Bork/Buckley Lectures

from 1995 Arbutus Yearbook

Photo Story

Judge Robert Bork fields questions after speaking Nov. 15 at the IU

Auditorium. Bork attacked

the judicial system and the philososphies of law schools during his speech.

lthough Bloomington is considered to be a liberal community by Indiana's conservative standards, right-wing viewpoints were well represented this fall when two big name conservatives, William F. Buckley Jr. and Judge Robert Bork, spoke at the 1U Auditorium. "This [was] a great opportunity for conservatives here to hear someone who influenced their time," said sophomore Nadine Wichern, president of Young Americans for Freedom.

Sept. 28, Buckley, a conservative columnist and political commentator, raised a series of "propositions" for his audience about political problems, ranging from President Bill

Michael

Clinton's domestic policies to education. Speaking in the East Coast intellectual voice that made him famous on the television show "Firing Line," he educated his listeners on current issues. "I thought he was very eloquent," said senior Mary Ann Hughs, describing his speaking style as soft and captivating. "His ideas flowed. He was easy to understand and to the point."

But despite Buckley's smooth style of speaking, his comments were sprinkled with the cynicism for which he was so notorious. "Only 20 percent of the American people have confidence in the government," he said. "I wonder what percentage have confidence in the American people."

Buckley also spent a large amount of time discussing Clinton's failures as a president. "The mood of the country is visibly that of a country dissatisfied with the president, Congress and the government," he said.

He attacked Clinton's tendency to be more concerned with the federal level of government rather than the state level. Worrvin !._1, about "how is Washington going to handle this," and not "how Indianapolis would handle this," places the focus at the wrong level of government, Buckley said. He was particularly critical of Clinton's attempts at welfare refOrm at the national level, suggesting local governments are better equipped to deal with social problems.

He also questioned Clinton's credibility, adding people are realizing much of what the president has to say is double talk. "He has stretched to the breaking point [of] his bonds of believability," Buckley said. "After listening to his budget proposal, I felt the need to claw my way back up to the logical world."

While Buckley raised controversy surrounding the executive branch of the national government, Judge Robert Bork chose to attack the judicial system and the philosophies of law schools around the country on his Nov. 15 visit. He accused law schools of teaching only liberal views and of not teaching strict adherence to the Constitution. His assertions offended many of the law students in the audience. "[Conservatives like Bork] try to make themselves sound like they are just sticking to the law. But they still have just as much of a political agenda as the liberals they malign," second-year law student Joy Bertrand said.

He stressed the importance of literal interpretation of the Constitution. "If you don't stick to what the people meant in the Constitution, then where does the judge get his or her law?" Bork asked. "A judge who looks outside of the historical Constitution looks inside

At the press conference in the Alumni Room of the

Indiana Memorial Union, William F. Buckley Jr. listens to a question. Buckley, who spoke Sept. 28 at the Auditorium, used the cynicism by which he is so well known to attack

the Clinton administration.

himself— nowhere else."

But some audience members disagreed. "How does he know what the framers originally intended?" second-year law student Vandana Pathak said.

Bork also relied on the Clintons as comic relief in his speech. Feigning embarrassment, he admitted to the audience that both Bill and Hillary Clinton were in his law classes when he taught at Yale University in the 1960s. "I no longer say they were my students; I say they were in the room," he said.

Bork is best recognized as Ronald Reagan's first nominee to the Supreme Court in 1987. After heated debate about his conservative views, Congress

rejected his nomination. "I knew what it was at the time; it was a political fight, and I wasn't even bitter then," he said at a press conference before his speech. "I enjoy myself more day to day than I would have on the court."

Both speakers were solicited by College Republicans, Young Americans for Freedom and Union Board. Last year Union Board was accused of extreme liberalism by the College Republicans when it refused to fund conservative politician Pat Buchanan as a speaker.

After four College Republicans were recently elected to the group though, the lecture series began reflecting the right wing also. "I view Buckley and Bork's

Rohl, I hit