The following email was sent to the Washington College community yesterday evening by President Kurt Landgraf to respond to criticism that the liberal arts institution had censored freedom of artistic expression by cancelling a student production of the play entitled “The Foreigner.”
Dear Campus Community,
Last Friday, we announced a decision to cancel two scheduled public performances of “The Foreigner.” This play—written in the 1980s and frequently produced at educational and professional institutions across the country—centers on a group of people who feel “othered” by society in various ways, including premarital pregnancy, neurological differences, and age. Over the course of the play, these individuals build a community together through listening, learning and, humor, but their bond is threatened by the xenophobic anger and self-proclaimed entitlement of two other characters. In the climax of the play, the community of disenfranchised protagonists rises up to easily defeat the bigoted antagonists (who reveal themselves as members of the KKK). It is through the portrayal and defeat of these villainous characters that the play conveys its message about the evils of xenophobia, the dangers of “othering,” and the importance of empathy.
We made the decision to cancel the performances after listening to members of our campus community who told us that they were deeply hurt and affronted by the existence and portrayal of characters associated with the KKK—even though these characters are clearly portrayed as villains and are easily vanquished by the play’s protagonists. Our intent in cancelling the production was to prevent further harm to members of our community who already feel marginalized. However, the decision to cancel the play has been interpreted by some as a form of censorship on the part of the College. Censorship is anathema to the core values of Washington College, and this was never our intent.
It is our job, as a liberal arts institution, to create a space where difficult issues can be faced head-on and thoughtfully discussed. The production and subsequent cancellation of this play have raised important questions about how we, as an institution, choose, contextualize, and discuss potentially controversial material—on our stages, in our classrooms, and beyond. To that end, we are currently discussing how we can best present the story and message of this play in a way that enables the campus community to have a productive, thoughtful conversation. We will work with all of the relevant student groups, staff, faculty, alumni, and Board of Visitors and Governors to determine the best way to accomplish this and to find the most constructive path forward.
President Kurt Landgraf
Washington College
Hugh B Silcox says
“… the decision to cancel the play has been interpreted by some as a form of censorship on the part of the College. Censorship is anathema to the core values of Washington College, and this was never our intent.”
George Orwell would be aghast (but, regrettably, probably not surprised) at your application of doublespeak.
Easy solution: allow the production as planned (albeit delayed).
The “liberal arts” does not guarantee intellectual comfort. In fact, the “liberal arts” — if effective — guarantee some level of discomfort.
Hugh Silcox, BA, English 1975
Mark Henckel says
Completely agree!!! The world is not comfortable.
Willard Engelskirchen says
also agree….. Yet WC is giving an award related to Religion to a man who is associated with right wing religion. Strange. No, Sad.
Tom Steele says
The original sin in all of this was giving greater weight to a small group of protesters who refused to acknowledge or understand the context and meaning of the play. Further, attendance at this play was not compulsory.
Not buying it – this was a bad decision at the outset.
Mark Henckel says
As a very loyal alumni of Washington College, I am extremely disappointed with this decision. The administration can put as much lipstick as they wish on this, but no amount of lipstick or rationalization can hide what is clearly is: censorship. As Justice William Brennan wrote: “if you do not like what you see, turn your head.”
Dick Deerin says
Pretty wishy washy statement. It is up to leaders to support and protect freedom of expression, especially in a liberal arts college. Censorship has no place in institutions of higher learning.
Al Sikes says
Probably should post warnings to go nowhere near Broadway and certainly not Off Broadway.
Willard Engelskirchen says
Danger, Danger….. something you may not find comforting ahead.
Rod Coleman says
If that’s the best Mr Landgraf can do, then Washington College needs another president. And the President for whom the college was named must be very sad indeed.
David Jeffery says
All the administrators’ mealy-mouthed blah-blah amounts to what Mencken might have labeled “buncome”
John Noble says
Mr. Landgraf should be ashamed
rob romano says
cowards .be ashamed. please.
Peter Ingemi says
As the primary duty of a college is to educate people to face the real world and perhaps take an important role in it I can’t see how this is anything but abrogating your duty.
Would any person put a graduate of this college who can’t deal with the production of a play, a play that has been widely preformed before, in any position of responsibly?
You are preparing these students for failure and while I’m disappointed in the students, the young often made foolish decisions, you however are supposedly the adult int he room and have no such excuse.
Sage McLaughlin says
Every one of these linguine-spined administrators is the same. How many times have we seen this?
1. Massively overreact in an illiberal, censorious fashion to the demands of illiberal, censorious little Stalinists whom you foolishly have admitted to your school.
2. Try to ride out the backlash and wring your hands about the bad press you’re getting because of “right wing websites” or whatever other self-pitying tale of woe you have to settle on in order to go on thinking yourself as the living embodiment of intellectual integrity.
3. Eventually cave to the pressure to issue a statement.
4. Gaslight the public by saying that “When WE do censorship, it’s not REALLY censorship, because free speech is really important to us (promise!) so as you will obviously agree, it’s impossible that we have really engaged in censorship.” (It’s very important that this statement refers to the university’s “core mission” or “core values,” and to assert that this is a very complicated issue and that there are major competing interests that must be “balanced” against basic principles of free expression.)
What the President is offering here is what I like to think of as a variation on the Ontological Argument, except that instead of arguing that God’s existence is necessitated by the very definition of the word “God,” he is arguing that because Washington College is not a censorious institution, that whatever you *think* you have seen here is not really censorship. If it were, then Washington College would be censorious, but since we know that that is impossible by definition–it’s right there in our core values!–then we can all breathe a sigh of relief and know that it is all an optical illusion, and that no priggish and idiotic censorship has occurred.
What a low opinion of his own student body this man must have. And who knows? Based on the demands of the protesters themselves, and the fact that they were not immediately drowned out by voices of intellectual maturity, he may just be on to something.
Arthur Alexis Varela says
Editor: As a community organizer in NC I fought against the Klan and was harassed by the Klan. I have long been a supporter of Washington College, have attended many events and supported grants to the College. I find the action by the President incomprehensible and he should reschedule the play and resign. In the meantime, I look forward to seeing the play at St. johns, where the First Amendment is still alive…
Alex Varela, Easton