{"id":21457,"date":"2018-02-15T08:51:19","date_gmt":"2018-02-15T15:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=21457"},"modified":"2018-02-15T08:52:18","modified_gmt":"2018-02-15T15:52:18","slug":"um-speech-sponsor-said-it-was-all-about-first-amendment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2018\/02\/um-speech-sponsor-said-it-was-all-about-first-amendment\/","title":{"rendered":"UM speech sponsor said it was all about 1st Amendment"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bigot\"<\/a>

Martin Kidston\/Missoula Current<\/p>

Maria Cole, a longtime University of Montana benefactor and host of the Jeff Cole Memorial Lecture series, has come under fire recently for inviting a speaker to this year\u2019s forum who some believe is a bigot looking for a stage.<\/p><\/div>\n

Before the crowd filtered into the Dennison Theater\u00a0on Tuesday, Maria Cole made the rounds in a hurried meet-and-greet, and to brace for the night ahead.<\/p>\n

Over the past several weeks, the longtime University of Montana benefactor had received her share of criticism for inviting provocateur Mike Adams to speak under\u00a0the lecture series<\/a>\u00a0that carries her deceased husband\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

While that wasn\u2019t easy, Cole stayed the course for a cause that she \u2014 and her husband \u2014 believed in: the rights protected under the First Amendment. The resulting controversy was just what she\u2019d been looking for \u2014 a topic to get people talking.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a constitutional right and privilege,\u201d Cole said before the event. \u201cPlus, my husband would never have allowed censorship. He was all about the First Amendment and he was true to it. I have to honor him by standing up and doing the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff Cole, a University of Montana alumni, was the aviation and aerospace editor at the Wall Street Journal when he died in a Colorado plane crash at the age of 45. Maria Cole said he was at the \u201ctop of his game\u201d when the accident occurred. He\u2019d written several hundred articles in the Wall Street Journal and went about his job with meticulous detail, fairness and thoroughness, she said.<\/p>\n

Before Tuesday\u00a0night, the Jeff Cole Memorial Lecture had gone off without a hitch for nine years, though the crowds were decidedly smaller. That changed when several hundred people packed the Dennison Theater on the University of Montana campus to hear Adams profess his version of free speech and the alleged threats it faces in higher education.<\/p>\n

While Adams has been panned by some as a divisive bigot looking for a stage, he offers what others view as the unsaid truth. In looking to schedule a speaker for the 10th annual Cole lecture, Adams\u2019 provocation checked all the boxes.<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>\u201cI was really looking for someone who could really do well with freedom of speech and be a little controversial,\u201d Maria Cole said. \u201cFree expression means free expression on all sides of the spectrum. We wanted a provocative speaker and I discussed this in collaboration with the children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cole said she found Adams through an entertainment management firm, which sent her several dozen clips and bios of potential speakers. She spent days poring over the material, and it was Adams who caught her eye.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I hit on Mike Adams, I knew that he was the one,\u201d she said. \u201cI know it\u2019s difficult for some people to accept, but again, it\u2019s about free speech, and I have to honor that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n

For many in attendance\u00a0on Tuesday\u00a0night, Adams\u2019 conservative take on speech and its limits marked a refreshing change from what some described as the status quo \u2014 that stubborn reputation that suggests college campuses are a nest of liberal thinking.<\/p>\n

As the hour counted down before the forum began and security tightened, Cole was greeted as something of a hero. In a video message, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., praised her for \u201cstanding for what\u2019s right,\u201d and University District resident Jane Rectenwald sought her out to shake her hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t come to many things at UM because they\u2019re usually one-sided,\u201d said Rectenwald. \u201cI\u2019ve sat through enough programs to realize that I want to hear things where lots of people have ideas. So I\u2019m delighted Maria stood her ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rectenwald, along with several others, expressed a vague familiarity with Adams\u2019 controversial spin and the language that has earned him a bigoted reputation in the national media \u2014 and popularity among staunch conservatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this idea of safe spaces at universities is childish,\u201d Rectenwald said. \u201cIt\u2019s not what intellectual people throughout the ages have welcomed. That\u2019s what education is, being challenged to think about something differently that you have before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those feelings weren\u2019t shared by others, who asked how \u201csome rich gal\u201d like Cole can unilaterally decide who speaks on campus under the guise of free speech. \u201cBigots can come and spread their hate as long as they have a rich sponsor?\u201d asked one.<\/p>\n

G.E. Wiggin, who was ejected from the forum, offered similar sentiments.<\/p>\n

\u201cA community representative of the university, Maria Cole, invited a person who actively pushes hate speech in dog-whistle form, and who\u2019s very selective in the way he speaks about free speech,\u201d Wiggins said outside the venue. \u201cHe makes gross comparisons that don\u2019t compare realistically, and it\u2019s misleading and troubling.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked if free speech had limits, Cole said yes, adding that speech that incites violence isn\u2019t protected. While she doesn\u2019t agree with everything Adams says, she believes each individual can decide for themselves if it\u2019s right for them, or not.<\/p>\n

She may also reconsider her relationship with UM and her role in sponsoring the annual lecture, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been difficult,\u201d Cole said. \u201cWe will definitely continue the Jeff Cole Scholarship for sure. But the children and I are going to reevaluate things and explore where we can do the most good. So there might be some changes, but we\u2019ll certainly decide that later.”<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on\u00a0Missoula Current<\/a>, an independent online newspaper, of which\u00a0Martin Kidston is the founding editor.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before the crowd filtered into the Dennison Theater\u00a0on Tuesday, Maria Cole made the rounds in a hurried meet-and-greet, and to brace for the night ahead. Over the past several weeks, the longtime University of Montana benefactor had received her share of criticism for inviting provocateur Mike Adams to speak under\u00a0the lecture series\u00a0that carries her deceased […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":21458,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[6762,6761,6760,63],"class_list":["post-21457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-montana","category-news","tag-jeff-cole","tag-maria-cole","tag-mike-adams","tag-university-of-montana","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/97"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21457"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21460,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21457\/revisions\/21460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}