President William Merwin and the university's board of trustees voted Wednesday to postpone the Oct. 24 speech by Terry Tempest Williams, the author of "The Open Space of Democracy," until after the November elections.

In the book, Williams writes that she has been "sick at heart, unable to stomach or abide by this administration's aggressive policies directed against the environment, education, social service, health care and our civil liberties -- basically the wholesale destruction of seemingly everything that contributes to a free society, except the special interests of big business."

Merwin acknowledged the board could be accused of censorship but said the author's negative statements about the president would provide only one point of view to students. The president's brother is Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

"I, in good conscience, cannot permit an unbalanced political commentary ... on a public campus," Merwin told trustees. "We need to do things that are balanced. We cannot use public funds to pay for something that is so blatantly political."

One of the university's trustees voted against postponing the event.

"It's not like we're inviting Michael Moore to the campus," said Donna Price Henry, referring to the creator of the anti-President Bush movie "Fahrenheit 911." "We're in a state where the Bush family reigns and I understand legislative decisions can have a large impact on that. I guess I'm just saddened that we have to make that decision."

Merwin said he tried to include another speaker to balance Williams' point of view but said the author and her agent rejected the request. He said he wanted to move the speech to another time that was less "politically confronting."

"I just don't want this to be a political circus at Florida Gulf Coast University," Merwin said.

Records show Merwin contributed $2,000 to the Bush/Cheney campaign in 2003 and has given $1,750 to the state Republican party and Republican candidates since 2002. He was appointed president in 1999 of the 5,300 student university, which opened in 1991.

Williams said her message has been misinterpreted, noting that following the "sick at heart" passage, she writes a letter to U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, and suggests partnering as an example "of how people can come to listen to one another with real, authentic exchanges."

The book's message is not to promote her political views but to create an "open space of democracy," a forum for students to think and discuss opposing thoughts, Williams said.

"It's the students who are being harmed by this decision," Williams said.

The speech was part of a university program requiring all incoming freshmen to read the same book, write essays on it and hold discussions during the semester. Williams' book was one of three selected, but she was to be the only speaker at the event.

Thursday, October 7, 2004
Author's FGCU visit postponed
Officials fear Bush bashing
Fort Myers News-Press
By Pedro Morales

A Utah author's speaking event at Florida Gulf Coast University was postponed after President William Merwin and the board of trustees decided Wednesday that the forum would be too politically unbalanced and negative toward President Bush.

The author, Terry Tempest Williams, disagrees. She said the decision to postpone the event, initially scheduled for Oct. 24, is politically motivated. She said the school's 13 trustees, six of whom are directly appointed by the governor, have ties to the Bush family.

Williams said her book, "The Open Space of Democracy," is not an attack on President Bush but a book about environmental policies and democracy.

"The irony here is that this book is about dialogue and the ability to face opposing points of views with mutual respect," said the 49-year-old author from Castle Valley. "This is not only a breach of contract, it is a breach of democracy. We had an opportunity to model an open space of democracy at this distinguished university. By the decision he made, I feel he has closed the open space of democracy."

Williams was to be the speaker for the university's First Year Reading Project, a program in which all incoming freshmen read the same book, write essays on it and discuss it throughout the semester. Williams' book was one of three chosen, but she was to be the only speaker at the event.

At the Wednesday morning board of trustees meeting, Merwin admitted to the trustees and the audience, "I know it will be controversial; I know we'll be accused of censorship."

But he defended his position. He said he was concerned the author's negative statements about the president would provide only one point of view to students and that it would not be a balanced presentation.

"I in good conscience cannot permit an unbalanced political commentary ... on a public campus," Merwin told trustees. "We need to do things that are balanced. We cannot use public funds to pay for something that is so blatantly political."

Merwin said he attempted to bring in another speaker who would balance Williams' point of view but said the author and her agent, Steven Barclay, refused the request. He stressed the importance of moving the event to another time that was less "politically confronting."

"I just don't want this to be a political circus at Florida Gulf Coast University," Merwin said.

Twelve of the trustees supported Merwin's decision. Only Donna Price Henry voted against postponing the event.

"It's not like we're inviting Michael Moore to the campus," Henry said to the trustees. "We're in a state where the Bush family reigns and I understand legislative decisions can have a large impact on that. I guess I'm just saddened that we have to make that decision."

FGCU spokesperson Susan Evans said the decision was not politically motivated.

