After a ten-year stint with National Public Radio (NPR), the network terminated its contract with Juan Williams last Wednesday, Oct. 20 after Williams made a series of disparaging remarks about Muslims on Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor.”
Williams, a senior news analyst for NPR, is also a Fox News analyst who appears regularly on “The O’Reilly Factor.” Williams was also the 2010 Commencement speaker, and, as is tradition, the college conferred an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters on him during the Commencement ceremony.
On Oct. 18, during a debate about the threat Muslim nations posed to the United States, Williams said, “When I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.” Williams also identified jihad as the “biggest threat on the planet.”
In the same segment, Williams challenged O’Reilly’s contention that all Muslims are extremists intent on attacking America with the analogy that Christians shouldn’t be blamed for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
NPR has cited a breach of editorial standards as the grounds for Williams’s termination. According to their official statement, NPR said that his comments were “inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR.”
“They were looking for a reason to get rid of me because I appear on Fox News,” Williams said in a Fox News interview two days following his firing. His employment by both organizations had long been a sore point for NPR who shifted his status from staff correspondent to analyst after he expressed clear-cut positions on issues of public policy both on television programs and in newspaper editorials. “[He] tends to speak one way on NPR and another on Fox,” said Alicia C. Shepard, NPR’s ombudsman.
Since his firing from NPR, Fox News has offered Williams a new 2 million dollar contract for three years and a guest slot as the Friday night host of “The O’Reilly Factor.”
Each year, nominations for speakers and honorary degree recipients are solicited from students, faculty, staff, alumni and governing board members. Nominees are ultimately voted on for approval by the faculty and trustees. Factors considered when selecting are Commencement speaker include a speaker’s relationship to and understanding of the value of a liberal arts education and accomplishments in his or her field that have the potential to inspire action and critical thinking by students.
“His contributions as a journalist, writer and public intellectual have helped shaped our collective understanding of race in American society,” said President George Bridges in an April 2010 press release announcing Williams’s selection as the 2010 Commencement speaker.
“[Controversial speakers] attract attention and cause people to apply critical thinking, analyze and communicate–the very essence of a liberal arts education. That said, however, I do not see value in bringing a speaker to campus who has gained notoriety for positions that reflect an intent to be hurtful,” Bridges said this week in an e-mail.
Alumni have had varying perspectives on Williams’ comments.
“It’s a bit of a stain on my memories of Commencement. Years from now we’ll look back and remember how Juan Williams spoke at our graduation and then was fired from NPR for making racist statements only a few months later,” said Connor Guy ’10.
“The comments made by Juan Williams and the responses by NPR and national political figures have been unfortunate. Williams’ initial remarks and the ensuing responses have aggravated divisions and tensions over race and ethnicity in the U.S.,” said Bridges. He also said that in light of last week’s events he still supports the decision to bring Williams to campus as last spring’s Commencement speaker.
