Fordham head blasts Ann Coulter Father McShane calls the College GOP speaker "hateful and needlessly provocative." Update: Coulter cancelled

I happen to love Fordham University. My daughter got a great education there. As president of the College Democrats, she worked well with College Republicans. I met a whole lot of them when they politely turned out the night she helped bring Howard Dean to campus; the next year, she got to moderate a question-and-answer session – to ensure fairness – when the College Republicans hosted Karl Rove. It felt to me like a lost era of civility and reason as I watched young people from the two parties get along up in the Bronx.

But now the Fordham College Republicans have invited Ann Coulter, who outdoes Karl Rove (barely, these days) in the department of divisiveness and meanness. I had a moment of regretting the mega-dollars I spent on Fordham – even though I know the clubs are free to invite whomever they like, within reason (although this tests reason). Then I saw Fordham President Father Joseph McShane's terrific reply, which I'm printing in full.

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Given the dramatic rightward shift of the Republican Party, I happen to believe that the path back to civility involves civil people not merely smiling and being civil but forcefully calling extremist Republicans out on their cruelty and extremism. Father McShane shows the way. He blasts Coulter's message as "hateful and needlessly provocative — more heat than light" and says "her message is aimed squarely at the darker side of our nature."

McShane notes that Fordham has been blighted by ugly racial and homophobic incidents in the last few years, and he laments the lack of "maturity" shown by his young campus Republicans in inviting the provocateur Coulter. But he says he trusts the Fordham "community" to model "the power of decency and reason to overcome hatred and prejudice." Let's hope that happens. Personally, I hope Coulter reads McShane's statement, withdraws from the engagement and spends some time reflecting on why she's filled with so much hate. But I'm a dreamer.

Update: Tonight, the Fordham College Republicans have cancelled Coulter's appearance.

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Here's McShane's whole statement, followed by the College Republicans'.