by jmccoy3 on May 6, 2022
Letters to the Editor
Anyone who paid the least bit of attention during the first semester of DWC knows that the Greeks put high value on being a good host as well as a good guest. Paris’s massive failure in the latter regard gave us the long and bloody Trojan War. While reading through the most recent issue of The Cowl I was dismayed to see a guest of mine casually slandered. The law of xenia requires me to come to Dr. Spencer Klavan’s defense. I decided to invite him after hearing this Oxford trained classicist speak on The Iliad. He’s young, smart, and possesses an appealing way of speaking. Unfortunately, some students tried to stop his talk on the shaky basis that some of his tweets could be construed as intolerant. Even some faculty joined in. I feel no need to defend Klavan against such tendentious charges, especially since no real evidence was provided in support of them. It is true that Dr. Klavan is gay, conservative, and a devout Christian. Perhaps this slightly unusual combination spurred the desire to cancel him. I don’t know. Happily, the talk went off without a hitch; he was just as good as I had hoped. At this point, my sole desire is to fulfill my duty as host to a good guest and object to your paper’s mistreatment of him.
James F. Keating, PhD
Humanities Program