"The president was concerned about having one particular political viewpoint present in an event where all freshman students are required to attend," Evans said. "One of the key points to develop critical thinking skills is to have lots of viewpoints and be able to choose from them."

Williams admitted she makes strong remarks about Bush's environmental policies, but said that she uses Bush's record to encourage debate.

"The whole book is about reconciliation and healing. He (Merwin) has focused only on rhetoric and he has lost sight of larger ideas," Williams said. "What saddens me as an American writer is that the casualty of this decision are the students of Florida Gulf Coast University."

Williams said she is determined to speak at FGCU, even if it's after the election.

Freshmen Jennifer Parnes, 19, said she was looking forward to hearing Williams speak this month and questioned why it needed to be postponed.

"I don't think it should be required to go see it. It should be like every other speaker who comes. I think it should just be an option to go," Parnes said.

Wilfredo Reyes, 22, a member of the Ministry of Truth, an FGCU nonpartisan political organization, was more critical.

"When did we lose our ability to speak our mind. When did having an informed opinion mean having a partisan opinion," Reyes said. "They have done irreparable harm to this campus through their inability to allow voices which may differ from their own policies to speak out."

Thursday, October 7, 2004
Fearing Political Backlash, President of Florida Gulf Coast U. Disinvites a Campus Speaker
Chronicle of Higher Education
By Michael Arlone

At Florida Gulf Coast University, the newest storm on the horizon is a Tempest, not a hurricane.

William C. Merwin, the university's president, announced on Wednesday that he was postponing the campus's annual celebration for freshmen out of fear that the invited speaker, Terry Tempest Williams, would turn the event into a political rally against President Bush.

Mr. Merwin told the university's Board of Trustees at its regularly scheduled meeting that he would delay the event, which had been scheduled for October 24, until after the November 2 election. The trustees voted, 10 to 1, to support Mr. Merwin's decision.

In a subsequent interview, Mr. Merwin said he believes that Ms. Williams strongly favors the Democratic Party and that she would have shown her bias in her speech. "How could you have a one-sided blatant political commentary on the eve of an election without balance?" he asked.

Mr. Merwin said he had felt no outside political pressure to make his decision, but affirmed that his concerns did run beyond political balance to the university's balance sheet. He said he understood that the university could face repercussions from donors, lawmakers, and trustees for allowing a partisan speech attacking the president, whose brother is Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, in a swing state just days before the election.

The episode occurred amid controversies at two other public universities where another outspoken liberal and opponent of President Bush -- the filmmaker Michael Moore -- had been scheduled to speak. George Mason University, in Virginia, and California State University at San Marcos both canceled university-supported appearances by Mr. Moore on their campuses.

Ms. Williams, who is the Annie Clark Tanner Fellow in Environmental Studies at the University of Utah and a writer who focuses on environmental and free-speech issues, said on Wednesday that she strongly dislikes many of the policies of President Bush's administration, but that she had not intended to give a partisan speech. Indeed, she said, her goal was to help people overcome partisan contrariness and to better understand one another through civil dialogue.

Alfred J. Wohlpart, chairman of the Florida university's Division of Humanities and Arts, said he and the other organizers of the event had repeatedly told Mr. Merwin that Ms. Williams would not deliver an attack on the president.

Mr. Merwin is "doing what he thinks is in the best interests of the university," Mr. Wohlpart, who is also a professor of English, said on Wednesday. But the president's sudden reversal had left him "completely flabbergasted," the professor said.

The university invited Ms. Williams in May to discuss her ideas and her recent book, The Open Space of Democracy (Orion Society, 2004), which the university's faculty members had chosen as required reading for the freshman class this year.

On Page 17 of the book, Ms. Williams writes: "Since George W. Bush took office as president of the United States I have been sick at heart, unable to stomach or abide by this administration's aggressive policies directed against the environment, education, social services, healthcare, and our civil liberties -- basically, the wholesale destruction of seemingly everything that contributes to a free society except the special interests of big business."

Mr. Merwin cited the passage as undeniably partisan and indicative of what Ms. Williams might be expected to say in her speech. Ms. Williams countered that the surrounding paragraphs show that those were the feelings she had to overcome in order to have fruitful interactions with conservative people.

Although Ms. Williams said she had promised not to make a partisan presentation, she declined Mr. Merwin's request to put that assurance in writing. With that refusal, Mr. Merwin said, he had no choice but to postpone the event.

Mr. Merwin said he had invited Ms. Williams to appear on November 4 instead, but she said she had declined. A new date has not been set.

