Fleischer '82 Speaks, Campus Reacts Bush Defended in Speech

Author: Jon White

The Middlebury College Alumni Association presented White House Press Secretary L. Ari Fleischer '82 with an Alumni Achievement Award Sunday in Mead Chapel. After accepting the award, Fleischer delivered a speech entitled "The Presidency and the Press," which was followed by a question and answer session. Demonstrators both in and outside the chapel marked Fleischer's return to his alma mater.
Fleischer's visit proved exceptionally contentious in light of the endorsement President Bush received from Congress last Friday to use force to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Bush promised last week that, "The days of Iraq acting as an outlaw state are coming to an end."
A chorus of applause and booing rose from the audience as Fleischer entered Mead Chapel alongside President John McCardell and Middlebury College Alumni Association President Kim Loewer. Shouts of "Shame on you," "How do you sleep at night?" and "No blood for oil" lingered as McCardell addressed the audience prior to Fleischer's talk.
"One of the most important functions for an institution of higher education is to provide a forum for reason, debate and discussion of controversial public issues," McCardell stated. He enumerated the array of distinguished speakers that have visited Middlebury this fall, and said that by inviting them, Middlebury has "honored the principle of academic freedom." He said that this freedom "includes, to be sure, the freedom of speech and it also observes the courtesy which is concomitant with that principle — that is the freedom to listen."
Following McCardell's statements, Loewer introduced Fleischer. Loewer mentioned that at Middlebury Fleischer parted from a family tradition of Democratic allegiance to join the Republican Party. Fleischer is now Bush's primary spokesman after serving as press secretary for several Congressmen and New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici.

The Speech

"It wasn't that long ago that I was just finished briefing the press, so believe me, it is a pleasure to be with you," Fleischer began.
After jokes and a discussion of playing baseball with the president, Fleischer moved to more serious subjects, telling the audience, "There's a lot on your minds I want to talk about."
Fleischer explained his typical day as White House press secretary, and he credited the influence of Middlebury's Charles A. Dana Professor of Political Science Murray Dry when going about these duties. Fleischer said that Dry's focus on reading source material is vital to his job at the White House. He also said that in preparing for his 12:45 p.m. press briefing he falls back on the Middlebury work ethic of "closing my door, putting my head down and reading."
"The hardest part of my job is knowing what not to say," said Fleischer.
Fleischer described the Bush administration's commitment to end the policy of leaking information to the press. Fleischer said that he and the president believe that individuals within an organization should not turn on each other. This commitment to honesty and integrity was a hallmark message Fleischer had for the audience: "I submit to you, in anything you do in life, that when you serve, give your bosses your best, unvarnished opinions, tell them what you think, take those unvarnished opinions and make them your best and most informative judgments."
In concluding his speech, Fleischer turned to the controversial topic of Iraq. "The president waited for the biggest moments in time, particularly in his speech to the United Nations, under the theory that in the relationship between the president and the press, our nation looks to big moments." He said that the relationship between the president and the press is "what keeps us free and what keeps us strong."
Concerning the president's new policy of taking pre-emptive action against dangerous states like Iraq, Fleischer commented during the question and answer session, "One must weigh what would cause a country to act pre-emptively." He said that "Iraq is unique in the world. No, no other nation has invaded its neighbors the way Iraq has."
Fleischer also challenged questions concerning the idea that the United States is pursuing a unilateralist policy. Fleischer said that the sanctions against Iraq and the demand that it disarm were imposed with overwhelming support by the United Nations. "Who is unilateralist and who is multilateralist?" he asked rhetorically. "President Bush is multilateralist because the United Nations has spoken."
Throughout the speech, protesters yelled criticisms and hissed when Fleischer mentioned the president's name. Security escorted disruptive protesters out of the chapel.

