From Joy Roach Humphreys, Chairwoman, Department of Management, Marketing and Business Administration:
In the second sentence of his “Letter to the Editor” in the last edition of The Murray State News, Professor Peter Murphy wrote “First, I want to thank the Republican Party for allowing groups like this to feel empowered to recruit members in the most public of places.” Murphy was referring to the Traditionalist Workers Party presence at a Murray State organizational fair two weeks ago.
Of course, the Republican Party and our own large group of College Republicans on campus have nothing to do with the Traditionalist Workers Party or their views. I’m proud to be a co-adviser of the Murray State College Republicans. Let us look solely at our place of residence for a moment. It seems to have escaped notice that in Kentucky, we have an accomplished lieutenant governor in Jenean Hampton, who is an African-American woman. Kentucky has the youngest woman elected to statewide office in the United States in State Treasurer Allison Ball, who is a staunch Republican. Ryan Quarles, our agriculture commissioner, is the youngest statewide elected official in the United States and is a Republican. The first Hispanic to serve in the Kentucky legislature is Republican Ralph Alvarado from Winchester. Shall I go on?
See any hate there from the Republican Party?
From Keith A. York, Murray:
This is in response to the Sept. 8 letter to the editor by Professor Peter F. Murphy. He writes, “As soon as the Republican Party embraced the evangelical wing of the Protestant church, a more intolerant group you would be hard pressed to find, it was headed pell-mell toward fascism.” He also writes, “Silence is permission. Throw all hate groups off campus, period.” With these two statements in view, would he advocate throwing off Murray State premises all campus ministry groups of so-called “intolerant” evangelical Protestant churches or all Republican groups, who after all, are claimed to be heading “toward fascism”?
There are many Murray State students, I am sure, who are Republicans and/or members of evangelical Protestant congregations. Would they feel that Murphy’s classroom is an inclusive “safe space”? Furthermore, are there any groups on the left Murphy would like to vocally condemn or will he maintain silence on them? Are there any groups on the left which he would publicly identify as hate groups, which he thinks should be denied campus access at Murray State?
Murphy writes that Donald Trump “advocates rounding these people up for deportation (and worse – think the Final Solution!).” It is true that Donald Trump advocates enforcement of federal law by deporting criminal illegal aliens. The second claim, if Murphy is indeed writing literally and not just rhetorically, is an unsubstantiated allegation. Should he believe that Trump advocates genocide (“the Final Solution”), I challenge him to document the source of this claim from something that Trump himself has said or written. I will not deny that some individuals who support Trump may advocate genocide, but that is far different from claiming that Donald Trump himself advocates this.
The News welcomes commentaries and letters to the editor. Submissions should be 600 words or less, and contributors should include phone numbers for verification. Please include hometown, classification and title or relationship to the university. The News reserves the right to edit for style, length and content. No anonymous contributions will be accepted. All contributions should be turned in by noon on Monday of each week via email to hbeard2@murraystate.edu. Contributions to The News are the opinion of the author and not that of The Murray State News.