by Lil Tuttle
CBLPI conservative speaker Star Parker gave a guest lecture to more than 600 students at UC-Berkeley on April 12 at the invitation of Alan Ross, a member of the faculty of UC-Berkeley’s Hass School of Business.
In contrast to the student protests against scheduled lectures this year by Milo Yiannopoulos, Charles Murray and Ann Coulter, Star’s lecture was calm and informative.
Star wrote about the experience and credits Mr. Ross for developing a new model that promotes dialogue and respect:
Ross teaches Political Science 179. The class meets once per week, and at each meeting, he invites speakers from around the country and across the political spectrum. According to Ross, he gives a platform to the “far left, the far right and everything in between. Every point of view we try to address, not just the prevailing point of view at Berkeley.” [snip]
To my very pleasant surprise, I discovered that professor Ross has developed a sane, civil and educational model for presenting a broad spectrum of viewpoints to students, which he has now been doing for 32 years.
I spoke to about 600 attentive students in a large hall about my proposals for conservative reforms to fight ingrained poverty, including ending the use of taxpayers funds for abortion providers, housing and school vouchers, business tax-free zones, retirement savings accounts for low-income earners and tax credits for charitable contributions in targeted ZIP codes.
Students asked questions, and then I departed without incident.
What is Alan Ross’s secret? His “new” model restores the university to what it is supposed to be and once was: about learning, not politics. Students take a final exam that tests what they have learned from the wide variety of ideas they have heard in the course of the semester, which determines whether they pass the course.
Congratulations to Star, Alan Ross, and UC-Berkeley students for demonstrating to the world what intellectual freedom, tolerance of others, and respectful communication looks like.
Star Parker and lecture attendees