Opinion: Xavier petition to cancel Deters the opposite of higher learning

Some students and faculty at Xavier petitioned the university to "cancel" Ohio Supreme Court Justice Joe Deters' residency there as "antithetical to our values." Their petition causes one to wonder about the narrowmindedness of their values − and to conclude that they do not know Justice Deters at all.

The students might be forgiven their indiscretion. They’ve been raised in an age of cancel culture where the mere hearing of views with which one disagrees is violence. Much less understandable is the soi-disant intellectuals among the faculty and alumni who should know the history of academic freedom and its suppression.

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Deters was a Republican elected repeatedly as Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney, even when the county turned deep blue. He twice tried a University of Cincinnati police officer for an off-campus shooting of a Black man at a traffic stop, calling it murder − and yet he is decried as a racist.

Deters once publicly debated far-left civil rights lawyer David Singleton, a man I know and respect even as I disagree with him on virtually every matter of importance. The debate program, "Beyond Civility," had a twist: each lawyer argued his opponent's point of view. They both did, demonstrating understanding of opposing views and intellectual vigor alongside public decorum and honor decency.

I wonder which of those virtues the angry petitioners find antithetical to their "values."

Of course, their objections have nothing to do with values, and everything to do with politics. The petitioners object to some of Justice Deters' conservative and political views, and wish to have them removed from their sight and hearing.

This is the opposite of higher learning, or learning of any sort. The pursuit of knowledge − and its occasional by-product, wisdom − begins with a simple maxim learned from Mom: nobody's right all the time. The humility of that idea leads to an inevitable corollary: something I genuinely believe, that I have thought about, is incomplete or simply wrong. It drives us to listen, to learn, to engage.

Not to cancel. Cancel culture is the ultimate in hubris, about which the classics have a great deal to teach. Perhaps we should re-visit whether the classics should be a mandatory part of high school or college curricula, because these very well-educated petitioners are making simple errors to anyone familiar with Homer or Milton.

The role of the university is to open closed minds, not cement them shut. Universities should teach students to confront uncomfortable facts, question their own views, and civilly engage with fellow students, professors and guests with differing views − even "antithetical" ones.

Xavier, to its credit, appears to know this, and has not caved to the demands. Good on it, as it embodies its expressed goals of deep respect and empathy for all.

I call on the distinguished leaders of the Queen City to stand by Xavier and Justice Deters. There are many Democratic Party leaders who know Deters personally, and they know this call is wrongheaded. Perhaps they can summon the courage to defend him.

And to the petitioners: read up on the French Revolution. If you genuinely fear the rise of an authoritarian, the surest route to that destination is the way you're acting. I recommend R.R. Palmer's "Twelve Who Ruled" − I imagine it's in your library.

Dave Yost is attorney general for the state of Ohio.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Opinion: Xavier petition to cancel Deters the opposite of higher learning