Ms. Williams said that she is quite upset with the last-minute schedule change and the reason for it. "It's not just a breach of contract," she said, "but a breach of democracy and freedom of speech."

Ms. Williams said that she had returned the university's $5,000 fee and had asked officials there to give the money to students to sponsor a forum on free speech.

Thursday, October 7, 2004
Grassroots Co-Sponsors Respond

From ECO Sanibel:

Dear President Merwin,

As a member of the Orion Grassroots Network and one of ten Florida co-hosts of the Orion Society's Open Space of Democracy Tour featuring Terry Tempest Williams, the ECOSanibel Board was shocked and saddened by your decision to cancel -- at this very late stage -- the October 24-25 FGCU Freshman Convocation and both Rachel Carson Distinguished Lectures, one on the FGCU campus and the other on Sanibel Island.

These events have been planned for months, and eagerly anticipated by the Southwest Florida community. Our question is: if you have such grave concerns as to the "partisan" nature of Ms. Williams' intended remarks, why are you apparently choosing to politicize the Freshman Convocation? Surely, when the university invited Ms. Williams in May 2004, you had access to her nationally acclaimed and widely published writings. We can only conclude that the "concerns" of your Board of Governors, six of whom were reportedly appointed by Governor Jeb Bush, have resulted not only in the student body being denied an extraordinarily enriching educational experience, but also in what feels like an affront to your broader community.

ECOSanibel, a Southwest Florida NGO dedicated to promoting values and principles for a sustainable future, was honored to be the local co-host of the culminating event of a national tour promoting open dialogue and responsive, engaged citizenship. As a 501 c (3) educational organization, we cannot and do not espouse any particular party or cause. We feel your actions have closed the "open space of democracy," turning a non-partisan learning experience, open to all, into a partisan statement encouraging the suppression of free speech and democratic dialogue.

You have the honor of leading Florida's self-professed environmental university. The university setting is precisely the place where a broad spectrum of ideas must be nurtured, independent of any apparent allegiance to political timetables and agendas. We profoundly regret your seeming lack of vision and intellectual courage.

Yours truly,

The Board of Directors,
ECOSanibel
Sue Carter, Sue Layton Denham, Marie Gargano, Donna Roberts, Herb Rubin, Donald Schwartz, Julie Schwartz, Hal Theiss, Suzanne Weinheimer

From Heart of the Earth and
Red Hills Writers Project:

Dear Mr. Merwin:

We are stunned by your decision to rescind your invitation to the pre-eminent nature writer of our time, Terry Tempest Williams. We had understood that Florida Gulf Coast University was the flagship environmental campus of the state university system. It would appear not.

Despite your stated intention to avoid any "partisan" appearance, you are acting precisely partisan by denying the voice of this balanced and impassioned writer and thinker to your students. Had you allowed Terry Tempest Williams to complete her contractual agreement, I think you would have been pleasantly surprised at her skill in bringing people of very different political persuasions together in dialogue. In these divided times, that may be the most essential teaching of a university education.

I remind you that Florida State University had no issues with partisanship when they invited Vice President Dick Cheney to be commencement speaker here in Tallahassee several months ago. Moreover, I can assure you that he had no interest in dialogue with students or activists of differing political stances.

Mr. Merwin, I want you to know that we are appalled, as a co-sponsoring organization of Ms. Williams tour (Heart of the Earth and the Red Hills Writers Project), to have had no voice in this decision, nor the courtesy of any communication with you or your board at all. A number of students and organizational members had planned to drive 8 hours to Ft. Myers for the privilege of hearing Ms. Williams.

I fully believe that history will portray Ms. Williams in the direct lineage of Rachel Carson, arguably the most important environmental spokeswoman of the 20th century. What a limited legacy you leave your university in two ways: both by denying your students and faculty the opportunity to work with this leading scholar, and by bowing to political pressures in making this decision.

Sincerely,

Susan Cerulean
Council member, Heart of the Earth and Director, Red Hills Writers Project

Friday, October 8, 2004
Editorial: The Naples Daily News
Postponing author's visit counters school's mission

There is so much dysfunction with Florida Gulf Coast University's decision to postpone an author's campus visit until after the presidential election, it is challenging to find the best place to start.

But that place is the top. This directive did not come from a rank-and-file staff member, as was the case after Sept. 11, 2001, when a library aide banned employees' American pride stickers for fear of offending foreign students. The decision to uninvite Terry Tempest Williams, author of "The Open Space of Democracy," came from FGCU President Bill Merwin -- who reversed the 2001 silliness -- and the FGCU Board of Trustees.

