Matt Schonert

Tyler Horning/Collegian

Earlier this week, H​i​l​l​s​ d​a​l​e C​o​l​l​e​g​e administrators stopped College Republicans from holding a rally in protest of the health care bill, citing a 50-year old unwritten policy dating from the days of college president J. Donald Phillips, who opposed student activism in the 1960s.

“We just simply have a policy: no rallies on campus”

This policy didn’t stop the College Republicans from holding a rally in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom back in 2004. Hardly a under-the-radar event, the rally took place in front of the Central Hall, was attended by Michigan legislator Bruce Caswell, and was patrolled by campus security personnel.

Not only did this demonstration (which was accompanied by an anti-war counter-rally) fail to “arouse the passions” or “get out of control”, but the event was ridiculed by Collegian editors as one of “the most pathetic displays of political activism” they had ever seen, adding that if nothing else, “it proved that this sort of thing should never be attempted at Hillsdale again.”

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AFP reports:

President-elect Barack Obama plans to give “a major address” in an Islamic capital soon after taking office as he seeks to mend America’s image in the Muslim world, a Chicago Tribune interview said.

“I think we’ve got a unique opportunity to reboot America’s image around the world and also in the Muslim world in particular,” Obama said in the interview published late Tuesday on the Tribune’s website.

As an information technology guy, I appreciate this advent of computing metaphors in mainstream political speech. I hope his speechwriters make a habit of this. Here’s something to get the ball rolling:

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