We find ourselves ambivalent about BYU inviting Clarence Thomas for the moot court. BYU does not want to pass judgment on a person unjustly, but neither does it want to honor someone who is guilty of the complaints lodged against Thomas by Anita Hill. VOICE seems to be the only organization at BYU asking whether it is prudent to invite a person to campus whose moral reputation has been tarnished nationally.
In our experience, this is a reasonable issue to raise. Those with the task of selecting speakers for church groups sometimes have to bypass people to avoid the appearance of associating with evil. We put a great deal of stress on the power of example and the influence of people with whom we associate. In protesting Clarence Thomas, VOICE seems to be following the prudent intuition of their culture.We wonder why more people have not questioned the selection of Clarence Thomas, or maybe others have complained, but not publicly?
A few years ago we attended a meeting of VOICE and were quite impressed with the speakers' emphasis on women being serious students. We recalled the experience of our two daughters at BYU: Neither graduated. After one year of low grades, we invited our second daughter back to Virginia. With encouragement from a female adviser, she graduated with honors from George Mason University and passed the CPA exam on the first attempt. We went away from the meeting wishing that VOICE had existed earlier because its efforts might have encouraged our daughters through BYU.
Henry L. and Carol Miles
Orem