They felt her appearances on Oct. 24 and 25, so close to the Nov. 2 election, would be unfair to President Bush. They feared Williams would unduly influence impressionable students and give the impression that FGCU agrees with the speaker.

It is too bad that the author balked at an FGCU post-contract request for her to share the dais with a counterpoint speaker, but it was wrong for FGCU to ask her for an advance text of her planned remarks.

The bottom line is that her audience could have been trusted to interpret her message for themselves -- and make up their own minds, which they will do anyway.

Ironically, the message of the author's book speaks to the root of the university's skittish behavior. She says she is a fervent opponent of the Bush administration, yet was driven to write in a quest for dialogue and a middle ground -- the open space of democracy.

That open space is a vacuum at FGCU, even though her book is required reading for all freshmen this year as part of the "First Year Experience" initiative. Now the experiment in how different people can glean different messages from the same material has lost some of its integrity. It has been reduced to a high-school level.

FGCU takes a step backward. By trying to avoid controversy where there was very little anyway, it has invited the spotlight. The university should keep authors' visits, especially on timely topics that respect audiences' intelligence, on the campus agenda. They need to be well planned -- then defended with the courage of FGCU's convictions.

Friday, October 8, 2004
Editorial: The Salt Lake Tribune
Utah writer's Florida speech postponed over politics
By Shinika A. Sykes

Political imbalance... too negative toward President Bush... blatantly political... too close to the Nov. 2 election. Sounds like refrains about liberal filmmaker Michael Moore's visit later this month to conservative Utah County.

But those words are coming from another part of the nation.

Florida Gulf Coast University President William Merwin and the university's board of trustees voted Wednesday to postpone the Oct. 24 convocation speech by Utah writer Terry Tempest Williams -- a program that all freshmen are required to attend.

Concerned that she might make some anti-Bush remarks, he wants to delay her talk until after the Nov. 2 election, according to Susan Evans, spokeswoman for the 13-year-old, 6,100-student school in Fort Myers, Fla. She said Merwin's concern was "an issue of balance."

Merwin ''felt there would be only one point of view, in terms of partisan political statements, based on some of the things in [Williams' new book] The Open Space of Democracy -- which are critical of only one of the presidential candidates: George W. Bush," Evans said.

Williams was not "dis-invited or uninvited," Evans stressed. "The event was postponed."

But that decision bothers Williams, who has returned her $5,000 honorarium and will not agree to being rescheduled as a post-election convocation speaker. However, in a letter to Merwin, she said she would "await a future invitation to speak" at some other event.

On Thursday in an interview, she said: "Democracy is an insecure landscape and it feels a little less secure today. I sense a deep erosion in the psyche of this country...and that's very, very troublesome."

According to The Associated Press, Merwin said he tried to include another speaker to balance Williams' point of view, but the author and her agent rejected that approach. He said he wanted to move the speech to another time that was less "politically confronting. I just don't want this to be a political circus at Florida Gulf Coast University," The AP reported him saying.

The AP also said that records show Merwin, who became university president in 1999, contributed $2,000 to the Bush/Cheney campaign in 2003, and has given $1,750 to the Florida Republican Party and Republican candidates since 2002.

"[Merwin] just went crazy," said Williams on Thursday, "saying I am a threat to the university, that it was his job to protect and advance his university, and that I have the potential to harm his students."

The irony is, the school's president is stopping the very thing the book is advocating: thoughtful, respectful listening to opposing points of view, Williams said.

First, she said, Merwin asked to see a copy of her planned remarks. She explained that she didn't work from a "canned" speech. "When I go to a university, I go a few days early so I can talk to students," she said. "My remarks to students are personal."

But she said Merwin made it clear that members of his board of trustees and Florida's Board of Regents are appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush - the president's brother.

Williams said she assured Merwin that bashing President Bush was neither her intent nor style. He then asked her to sign an affidavit that she would not represent a political point of view.

"I was not going to do that. It's a violation of freedom of speech just on principle," she said.

Williams described as "cordial" the last conversation she had with Merwin on Tuesday. That's when she inquired about the passage in the book he found troublesome.

He read from where Williams writes that she has been "sick at heart, unable to stomach or abide by this [President Bush's] administration's aggressive policies directed against the environment, education, social service, health care and our civil liberties -- basically the wholesale destruction of seemingly everything that contributes to a free society, except the special interests of big business."

