NUTS – AT 11:14 A.M. ET:  Two universities, Rutgers and the University of Minnesota, have invited Condi Rice to deliver an address, and in both schools there is organized opposition.  Leftists are offended by the mere presence of the other side.  The situation in Minnesota is particularly outrageous.  From the Daily Caller: 

A small group of angry white liberals is trying to force the administration at the University of Minnesota to revoke a speaking invitation extended to Condoleezza Rice because she played a role in the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rice, who served as National Security Advisor and then Secretary of State under President George W. Bush, is now a professor at Stanford University.

She is slated to deliver a speech on April 17 on civil rights as part of the “Distinguished Carlson Lecture Series” at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs.

The two white people attempting to block Rice’s appearance at the University of Minnesota are math professor William Messing and undergraduate student Nick Theis.

Messing introduced a resolution in the school’s University Senate calling on the school’s administration to block Rice from speaking because, the text reads, she played “a prominent role” in efforts by the Bush administration “to mislead the American people” into the Iraq War. The resolution also condemns Rice for allowing “torture tactics” including waterboarding.

The balding, white-bearded math professor told the Star Tribune that he is “cautiously optimistic” about the vote on the resolution, which will occur next week.

The crusade against Rice was initiated by Theis. He is a member of Students for a Democratic Society, an obscure, tiny rehash of the leftist student activist group from the 1960s.

COMMENT:  Two faculty groups at Rutgers voted to ask the school to disinvite Rice, but the school is, admirably, standing firm.  The immaturity of some faculty members is breathtaking.

I'd imagine the attempt to bar Condi Rice from Minnesota will also fail.

March 31, 2014