St. Olaf appealed to me during my college search last year because they seemed to believe in accessibility for everyone. The school has made huge strides in disability inclusion recently, with accommodations and the TRIO programs helping disadvantaged students succeed. Student Support Services for Students with Disabilities (SSSD) is a community I found on campus that has understood my struggles more than anyone from my past schools ever could. No one at SSSD treated me like an inspiration, a sob story, or anything other than who I was. Furthermore, there were always resources to help me whenever I was overstimulated or overwhelmed with adjusting to college life. I felt that I belonged on campus.
When the TRIO faculty sent out an email on Feb. 14 condemning the Institute for Freedom and Community (IFC) for inviting Peter Singer to speak, I started researching his career. What I found was infuriating. He has stated that some humans, including babies, are inferior to animals because they don’t meet his vague criteria, and therefore should be euthanized without consequence.
The petition encouraging students to boycott it amassed over 800 signatures, confirming that many people shared my sentiments. I watched the recording afterwards, despite feeling disturbed throughout it, to see if Singer would address this shocking idea. He not only expressed the views mentioned earlier, but excessively tried to justify them too. I was not surprised. Since the audience was mostly college students, I was not concerned with him influencing them, but I am concerned that the IFC gave him a platform in the first place.
If St. Olaf truly wants to be inclusive while fostering intelligent discussion, there are ways to invite discussion without stigmatizing anyone. Whereas Singer’s lecture ignored disabled representation, my First-Year Seminar class has handled controversies respectfully. An author of a book assigned in the class had tips about building communities with no credible evidence to support it. I think it’s a very “contemporary controversy,” and I absolutely hated it. But there were classmates that loved it, and we had to listen to each other’s opinions. I thought the debate was fulfilling, and everyone felt like their viewpoints were heard.
If I had to guess, the event may have been kept for controversy but added in questions to appeal to opponents, attempting to please everyone. It seems like they might wait for the protesting to die down until the next problematic speaker is invited. I’ve spoken to upperclassmen who have seen similar events in the past and believe that this might be the case. No matter the IFC’s intentions, the event signifies to disabled students and allies the opposite of what they’ve been advertised, that St. Olaf supposedly cares more about its reputation than its students. Our school has betrayed us by giving Peter Singer a platform, ignoring the voices of the people they claim to support, and allowing him to endorse taking innocent lives before they even begin.
Reagan Weeks is from
Shakopee, Minn.
Their major is undecided.
