Debunking Giuliani's bad rap

Author: Andrew Carnabuci '06

I am greatly alarmed by the general mood of seething indignation around campus regarding the announcement that Rudy Giuliani will be coming to speak for graduation, as demonstrated by an article in last week's campus and talk of an "alternate" graduation speaker, and would like to take this opportunity to respond.

I would like to preface my criticism the campus' response to Mr. Giuliani by establishing two credentials which I believe lend some weight to my thoughts. Firstly, I am a New Yorker, and secondly, I am a registered Democrat.

I am also far from the only registered Democrat in the area, as registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans five to one in New York City (MSNBC). This said, there must be something to this Rudolph Giuliani, a Republican, elected as mayor in 1993, and re-elected in 1997 by an overwhelming margin, carrying four of New York's five boroughs (www.nyc.gov) despite being in the radical political minority.

Thus far, I have heard only two substantive criticisms leveled against Mr. Giuliani, both of which are incorrect and misleading. The first is an objection to his homeless policy. Mr. Giuliani's often-criticized policy regarding the homeless is one of the most misunderstood issues in New York politics. Giuliani's policy, which many simply describe as "arresting the homeless," was actually the implementation of the suggestions from a 1990 report, written by prominent Democrat Andrew Cuomo, who was at the time working for H.E.L.P., a non-for-profit homeless advocacy group. New York City now places its homeless in clean, safe shelters where they receive job training and can work towards their G.E.D.s. The city spends 800 million dollars annually to ensure this (Foreman, Jonathan, Salon Magazine, January 4, 2000). This is a far cry from "arresting the homeless," and in fact demonstrates City Hall's compassion for its homeless

Secondly, many cite his "abysmal" record on police brutality. This too, is questionable. While many correctly and accurately allude to the two tragic cases of Abner Louima and Amadou Dialou, this is far from the whole truth. According to Amnesty International's Deputy Executive Director Gerald Lemel, in the 10 years prior to the Giuliani administration, police brutality in New York City was steadily rising at 30 to 40 percent per year. In 1995, the second year of Giuliani's administration, it rose 16 percent. In 1996, it rose 0 percent (www.saxakali.com). What this suggests, contrary to what critics seem to be asserting, is that Rudy Giuliani in fact successfully combatted police brutality in New York.

This all being said, I fail to see what, if anything, Middlebury students could hold against Rudy Giuliani. I suspect, however, that I do know the true reason why so many on this campus despise Rudy Giuliani so much, and that is this: he's a Republican. The enraged response to Mr. Giuliani amounts to nothing more than petty partisan politics as usual. It is indicative of the reactionary, knee-jerk liberalism, which, lamentably, is extremely fashionable on campus these days. That there are Middlebury students out there who cannot think independently of political dogma and find heroes - or at least respect people's accomplishments - across party lines speaks to the lack of genuine intellectualism on campus. There is a word for people who mindlessly chant the party line on every issue and lash out venomously at everything and everyone that demurs from it - that word is fascist.

I would urge all reactionary neo-liberals opposed to Mr. Giuliani's visit to spend less time finding fault with real heroes, and more time reading the Bible they have forsaken in the name of academically fashionable secular humanism, where they might find that timeless bit of wisdom, "and why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye" (Matthew, 7:3).