COVERITLIVE.COM

1:00	Dale McConnaughay - Welcome ... We'll get started in just a minute here.

1:01	Dale McConnaughay - Okay, I will bring each item up for discussion and we will give up to 10 minutes for so to each.

1:01

Dale McConnaughay - To his credit, President Obama jumped right into the heart of the issue — abortion — that had made his graduation speech and the presentation of an honorary degree so controversial among some. Although it seems critically important government recognize private, church-related universities have every right to be anchored on church-held beliefs, the president was correct to urge an "open hearts, open minds" approach to the issues dividing us as a nation. Should that message even be necessary in 2009 at institutions of higher education representing themselves as places of free inquiry?

1:02

[Comment From LEG]
“Should that message even be necessary in 2009 at institutions of higher education?” No, of course not, but I don’t think that message was meant for Notre Dame but for the wider population. You can’t have a productive conversation with someone you accuse of being evil. If you cannot refer to your “opponent” with terms that he would accept (pro-life or pro-choice, not anti-choice or pro-abortion) you aren’t taking with “open hearts, open minds”.

1:03	[Comment From SJ] Should that message be necessary? I would say that it should not be necessary, but I do think it was necessary to be made at the present time. So ideally it would be nice for the President to not have to make that comment, but it sadly is still needed.

1:04	Dale McConnaughay - Good point. I guess the balancing question I am inquiring about is the right of a private university, chuch-affiliated, to adhere to its beliefs even when those might be in conflict with open access and full inquiry.

1:06	Dale McConnaughay - In other words, is it required to present "both sides" of an issue for which it is fundamentally opposed for religious reasons?

1:06	[Comment From LEG] I don't think there is any requirement that private institutions be open to thoughts that conflict with their beliefs. If Notre Dame had chosen not to invite Obama, I'd be OK with that. You don't have to embrace "open access and full inquiry" unless you want to.

1:07

[Comment From SJ]
It would be well within a private universities rights to adhere to their beliefs. I can only speak for myself here, but I know that I actually the learn the most from a topic when I am hearing opposing ideas from people whom I disagree with. Therefore, I think that it would be a disservice to the students to not have them think critically up to the point of graduation, even though the ideas presented are a direct conflict with the churches teachings.

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