Goldman exec's talk at the University of Vermont nixed after protest threat

[garybeck]

Source: Burlington Free Press

A Goldman Sachs analyst who planned to talk to students at his University of Vermont alma mater about careers in the financial services industry canceled his appearance after backers of the Occupy Wall Street movement threatened protests, according to a UVM dean.

Jeff Ares was scheduled to speak on Friday but canceled the talk at the request of his employer, Goldman Sachs, UVM Business School dean Sanjay Sharma said.

“Mr. Ares as our alumnus agreed to come and help our students who were interested in careers on Wall Street. Based on news reports, his company advised him to cancel. He works for Goldman Sachs and he has to follow advice from his company on these issues,” Sharma said in an email.

A Goldman spokeswoman, Leslie Shribman, said Monday that the company wouldn’t comment and wouldn’t make Ares available to be interviewed.

The cancellation drew sharp criticism from a nationally known advocate for academic freedom. Harvey Silverglate, a Boston lawyer and chairman of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, said by effectively pressuring Ares to cancel the talk, the activists involved were likely involved in “a conspiracy to restrict free speech.”

Read more: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20111017/NEWS02/111017022/Goldman-exec-s-talk-University-Vermont-nixed-after-protest-threat-

[SixthSense]

1. Good!

Make the Wall Street types know that they are unwelcome anywhere!

[marmar]

2. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, mofos.

It Pitchfork-and-torch time !!!!

[TacticalPeek]

3. Poor thing.

Vampire squid have fee fees, too.

[quakerboy]

4. Mr Silverglate needs to open his eyes

Peaceful protestors, ones who have remained non-threatening throughout, are not a "conspiracy to restrict free speech".

Running away and making excuses to cancel a speech any time there might be a counterpoint view presented, on the other hand, would definitely be a hindered to free speech.

[Demeter]

6. I doubt it was going to be "free" speech, anyway

there was sure to be some price paid, somewhere along the way.

[Petrushka]

14. If anyone is restricting his free speech, it's his employer for making him cancel the speech. (eom)

:kick:

[jtuck004]

5. "Look" he said, "What I have done with my degree!" /nt

[starroute]

7. Be very suspicious of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education

For starters, it's a member of the State Policy Network -- an umbrella group which also includes ALEC and every right-wing think-tank and public policy group you ever heard of. For another, its board of advisers includes (or recently included) Kenneth Cribb, head of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, whose Collegiate Institute funds the college papers published by up-and-coming young conservatives like James O'Keefe and his pals.

And FIRE is the group that steps in to defend those young conservatives when they push things too far -- like their recurring racist bake sales -- and get into trouble for it:

http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/09.01.04/right-wing-0436.html

September 1-7, 2004

In 1973, when Richard Mellon Scaife and Joseph Coors kicked together some seed money to start the conservative Heritage Foundation, the Democrats held the Senate and had a 50-seat majority in the House. As progressives are starting to understand, the funding, planning and coordination of the conservative movement has led to tremendous success in elections and government policy. But another arena of ideological competition has gone largely beneath the radar. An asymmetric political war is raging at universities across the country, and once again conservatives are running circles around progressives. . . .

Savvy organizers have seized on all that righteous anger and created an appealing image for today's young conservative: rebellious and oddly countercultural, courageously fighting the power. Since conservatives are now the rebels, they sometimes run afoul of university "speech codes" and get into other trouble. When they do, groups like the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and the Center for Individual Rights--both flush with right-wing foundation money--step in with pro bono legal help and sue on behalf of the aggrieved students. Usually, the suits get thrown out of court or the university quickly settles. But the cases become further "evidence" of the tyranny of the left and are thus eaten up by the conservative media.

[garybeck]

8. figgered as much....

not sure which would have been better... the cancellation, or the protest that would have taken place if it went through

[Raksha]

10. Thanks for the link to that Metroactive article...very informative! n/t

[Remember Me]

15. Boy, this needs much greater attention. Thaks for posting. nt

[scentopine]

9. Using free speech to protest Wall Street crooks is a consprcy to restrict free speech? Nonsense. -nt

[Raksha]

11. K & R

[Xtraneous]

12. What careers? The pillaging of the US Treasury?

“Mr. Ares as our alumnus agreed to come and help our students who were interested in careers on Wall Street." funny man

[UnrepentantLiberal]

13. That pesky 99% strikes again!

Poor beleaguered .1%.

[Kingofalldems]

16. Kick and Recommend.

[Downtown Hound]

17. Protesting a corporate criminal giant is not "restricting free speech"

Mr. Silvergate, you jackass. It IS free speech.

[bullwinkle428]

18. What genius thought this would be a great idea to begin with?

[sarcasmo]

19. The villagers are standing up, no pitchforks or torched brooms needed.