Dear Pastor Chris:

First of all, I want to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to drive almost 150 miles to meet with Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo in order to discuss anti-Christian bigotry at UNC-Wilmington. Given that you have people to visit in the hospital and ongoing construction to oversee at your church, I know your time is precious. I’m just sorry Chancellor DePaolo didn’t show up for the face-to-face meeting you had been promised.

Although Dr. DePaolo decided that another meeting needed her attention, I am pleased to hear that she sent two of her special assistants and another administrator to meet with you. However, I am displeased to hear you report that they said exactly what I told you they would say when we spoke on the phone three days before the meeting. UNCW administrators are both arrogant and predictable, in my view.

The response you reported to me after you accused the administration of being “anti-free speech” was certainly interesting. Saying "we are a very free speech oriented university” right before saying “we don't understand why polls among students at UNCW reveal discrimination of any kind” is revealing. It sounds like they claim to be pro-free speech even when surveys say they aren’t.

But, of course, UNC-Wilmington administrators would also claim to be pro-free speech if the surveys said they were. In other words, their arrogance is such that they proclaim “when we’re right we’re right, but when we’re wrong we’re also right.” Of course, when one is always left one is seldom right about anything. I am pleased that you directly asked them about their failure to bring conservative speakers to UNCW. When they assured you that they bring in conservative political speakers “very frequently” they were simply misleading you. The statement, "We had Laura Bush on campus" is illustrative. Actually, Laura Bush was brought to campus by the Richard Burr campaign during his successful bid to defeat Erskine Bowles. The UNC system didn’t fund Laura Bush’s visit to campus. But they did give Democrat Bowles a job as president of the UNC system as a consolation prize after losing to now-Senator Burr.

It is also noteworthy that there was no endorsement of Burr by UNC-Wilmington (nor should there have been any such endorsement). However, when John Edwards (whose vacant seat was filled by Burr) came to campus campaigning as a Democrat for Vice-President, something interesting happened. Chancellor Emeritus James Leutze endorsed Edwards and even introduced Wesley Clark who, in turn, introduced Edwards. Naturally, Edwards was given a paid position in the UNC system after he lost his bid to be Vice President.

I hope you will write to your representatives to ask why Rosemary DePaolo’s administration later lied to you by saying that the university doesn’t bring in political speakers. Rosemary brought in George Mitchell for $40,000 to headline her own inauguration as chancellor in 2004 – nine months after she started her job. That was money poorly spent. The administration’s denial raises this crucial question, too: Just how is it possible for the DePaolo administration to claim that they don’t bring in political speakers only minutes after they claimed to bring in Laura Bush? She was there to talk about the U.S. Senate race, wasn’t she?

When DePaolo’s representatives told you that a) “it's up to the local student groups or private groups to bring in political speakers” and b) that they “just supply the building and maintenance," they were lying to you again. I sent two moles from the UNCW staff to sit on the Leadership Lecture Series committee several years ago. Every conservative speaker recommendation they made was shot down by a committee dominated by faculty and staff. The students don’t control the process. Everyone knows that.

Naturally, I am thrilled that you accused them – to their faces, no less – of simply lying to you. But I’m not surprised that they just kept repeating themselves. Repetition is an important ingredient in the dissemination of propaganda. Continued...