FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

YALE COLLEGE STUDENTS FOR DEMOCRACY PRESIDENT ADVOCATES CAMPUS DEBATE

Matthew Louchheim, YCSD President, delivers introductory speech at event featuring former CIA Director R. James Woolsey

NEW HAVEN, CT, February 13, 2003 – Yale College Students for Democracy (YCSD) President Matthew Louchheim delivered opening remarks at a speech by former CIA Director R. James Woolsey in Yale University’s Sheffield, Sterling, Strathcona Hall (SSS 114) today.

The following is a transcript of Mr. Louchheim’s speech:

My name is Matt Louchheim and I am a Junior in Berkeley College and one of the founding members of Yale College Students for Democracy. While I know you have come to hear Mr. Woolsey speak about the War on Terror, I hope you don’t mind a brief introduction to YCSD at our inaugural event.

Yale College Students for Democracy is an outgrowth of the 9/11 generation. We are the 9/11 generation because following the carnage of September 11, 2001, we have learned to recognize the threat of terrorism against the free world, we more greatly appreciate the ideals of liberalism that we once took for granted, and we will embrace the challenge of defending democracy and encouraging its development throughout the world. We are not alone. At college campuses across the country – Columbia, Princeton, Brandeis, University of Oregon – and even across the Atlantic Ocean at Oxford—students are uniting to seriously address these very issues.

Some people have called us “pro-war” or perhaps more generously “anti-anti war.” Others have placed us anywhere on the ideological spectrum from “the New Left” to “neoconservative.” We are none of the above. We are, however, “pro-democracy.” We believe that a world with more democracy will have less terrorism. We believe a world with less democracy will have more insecurity. And we believe that democracy is a human right and a political strategy.

Yale College Students for Democracy is thus dedicated to the education and promotion of democratic values in both the Yale and wider intellectual communities. You should look forward to YCSD lectures, seminars, and other activities. Although education is the best defense against despotism and terror, it does not necessarily guarantee freedom or basic human rights. Sometimes we must resort to military action in the name of liberation and international security. And of course whenever we send our peers into the dangers of war, we must exercise caution in our quest for freedom and moral clarity.

America is often denounced as a cultural imperialist, imposing our values unfairly on other cultures. Well, if these other cultures treat women as chattel, gays as criminals, and ethnic minorities as sub-human, then call us imperialists for taking issue with these violations of natural rights. If these other cultures approve of the targeted killing of innocent civilians, then call us imperialists for demanding that they cease their evil actions. There is no room for justification; to hold people to lower standards of human dignity is nothing short of condescension. To those who argue that other cultures are “not ready for democracy,” perhaps they should consider the democratic dissident Saad Eddin Ibrahim in Egypt, or Qubad Talabani in Iraq, or the late Moshood Abiola of Nigeria, or an entire generation of students in Iran. We owe it to them.

Today, we are honored to have James Woolsey joining us for our inaugural event. He will share great insight into the War on Terror. We are also grateful to the Foundation of the Defense of Democracies for helping us attract such a distinguished civil servant. And with that, I’d like hand things over to the FDD Fellow at Yale University, Hank Greenberg.

About YCSD

YCSD is a registered undergraduate organization at Yale University dedicated to preserving and fostering democratic ideals throughout the world. Formed to advocate the need for democracies to defend themselves, the group seeks to offer an alternative to the radical movements prevalent on college campuses.

About FDD

The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies is a non-profit, non-partisan research and educational institution focusing on terrorism, the ideologies that drive terrorism and the policies that can best eradicate terrorism.

For more information, please contact YCSD.