College President Kent Chabotar stated last week that “While we had true consensus in December to invite Rep. Coble to be a commencement speaker, there is no consensus to rescind the invitation.”
In the message, sent via Guilford Announcements, Chabotar defended the process that chose Howard Coble, whose 50th anniversary of graduating from Guilford is this year, as one of five graduation speakers.
The other four are Chabotar himself, and three seniors, nominated by the senior class, who have not yet been chosen.
Chabotar did not say exactly where the process would go from here, or whether the Convocations and Celebrations Committee, which approved Coble in December, would consider the issue again. He also did not set a timeline for the process. Commencement is May 10.
“There have been and will be meetings involving organizers of the petition drive, concerned faculty and staff, and possibly Rep. Coble,” Chabotar said. “Folks in favor of Rep. Coble’s speaking might change their minds, or might not. Folks opposed to Rep. Coble’s speaking might change their minds, or might not. “Rep. Coble might still want to appear at his alma mater at commencement, or might not,” Chabotar said.
Coble told The Guilfordian in February that he would return his invitation to commencement “if one senior is opposed.” Several students have voiced their opposition, most notably senior Josh Neas, who organized a petition drive against Coble with signatures of around 50 seniors and 200 other students.
However, Chabotar stated in his letter that most of those who signed did so soon after Coble commented that internment camps were an appropriate U.S. action in World War II, but before he issued a statement of regret that many found his recent comments offensive.
Congress apologized in 1988 and passed a law to pay surviving internment victims reparations of $20,000 each. Coble, the Republican who has represented North Carolina’s 6th district since 1984, voted against the apology in 1988.
Naz Urooj, who as the student representative on the Convocations and Celebrations Committee approved Coble as a speaker, has since said she does not want Coble to address the graduating class, and will oppose him in the future.
Urooj said that she approved Coble solely as an individual after meeting him in Washington, and that she was not speaking for the campus when she initially supported him in December. Chabotar said that he wants to promote dialogue between Coble and the college on foreign policy and the war in Iraq. Coble chairs an important subcommittee in the Republican-controlled House concerning homeland security.
He strongly supports the war in Iraq, and said that “we can either stand by and allow this dictator to continue his reign of terror and proceed with his plans for our very own destruction or we can take preemptive action and eliminate his ability to inflict the unimaginable horrors that will result from a biological or chemical attack.”