The recommendation to award playwright Tony Kushner an honorary degree from CUNY was voted down last week at a meeting of the Board of Trustees 11–1, after trustee Jeffrey Wiesenfeld detailed Kushner’s strident statements against the state of Israel. NAS president Peter Wood gives more detail at his Chronicle blog, but one thing that strikes me is how rapidly those on the left resort to certain traditional positions to defend their own interests, positions they have little use for when it comes to the interests of others. I heard a discussion on NPR in which the participants deplored the decision and insisted that the university must be a place for the free exchange of ideas and opinions. What a laugh, with the whole academy battened down under political correctness, speech codes, feminism, and the like.

Not surprisingly, given the outcry, the board has reversed the decision. But it’s worth reiterating that college trustees do have a right to decide whom the college will honor and to withhold an honor from someone who expresses ideas that in their view compromise the integrity of the institution. If those agitated by the original decision want to see the free exchange of ideas and opinions on college campuses, there are plenty of places where that is a valid issue, such as in hiring and in the curriculum.

And here’s another place where they can show respect for the free exchange of ideas and opinions: in accepting Jeffrey Wiesenfeld’s right to speak persuasively in support of his views at a democratically conducted meeting and in his capacity as a duly appointed trustee who takes his position seriously.