Williams then asked Merwin to read the preceding paragraph, which she says puts the passage in context.

"As you can see, [that passage shows] I am asking myself, 'How do I find that open space in myself'--- to have meaningful dialogue with opposing points of view," she said. "He said he 'understood' -- then he goes to the press and says something different."

Meanwhile, Williams said, she has heard from disappointed students and faculty members who are "shocked" by Merwin's action. Some students are organizing to have the decision rescinded, she said.

"I had one professor call me in tears, saying, 'This is what's happening in Florida. It's not Republican or Democrat; no individual feels their vote is safe here,' " Williams said.

She wants her returned $5,000 honorarium to go to students at the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education to create a forum for freedom of speech.

"It's the students who lose. It was their first convocation and it was postponed," Williams said. "And the president won't even use the word 'canceled' or 'censored.' "

sykes@sltrib.com

Friday, October 8, 2004
Editorial: Ft. Myers News-Press
University trustees set bad example

Florida Gulf Coast University officials damaged and embarrassed the university community by postponing the appearance of an activist author who has been critical of the Bush administration.

When a university is scared of controversy, it cannot be the marketplace of ideas it should be.

Universities, even fledgling ones like Florida Gulf Coast University, should welcome civilized controversy and the free exchange of ideas it stimulates.

It gives educators a chance to teach their students to deal with the issues of the day -- one hopes with intelligence, tolerance and subtlety, qualities often lacking in real world politics.

FGCU President William Merwin and the FGCU trustees blundered this week when they postponed the appearance of an activist author, scheduled for Oct. 24, because the event would be politically unbalanced and negative toward President Bush.

Fear, whether it's of the forces of liberal political correctness, or conservative donors and politicians, or of the presumed partisan feelings of the community, should not dictate who speaks at a university worthy of the name. Nor should partisan political favor.

Terry Tempest Williams, who has criticized Bush environmental policies, was to speak at the university's First Year Reading Project, for which incoming freshmen read and discuss certain books. Williams' "The Open Space of Democracy," was one of three books chosen, but she was the only author scheduled to appear.

UNBALANCED

Merwin said he was worried that her appearance would not be a balanced presentation, and tried to include another speaker, which Williams refused to agree to.

An irony here is that Williams, who was paid $5,000 to appear at FGCU and whose book was vetted by a faculty committee, seems genuinely eager to promote an "open space of democracy," as a venue for discussion, rather than primarily to promote her own views -- which she no doubt holds quite passionately.

If that's true, she would have a better grip than Merwin and the trustees on the spirit in which a university should deal with political debate.

Balance is important over time in the selection of speakers at a university. But it's nonsense to think that a single person with a distinct point of view can't appear, even right before an election, so long as the the discussion is free and orderly.

"I just don't want this to be a political circus at Florida Gulf Coast University," said Merwin. Actually, a political circus sounds like fun, and a university sounds like a perfect place for one, unless the educators are too timid and the students too immature to deal with it.

These are supposed to be university students, not school kids whose parents are still trying to tell them what not to think.

STIR IT UP

Even the trustee who dissented from the postponement seemed apologetic about defending academic freedom: "It's not like we're inviting Michael Moore to the campus."

But what would be wrong with inviting Michael Moore, or Rush Limbaugh, or any controversialist? These people stimulate thought and education, which is especially relevant in an election year.

This episode is an embarrassment to a university trying to mature into a first-class school. FGCU will survive; after all, there have been cases of political intimidation at several prestigious universities in recent years, usually by liberal bullies.

In this case, we look like conservative bullies -- or chickens.

Sunday, October 17, 2004
Review
Deseret Morning News

THE OPEN SPACE OF DEMOCRACY, by Terry Tempest Williams, with paintings by Mary Frank, Orion Society, 107 pages, $8.00, softbound.

Terry Tempest Williams, a resident of Castle Valley, is a nationally acclaimed naturalist and author of such famed books as "Refuge," "Leap" and "Red." Her new smaller volume, "The Open Space of Democracy," is actually a triptych of essays originally published in Orion Magazine.

The lead essay, "Commencement" (her commencement address to the University of Utah in 2003), argues for a personal diplomacy; the second, "Ground Truthing," represents a journey through the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a way of underlining the importance of open space; and the third, "Engagement," is an exploration of the heart, something Williams finds necessary in a democracy.

