Wednesday, 27 April 2005

It's Only the Biggest Fiasco at Hope College...

I essentially wrote this post a few days ago but then pulled it when the Angela noted it was full of mistakes. Plus, some more developments have come about so it's worth starting over on this subject, anyway.

Apparently this issue has been going on a lot longer than anyone would have ever guessed. However, it just suddenly erupted into the great big huge mess that has captured local attention and incited several protests by students and several open meetings with Hope College President Bultman.

Recently, a professor from the Religion Dept., Dr. Miguel de la Torre, wrote a blistering column for the Holland Sentinel raking over Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family about using the Bible to fan the flames of hate and also wrote that Dr. Dobson supposedly declared himself the reason for President Bush's re-election win over Senator Kerry in the 2004 election. As may not be surprising, Dr. de la Torre's claims upset Hope alumni and many of them contacted President Bultman, very outraged. Below is a hyperlink to Dr. de la Torre's article (dated 2-2-2005).

De La Torre Article

Dr. Dobson himself later wrote a response to the article denying that he called SpongeBob Squarepants and various other children's television characters "sexual perverts," stating the Sec. of Education Margaret Spellings voiced the same concerns he did about the distribution of the video to public schools and the episode featuring a homosexual in the PBS series Postcards From Buster, and denying that he took credit for President Bush's victory. I still don't quite understand why Dr. de la Torre stated that Dr. Dobson claims credit for President Bush's victory.

In any case, a small number of students have been wildly protesting Dr. de la Torre's departure at the end of the year. According to the administration's explanation, he resigned out of his own free will in accepting a position at another institution with a higher pay rate after he had just received tenure at Hope. The story is, however, that the administration instead pressured Dr. de la Torre to resign after the fiasco involving the article about Dr. Dobson. Thus, these students (many liberal like Dr. de la Torre, but not all) have been protesting that the administration is squelching free speech if it does not conform to the ideals and philosophy of Hope College and the administrators.

The question becomes where someone draws the line. I agree if the administration does limit what someone can and cannot say, then the institution puts itself on equal footing with dictators such as Josef Stalin or Mao Tse-tung, albeit without such "permanent" consequences. However, what about when the person is making statements wildly out of line with the philosophies of the school and what it stands for? I highly doubt Hope College can stand behind what Dr. de la Torre stated about Dr. Dobson and his claims about Christians using the Bible to fan the flames of hate against homosexuals.

Am I glad Dr. de la Torre is leaving? I'm not sure, although I avoided taking classes from him at all costs after getting more than a stomachful of the nonsense I read in his columns in the Holland Sentinel. Having one's religious convictions will either break them or make them stronger, and I certainly want to see my own faith in Jesus grow stronger instead of weaker.

But where did all this power to suddenly make Dr. de la Torre disappear from Hope so quickly come from if in fact the pressure from alumni forced his resignation? Does Dr. Dobson have enormous power in his response. Or must Dr. de la Torre claim responsibility for his outlandish and potently-written claims against Dr. Dobson? I honestly think the professor brought this upon himself with his claims against a figure whom he knew was highly-regarded by many people in the Holland area. Respond how you like...

Comments(3)

I must first say that this blog is written ever so much better then the first time you posted about this topic. Next it sounds like, from the information that I have concerning this, that de la Torre attempted to use his own freespeech writing to stir up hate against this Dobson. Isn't that the kind of thing he originally wished to protest? Right, well maybe I don't have all the facts but that is how it is currently seeming to me.

Off topic a little, this is much different then all your other posts as a news report/opinion column type thing and I must say that you have done well. The first time to posted about this it was too hard to follow-part of which could have also been due to the fact that I read the other one when it was well after midnight and I should have been sleeping. You can write the news stories- I'll stick to comedy.

chickenlittle27

Thanks for the kudos! May I write comedy too? I like writing comedy! And hurray for me for learning the fine art of creating a hyperlink!

Major_General_Music

I suppose you may also write comedy you've done well with that thus far; I guess I'm just saying don't expect any current news issues to make their debut on my site anytime soon.

chickenlittle27