Meeker House Press
Conference

In a press conference Monday morning in Meeker House, Fleischer elaborated further on Bush's stance on Iraq. "The bully on the block is Saddam Hussein, the United States is trying to keep the peace," he said. The president, he assured, is working to preserve the peace and sees war as a last resort.
In response to questions as to whether the administration viewed liberal Vermont with reticence, Fleischer said, "There cannot be a state that is a thorn in the side of the nation." He acknowledged, however, that Vermont is a tough state for the president. While all three of the state's congressional representatives voted against giving Bush executive power on the Iraq issue, he believes that there are plenty of Vermonters who support the president's stance.
In response to Governor Dean's plans to challenge President Bush in 2004, Fleischer said, "It wouldn't bother us a bit if Dean was the [Democrat] nominee."
When asked about the protests at his alma mater, Fleischer responded by saying that protests "are part of the American tradition" and that he understood that "people can become symbols, though I focused on people inside [Mead Chapel] who came to listen." He felt that "those who came to interrupt did not respect those who came to listen."
He stated that Middlebury students on the whole were respectful, and he offered one final word of advice for students at the College: "Treat people well, even if they are people who you disagree with."

A Renewed Protest Tradition?

Students, staff and faculty left Mead Chapel Sunday polarized by the fracas created by the protesters. Many offered words of praise for Fleischer's handling of the situation. "If someone is trying to shout over you, it takes a certain kind of demeanor to handle the situation properly" said Katherine Milgram '03. Milgram said she believes that Fleischer taught an important lesson in staying unfazed by the shouting and she emphasized, "If we are to recognize diverse point of views, especially from our own alumni, then Fleischer deserved due respect and attention."
Other students were dismayed by the audience's behavior towards the protesters in the chapel. "I was shocked at how violently the crowd reacted," said Cori Loew '02.5. Loew said she heard people taunting protestors for being "Communist" and "un-American" and she noted that these individuals were members of the College community.
Loew was among several students who unfurled banners from Mead Chapel balconies during the first few minutes of Fleischer's speech. The banners read "We are the silenced majority," "Iraq — not our war," and "We're not above the U.N."
Professor of History Jim Ralph, who is teaching a seminar entitled "The Protest Impulse," said that protests typically involve a certain amount of public theater. For this reason he believes that the banners were a successful act of demonstration. "The message of the unfurled banners was effective. It was dramatic but it was not disruptive and didn't alienate the audience the way the hecklers did," Ralph said.
Whether or not the protests Sunday signal a new age of activism and unrest is debatable says President McCardell. McCardell said that Middlebury has not witnessed organized demonstrations like Sunday's since the 1980s when students pr
otested against South African apartheid. "It is hard to say whether we are on the verge of a new wave of student activism, though it would not surprise me, especially if war breaks out, for that to be the case," McCardell continued.
McCardell said that many of those who interrupted Fleischer were not members of the student body, though he hopes that Sunday night's tumult is not mimicked in future lectures. He explained: "Courtesy begets courtesy, disrespect begets disrespect. I very much hope that we are not entering a season of disruption when other speakers, of whatever political persuasion, come to our campus. My guess is that the greatest insurance against that possibility is the commitment of our faculty, staff, and students to lead by example."

A Hollow Speech or a Unique Opportunity?

Much has been made of the timing of the presentation of the Alumni Achievement Award to Fleischer, although Secretary of the College Eric Davis explained that the decision to award Fleischer was made last spring. "The issue of U.S. policy towards Iraq was much less salient [then]," he said.
Davis said he was most impressed by Fleischer's openness to political debate. "He spent a long time talking about issue of American policy toward Iraq with Middlebury students," Davis explained. "He was certainly willing to engage in a dialogue with those on the other side of these issues."
Several students and faculty members criticized Fleischer for what he did not say this weekend. "The administration has no clue what war is. A real discussion of what war means is one thing that was absent from Fleischer's discussion of Iraq," said Loew.
Professor of Geography Tamar Mayer said she was unimpressed by the substance of Fleischer's remarks.
"Ari Fleischer did at his visit to Middlebury exactly the same thing that he does every day, talk and say nothing." "What we need to think about … is the impact of this war on the fragile Middle East," Mayer avowed.
Many students, however, found the chance to interact with Fleischer unparalled. Milgram said that to engage with an administration official and discuss official White House policy was "quite an impressive experience the College extended to all of us," Milgram stated.