2008 Woodie Awards
President cancels activist's speech
Latin American civil rights pioneer banned from speaking on-campus
Amber Chemam
Issue date: 2/19/08 Section: Front Page
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Huerta, a Catholic mother of 11, said that Catholic institutions frequently invite her to speak and that no question has ever been raised before about her stance on abortion.
UST's Latin American and Latino Studies program, Women, Culture and Society program and the Social Justice committee worked together to bring Huerta to campus, and the international studies department had planned for her speech, entitled "Now is the Time: Activism for Social Change," since October, according to international studies office manager Diana Garcia.
Although she generally charges $10,000 for speaking engagements, with the money benefiting her charitable foundation, she had waived the fee because the speech was to mark the inauguration of UST's Latin American and Latino Studies program.
International Studies director Gustavo Wensjoe said that he was unaware of Huerta's pro-choice stance when he invited her to speak on-campus. "That is not a question we generally ask," he said.
Women, Culture and Society director Elsa Zambosco-Thomas said that she was also unaware of Huerta's stance until just prior to the cancellation, but said that she would have still supported the speech because it focused on the social justice movement and not abortion.
Social Justice Committee director Trish Vandiver agreed. "I don't know that any of us actually investigated that [abortion] issue, because that wasn't why she was being invited," she said. "She was being invited because she was a very outspoken person on immigration issues."
Wensjoe added that, in his 16 years at the University, he had brought hundreds of speakers to campus and that the IS department generally co-sponsors about 70 speeches a year. "We have never, in all my years, had any problem in who we have invited," he said.
Wensjoe said Vice President for Academic Affairs John Hittinger and President Robert Ivany notified him about a week before the speech that Huerta's invitation to speak at UST was being "discussed." On Feb. 4, Wensjoe said the president and VPAA informed him that Huerta should be "uninvited."