Eric Holder’s visit a missed opportunity

It was a wonderful opportunity to have Eric Holder visit campus last week. However, because of how wonderful and unique the opportunity was, it was made all the more disappointing that his time spent talking to Vassar campus was of such little value. I have many problems with the visit of the Attorney General, and feel this opinion needs to be voiced, as I cannot be alone in holding this sentiment.

First, Holder spent 15 minutes speaking about what amounted to the importance of doing volunteer work and serving the community. That's great, but I for one when visited by the Attorney General want to hear a speech of some weight. As college students we are spoon-fed the same pro-public service jargon at every speech, rally, discussion, dialogue, or whatever other liberal arts buzz word for "talk" you'd like to use, in which we are involved. I was extremely disappointed to not be able to hear anything about the political situation of our country from Holder.

And that leads me to my second and most important complaint about his visit: the question and answer period. Instead of opening up the floor to questions, of which I assure you I had more than a few, Holder was instead posed questions that were written by students and faculty beforehand. This is of course code for questions that were prescreened, making it difficult for average students to pose questions. Let's be real here, the Attorney General's visit was all public relations, both for him and for the College. Vassar gets to say that we were visited by a high ranking government official and Holder gets to say he made an appearance in a liberal arts college setting. Why did questions need to be pre-screened? Were we afraid to subject a democratic elected official to the conservative shark tank that is a group of Vassar kids? The logic here is laughable and a bit frightening.

The shame of it is that even though to an extent I understand questions are pre-screened under the hope of preventing a "don't taze me bro" incident, that does not change the fact that it is a symptom of something undemocratic in the way we conduct meetings between government officials and the people they serve. Government officials should not be afraid of the people. Vassar is of course not blameless for this particular incident either, as few students were aware that they had the ability to submit questions for consideration. I for one doubt that students truly had the agency to do this, as I am a conscientious political science major and I too had no idea what I would have needed to do to have my questions considered, even though I would have loved to take advantage of the opportunity. So when it was said that the questions came from a group of faculty and students, how could I help but laugh? Why wasn't the campus made aware of what would be necessary to submit questions?

The questions that were asked of Holder were on tough issues such as health care, immigration, prison reform and the trial of Khalid Shaikh Muhammad. It did not matter that the topics were difficult, however, because all of the questions could be answered with canned answers we have all heard on the news long ago. But I want to know how the prosecution in the 9/11 trials plan on dealing with the issue of the requirement for a speedy trial; I want to know how the administration plans on dealing with complaints from doctors about being confused by the new health care reform legislation; and I want to know what right 9/11 conspirators have to be tried in an American courtroom. Vassar, it is our duty as some of the most informed citizens in America to be the ones asking these tough questions of the people who run our government. Someone dropped the ball on this one, and I for one am none too pleased. What ever happened to liberal arts activism? To hell with dialogues and conversations! Let's make some people uncomfortable!

In the end, I have a message for all parties involved. First, Vassar students: Never let the one time you fail to speak your minds be the time when it is most important that you be heard. Vassar Administration: Do not compromise the integrity of this institution in order to have one more talking point when convincing prospective students to come here. And finally, Eric Holder: Answer the tough questions.