth. I'd be honored to hear from you. Thank you for your time and consideration."

So, after considering it for a while, I agreed to come and speak at Linfield College on March 18th. I received a note from the inviting student who said:

"Good morning, Dr. Peterson. I would be overjoyed to confirm a date."

So we went about doing that. On April 7th, he replied to me again to update me. He said:

"The talk will be held in ICE Auditorium in Melrose Hall, April 24th, beginning at 7 p.m. I'm referring to the event simply as a talk with Jordan Peterson because his speaking style allows for a lot of fluidity in topic. However, the core theme to the event is the importance of freedom of speech, especially in higher education. Some of the administration/student government have begun to fret about the potential for people to feel 'offended and oppressed' by Peterson's talk. It's more pushback than I expected at Linfield, but I don't think it's a cause for concern. I'm fighting hard to keep their worries at bay, and there's a very supportive group of students and community members who have my back. Free speech will win."

On April 17, the following article appeared in the student newspaper by Thalia Neel, editor-in-chief. It's called "Hate Symbol on Ball Riled Campus."

"The Linfield Young Americans for Liberty group's free speech ball outside of Walker Hall on April 12th received attention from students and faculty when a student drew Pepe the Frog, which has recently been appropriated by white supremacist groups. Linfield College posted a picture of the ball on its Instagram account, but it was later removed because of the frog's association with alt-right groups. As soon as it was pointed out that the photo included the image, the Instagram post was removed. President Thomas Kelly said the free speech ball event, the first event in the Speak Freely series at Linfield, encouraged students to express themselves by writing and drawing on the ball to promote free speech.

Pepe the Frog is a popular internet meme that has often appeared in humorous ways. The Anti-Defamation League has listed Pepe the Frog on its hate symbols database. I only heard about it secondhand, and I understand that it is a place for free speech, but in all reality, it was certainly done in very poor taste," Junior John Christian said.

According to its website, the YAL mission is to "identify, educate, train, and mobilize youth activists committed to winning on principles. Our goal is to cast the leaders of tomorrow and reclaim the policies, candidates, and direction of our government." A member of YAL drew the Pepe the Frog on the ball but asked to remain unidentified.

"I knew the person who drew Pepe; he didn't draw it to be negative; he drew it to be funny," senior Parker Wells, a member of YAL, said. He continued, "We understand some groups appropriated the image, but any image can be appropriated." Wells said his goals with the free speech ball were to give people food for thought about their rights to free expression and to bring more attention to the YAL group.

He said, "I understand that it's necessary to set limits, but I don't think this cartoon frog is a limit to set for free speech. I find it unfortunate that people can't enjoy this event because of the frog image." As a part of its Speak Freely series, YAL is bringing Dr. Jordan Peterson to campus on Monday, April 24th. The group is also showing the documentary "The Red Pill" on Tuesday, May 2nd.

Professor of English Resme Dot Val Erstad said, "I find both the invitation of Jordan Peterson and the screening of the documentary 'The Red Pill' by the Young Americans for Liberty Club extremely problematic, problematic because neither Peterson nor the film will be promoting dialogues about gendered inclusions, but rather be promoting a dangerous and offensive logic of gendered exclusions."

The Dodgeballer staff continued: "The promotion of such exclusionary practices greatly threatens safe spaces for our students, staff, and faculty who belong to marginalized groups and violates our ethos of upholding mutual respect on our campus. The President's Diversity Committee will hold a discussion at 5:30 p.m. on Monday in the Pioneer Reading Room titled 'Free Speech: What It Is and What It Is Not.' The discussion will examine free speech, and members of the Linfield community are encouraged to attend."

So that's the end of that newspaper article. I read that it was forwarded to me soon after. I tweeted the following methods: "I'm violating some more safe spaces soon Linfield College April 24th."

Well, on April 19th, I received a letter from the student who'd organized my talk. He said, "Things have gone nuclear." This email, the one I'm going to read to you, was just sent to all of Linfield. One of the stipulations they are referring to is the contract, which they rejected because it was a day late. Our club is currently looking for space in downtown McMinnville to hold Peterson's talk instead. The media is likely getting involved. I'm sorry for this insanity; we tried very hard to keep things civil.

