Several days ago, the University of Virginia CFACT chapter joined the College Republican chapter on campus to host Phil Valentine, writer and producer of the documentary, An Inconsistent Truth. The documentary was created as a response to the infamous Al Gore work, which made the radical, often dangerous claims of a world affected by climate change. Of course, the documentary has been proven false in many of its argument’s, but that did not stop Gore’s supporters from speaking up.
A couple of days following the event, Thomas Forman, UVA’s President of the Environmental Sciences Organization, wrote a scathing op-ed in the student newspaper about how the students were doing the university a disservice by having “scientifically illiterate” people on campus, speak. According to Forman, because the science is ‘settled,’ there is no reason there should be debate allowed, despite the University of Virginia being a place for intellectual discourse, varying opinions, and home to a wide-range of debate.
Of course, this doesn’t even include the scientific realm, to which the evidence Forman used to support climate change has been proven factually incorrect.
CFACT was not alone in their anger towards this response for the stifling of debate, as many others decided to take a stand in the student newspaper. Several individuals, including Phil Valentine himself, penned op-eds in response. The College Republicans, a co-sponsor of the event, also criticized Forman for his lack of tolerance for others’ opinions.
The original op-ed, along with all responses published so far, may be found at the links below:
Original: http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2014/02/forman-not-up-for-debate
Phil Valentine: http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2014/02/valentine-challenge-the-theory
College Republicans: http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2014/02/finocchio-the-dissent-of-man
One student managed to join the side of Forman in believing that this issue should not be discussed on a college campus. He also expresses confidence in climate change, despite the overwhelming evidence. He makes mention that “What Phil Valentine provides is not skepticism for the sake of scientific query, but anti-intellectualism in its most debasing and manipulative form.” The link to his article is below.
http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2014/02/gardiner-confidence-in-climate-change