Anything worthy of the name William F. Buckley should be novel, provocative, thoughtful and generally a kick. Like the William F. Buckley Jr. Program at Yale, where WFB won his first laurels by exposing his alma mater's closed mind--and spirit--in his early best-seller, God and Man at Yale.
It's good to know that the remaining free spirits at Old Eli are still at it, scandalizing the school's fossilized establishment and delighting the rest of us. The program that bears WFB's name now has brought forth its "First Annual Disinvitation Dinner," which will feature as guest speakers the kind of outspoken defenders of freedom who have been disinvited from various commencement ceremonies at Ivy League universities after their views became known. Or who just declined to face the usual mob of protesters that gather at such ceremonies.
The distinguished snubbed include such well-known figures as former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the bane of the mullahs in Teheran . . . the list goes on and on. So much for free speech at the Ivies.
Soon an invitation to address this disinvitation dinner will become a greater distinction than any academic honor Yale can officially confer. Why? Because the dinner's student sponsors believe in letting freedom ring, just as their announcement of this new program makes clear: "We celebrate free speech. We reject the close-minded attempts to silence the exchange of ideas on college campuses across the country. Instead, we seek to restore honest debate to the intellectual life of the university."
It's about time. William F. Buckley Jr. would surely be proud to note that the spirit of the First Amendment still lives. Even at Yale.