Macalester College president pens op-ed asking for more political civility

ST. PAUL (KMSP) - "Enough is enough", those words from Macalester College president Brian Rosenberg published were in an op-ed published this week in the Washington Post.

The op-ed covers a topic college administrators rarely discuss publicly: politics.

"I don't care what party a candidate is, if the values of the discourse are not what I think we should see in our political reasons, we should speak about it,” Rosenberg said.

Rosenberg says he was prompted to speak out due to comments made by presidential candidates Ben Carson and Donald Trump about Muslims and Latin Americans.

"If we, as leaders of academia, don't call out negative examples, don't point to examples of in civility or lack of empathy and say that's not right, then it's very difficult to try and instruct our students."

He says he knows he faces criticism for speaking out against comments made by political candidates, but he says as long as university leaders stick to issues that reflect the school's values, and stay away from taking a stance on hot topics like gun control and abortion, the open discourse colleges pride themselves in can continue.

"Colleges should be places where there can be free and open discourse even about controversial issues, and even people whose views are in the minority should be comfortable expressing them."

Rosenberg emphasizes the one thing you will never see in common areas around campus, and certainly not in his office, is a campaign sign for any candidates.