When news broke that the University of Colorado paid $160,000 to bring in former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to bore the pants off students, some people scoffed.
On the heels of CU’s crying poor, they wondered how such extravagant outlays were justified.
The answer, I’m told, is that bringing high-profile speakers to a university helps make it a world-class institution.
Annan is a man of breathtaking failure, after all. He oversaw not one but two genocides. Under his watch, the U.N. had its Enron-esque oil-for-food scandal and its peacekeeping rapists in the Congo. His “Human Rights Council” featured stalwarts of freedom like Algeria, China, Cuba, Pakistan, Russia and Saudi Arabia.
But if the title is enough, he’s the man. So what other luminary figures are deemed worthy by students to speak at universities?
The budget, provided by the CU regents office, offers clues. Howard Zinn, the revisionist America-hating historian, made 15,000 bucks. Author Naomi Wolf was a reasonable $9,999. MTV News correspondent Gideon Yago took in $15,000, while author Reza Aslan got $12,000.
Actually, Yago and Aslan participated in a “conversation” – a $27,000 conversation. Sorry I missed it.
But no one comes close to Annan. His $100,000 flat fee was bolstered by another $60,000 for room, board, security and necessities. At a time when parents making $60,000 are struggling to provide their kids with an education, I’m sure they’ll understand why CU needs more tax revenue.
“They spent $160,000 on one speaker, which is almost more than half of the overall budget for speakers,” explains Regent Tom Lucero. “Again, the issue I raised at the meeting is that at a certain threshold I would hope that we would have some administrative oversight so that someone would justify spending half their budget.”
There’s nothing wrong with making money, by the way. These speakers are well-known, and their time is valuable.
“I think inexperience has a lot to do with it, and, frankly, we have a great example of how this can be done right,” says Lucero. He points out that CU- Colorado Springs will be bringing in David McCullough, best-selling author of “1776” and “John Adams,” to speak.
Reportedly, McCullough waived his speaking fee to welcome incoming freshmen and parents.
Wow, a high-profile speaker who’s also worth listening to. His regular fee, incidentally, is a fraction of Annan’s.
Predisposition to fringe
The other problem with the list is its incredible predisposition to the fringe.
Is someone like Michael Tarazi, a “legal adviser to the Palestine Liberation Organization,” worth $5,000? (Since when are terrorist organizations in need of legal consul?) Or is Phyllis Ennis, defender of tyrants worldwide, worth $2,000?
Don’t worry, I couldn’t spot anyone resembling a moderate right-winger – though I may have missed someone.
I would have settled for an old-fashioned bleeding-heart tax-and-spend liberal to provide balance.
It seems that various student groups effectively tap funding: the Muslim Student Association, Students Against Sexism, The Partnership for Animal Welfare, Coalition for Justice in Palestine and Student Worker … it’s like the tailgate party at an old Grateful Dead show.
“It’s one of the things we spoke about at the regents’ meeting last year,” says Lucero. “The president said we need to provide speakers of more diversity. So we included this list as part of the budget resolution. I’ve been on the board for eight years now, and this is the first time we saw a list, and I’m not sure if we’ve committed to that political diversity.”
The university does deserve some blame for the terrible list of speakers, but students deserve more. I was told by a recent graduate that conservative students are typically too embarrassed or too shy to speak their minds.
And they don’t want to jump through hoops to bring speakers to campus.
Well, perhaps it’s time to grow a spine and demand equal time.
No one is going to do it for them.
David Harsanyi’s column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at 303-954-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