The most political book she has written, this impressionistic work consciously connects the importance of place with the necessity of cultivating democracy. Whether or not you agree with her, Williams is dependably eloquent with her words. Speaking candidly, she questions the efficacy of the Bush administration's war in Iraq.

While delivering her commencement address, Williams is inwardly nervous about the effect her critical statements might have on family and friends in attendance, as she calls for "reverence for life" and the protection of individual freedoms. She quotes Thomas Jefferson, saying, "I believe in perilous liberty over quiet servitude."

She notices that Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, and former Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, are both disapproving of her remarks, the business school graduates boo her — but there is an equal amount of applause.

Bennett later tells her his belief that the war in Iraq is a noble cause, which is being waged for "peace and freedom." He asks her for what she would be willing to die. She replies that she would be willing to die for freedom of speech — "the open door to all freedoms."

Williams also writes her views more directly: "Since George W. Bush took the office of president of the United States, I have been sick at heart, unable to stomach or abide by this administration's aggressive policies directed against the environment, education, social services, health care and our civil liberties — basically, the wholesale destruction of seemingly everything that contributes to a free society, except the special interests of big business."

In a beautiful essay about her travels in the 19.5 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Williams relates her reverence for life with the natural beauty surrounding her and asks, "How do we translate the gifts of solitary beauty into the action required for true participatory citizenship?" She describes the grizzly, the wolf, the snowy owl, two swans, "the gray tumultuous clouds," "the blinding light ricochating off platinum strands of water," "the sanctity of solitude."

Then she concludes, "The open space of democracy provides justice for all living things — plants, animals, rocks and rivers, as well as human beings."

In her final essay, "Engagement," Williams focuses on the human heart, calling it "the first home of democracy." She talks about generosity, empathy, love, courage — then issues a challenge: "Question. Stand. Speak. Act."

Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Williams Delivers Healing Speech in Florida
Deseret Morning News

In the end, Utah writer Terry Tempest Williams' speech at Florida Gulf Coast University was more about "healing" and "openness" and less about the partisan politics that FGCU's president had feared.

That's how Williams described her appearance Sunday before about 500 people on FGCU's Sanibel Island campus. About half in the audience were students, Williams estimated.

"I was so moved by the students' maturity and their power," Williams said Monday while still in Florida on the final leg of a book tour. She is scheduled to return to her home in Utah today. "They were so open-hearted — You couldn't help but be moved by that. Everyone in the auditorium felt a healing as a result of that."

When she was first invited last spring to speak at FGCU, it was assumed she would talk about her forthcoming book, "The Open Space of Democracy," made up of three essays previously published in Orion magazine. FGCU President Bill Merwin had approved bringing Williams to the school.

After the book came out in September, Merwin decided to temporarily pull the plug on Williams' planned speech at an Oct. 24 convocation for all first-year students, who were required to read Williams' new book. His reasoning was that Williams' book contained statements about her dislike of President Bush.

Concerned that Williams' appearance might create a backlash from Republican state lawmakers, Merwin wanted more political "balance" at the convocation. Unable to achieve that, he instead offered to have Williams come to the state-funded FGCU after Nov. 2. Williams declined the offer and returned the $5,000 FGCU had already paid her.

Republican and Democrat student groups quickly joined in asking Williams to keep her speaking engagement, only without official university support. She agreed, waived her speaking fee and, accompanied by her husband and father, spoke at the student union on campus.

Williams described the atmosphere she was speaking in as one that had just experienced an "ecological upheaval" brought by recent hurricanes. Politically, she was in a "highly contestable" county.

"You can imagine I was very nervous," Williams said. Bush had made an appearance at FGCU on Oct. 23.

If there were any jeers or heckling, like at filmmaker Michael Moore's appearance last week at Utah Valley State College, Williams did not hear them. The big difference in their speeches was that Moore repeatedly spoke out against Bush and Republicans.

Williams said she thanked students for embodying the concepts of democracy in her new book. She talked about "the natural cycles of radical change necessary for deep cultural transformation" and how "democracy asks only that we participate."

When asked what she felt was the most political part of her speech, Williams referred to a quote she used from John Stuart Mill's 1859 piece, "Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion." In Mill's words, Williams said, " . . . the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it is robbing the human race . . . ."

Williams said she ended her talk by telling students that a single "naked" voice can be the most threatening to those in power. She said the students responsible for her appearance at FGCU had "advocated for the freedom of speech for every person in this country."

"In this situation, the students became the teachers," Williams said. "We've all been transformed by this experience."