Here is the letter sent out to the entire Linfield community:

"Dear Linfield community,
I am writing on behalf of the Linfield Cabinet as the officer in charge while President Kelley is out. I want to let the Linfield community know that the ASLC (Associated Students of Linfield College) have determined it will not fund Dr. Jordan Peterson's appearance next week because stipulations for the event were not met by the requester, Young Americans for Liberty. Since the authorization parameters were not satisfied, the college will not hold the event on April 24th. Among the stipulations was that the event was to be a private Linfield College-only event. By his own tweet yesterday to a hundred and seven thousand followers, Dr. Peterson indicates he would be open to 'violating more safe spaces soon Linfield College.' Like-minded supporters from outside our community have responded affirmatively. Our policy on anti-harassment protection and academic freedom states that 'anti-harassment policies are not intended to limit the free exchange of opinions or the vigorous debate over ideas; however, intimidation, harassment, retaliation, and the use or threat of force are incompatible with the preservation of this freedom.'

The letter continues: "Based on the speaker's own words, this event no longer presents the possibility of academic inquiry within the Linfield community. Our policy is clear: 'Harassment and intimidation preclude the very possibility for maintaining an atmosphere of academic freedom. We cannot welcome speakers when the stipulations for their appearances are not met and who intend to violate the safety of our communities.' Respectfully,
Suzan Agri Chippenham."

So, I wrote a letter to Suzan Agri Chippenham. Now, you understand that by this time, the flights had been arranged, the accommodation had been arranged, everything was in place, and of course, they have known about this for a long time.

"Dear Susan,
I received a copy of your letter to the Linfield community this morning, as well as an indication that my long-scheduled talk at Linfield has been cancelled. That is fine, I suppose, except that the plane tickets have been booked and the hotel reservations have been made, as well as three days taken out of my schedule at my expense. I think you are treating me and the student group who invited me in a manner that is absolutely reprehensible, as well as cowardly and underhanded. I have made arrangements to come to Linfield, which is extremely distant from me and out of the way, in good faith. Now you cancel it with a plethora of specious reasons, including your anti-harassment policy, although I have harassed no one, nor intimidated, exploited, or threatened force. Had I not previously received notice of the controversy around my arrival, which is, in my opinion, unwarranted, I would not have tweeted my intent to 'violate safe spaces,' which is a satirical comment, in case it needs to be said. Obviously, you were looking for any excuse, no matter how trivial, to cancel this event.

You also note that 'this event no longer presents the possibility of academic inquiry in the Linfield community.' I might point out that Linfield is a college, not a community, and that ideas need to be discussed in a college. You also state that 'anti-harassment policies are not intended to limit the free exchange of opinions or the vigorous debate over ideas,' and then proceed to do exactly that. You also mentioned that you have received support from 'like-minded supporters' from outside your community, which is hardly surprising or informative given that they were like-minded. You also suggest that because the contract was delayed one day, that constitutes sufficient grounds for cancellation, even though you knew perfectly well that the event was booked and finalized and that such delays are by no means unheard of in such situations.

You might also note that a guest invited to your college might expect to be treated with a modicum of consideration and respect. Here's what I plan to do: I'm going to make a video tomorrow morning, at the latest, reading this letter on YouTube, explaining that my invitation has been revoked, what that means for me, and the nature of the reasons given. I will also read this letter of response from me. It should be watched by about 150,000 viewers, many of whom I imagine will be Linfield alumni, supporters, and students. I am perfectly willing to see what they all have to say. Then we can let the dust settle where it may."

Sincerely,
Dr. Jordan V. Peterson
Professor of Psychology
University of Toronto.

I received absolutely nothing in response. God, no; they didn't even have the decency to send me a notification explaining their rationale—nothing. So I was treated, as far as I'm concerned, with—well, let's call it unprofessionally and leave it at that.

So what's the story now? The organizing students tried to book an alternative venue. They didn't have enough money to rent a suitable theatre or lecture hall. I told them that they could use my honorarium to pay for the space, which they did.

The Yamhill Valley News Register posted this update on April 20th: "Off-campus Venue Found for Controversial Speaker."

"Linfield College's student government organization this week withdrew permission for a newly organized club, Young Americans for Liberty, to bring a controversial speaker to campus for a free public talk Monday. The group has responded by lining up an off-campus location for the presentation featuring Jordan Peterson, a Canadian professor whose campaign against gender-neutral pronouns is considered offensive by some to the transgender population. Peterson has been rebooked for 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Falls Event Center, housed in the former chapel on the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum campus."

So, on with the show, and you can figure out what I think of the Linfield administrators who pulled this stunt on your own. Thanks for watching.