JEANETTE MCVICKER

Dr. Jeanette McVicker, a member of the English department, watched the event online and witnessed the troubling attack on Rushdie unfold.

“Those of us who were online, saw the host open,” she said. “He had just started speaking, and then we saw him look away, and then the camera finally kind of went where his gaze was to the middle of the stage. It was just chaos, and then the feed collapsed but the chat stayed on. It was chaotic and it was obvious that something awful had happened. It was terrifying.”

McVicker said Chautauqua is usually perceived as a place of respite from the chaos of the world.

Dr. Bruce Simon

“I’m still just kind of overwhelmed and speechless that this happened to him and that it happened in our back yard,” she said.

McVicker said Rushdie has contributed to the literary community as a writer, essayist, critic and former president of Pen America.

She explained Rushdie’s academic works changed post-colonial literature, while solidifying him as an outstanding writer and a defender and advocate of free speech and truth.

“I think his work has had a completely rich impact on the diversity of literature, the diversity of perspectives and the different styles he chose,” she said. “He was groundbreaking in so many of those ways.”

McVicker views Rushdie not only as a gifted writer, but a spokesman for the humanities and literature. She believes that the humanities and literature can open people’s minds to new concepts.

Mike Igoe

However, McVicker explained the attack on Rushdie is a reminder that some people are still not willing to engage in difficult cultural conversations and are willing to harm those who oppose them.

“I think a lot of people thought maybe that era was behind us, but obviously it’s not,” she said.

While she believes the attack highlights the issue of silencing controversial perspectives, she also believes the incident serves as a reminder of the importance of literature, the humanities, and writing.

McVicker said literature is powerful, moves people and allows people to dream and have an imagination.

JONATHAN CHAUSOVSKY

Dr. Jeanette McVicker

Dr. Johnathan Chausovsky, who teaches constitutional law, said his reaction is similar to most people’s reactions.

“Like everyone would think, I think it’s tragic,” he said. “It’s horrific. It’s hard to imagine anybody who thinks it’s anything other than really bad.”

Chausovsky said the attack on Rushdie represents a free speech issue, but not a First Amendment issue.

“The idea is to make people afraid so they will not write these kinds of things,” he said. “This isn’t the government trying to suppress Rushdie. It’s a private individual or somebody potentially connected to some other organization that is using violence.”

However, Chausovsky acknowledged that Rushdie’s works are suppressed and censored in other societies.

Rushdie’s book, “The Satanic Verses,” was met with intense backlash by the the Supreme Leader of Iran. In 1989, a multi-million dollar bounty was placed on Rushdie due to his controversial book.

“I think people who are young may not be aware or know about the controversy surrounding Salmon Rushdie,” Chausovsky said. “He’s lived close to half of his life being hunted.”

Chausovsky recalled seeing Rushdie speak at Columbia University when Rushdie’s safety was a major concern and his book was a “hot topic.”

The security at the event was so strong that people were not even told Rushdie was the speaker until he was announced on stage.

“Nobody knew who it was, including almost everyone in the audience, until he was announced,” he said.

Chausovsky said people had to go through metal detectors, be checked by security and were limited to certain locations at the event.

“The degree of security that he had was extraordinary,” he said. “It’s been such a long time since Rushdie has been nearly as controversial. He used to have to travel in the highest level of security, and apparently that had been substantially lessened.”

Chausovsky said the attack on Rushdie will have significant implications that will affect the rest of society.

“It’s the cost on everyone else,” he said. “It’s the cost on society.”

Chausovsky also said the event highlights attacks on individuals.

“It was an assassination attempt,” he said. “We haven’t had political assassinations in this country to a great extent. They have existed in other countries. In this case, it’s attempted assassination of a writer for the purpose of making a political statement.”

One of the main lessons Chausovsky thinks can be learned from Friday’s attack is that people need to pay attention to political violence. “Is that how we settle things?” he asked.

BRUCE SIMON

Dr. Bruce Simon, chair of the English department, said the event at Chautauqua goes against everything he thought about the Institution.

“About 15 years ago, my daughter was a flower girl in that same space,” he said. “To think of the images of the blood splattered, the patrons and others rising up to protect this great author, it’s going to permanently change what I think about the Chautauqua Institution.”

Simon said Chautauqua is one of the most peaceful places he has visited in the world. While he used to view the Institution as a “refuge” from the chaos of the world, he no longer believes there is any refuge to escape to. However, he hopes something positive can still come out of the tragedy.

“I hope that the tradition of the Chautauqua movement can continue and be strengthened somehow out of this horrible attack on everything it stands for,” he said.

Describing Rushdie’s contribution to the academic and literary world, Simon said Rushdie could be considered one of the “five most important writers in world literature in my lifetime,” and that his voice sparked meaningful debates around the world on a number of different topics.

Simon also explained the incredible impact Rushdie made on his own academic career by inspiring him and influencing his academic work.

“Rushdie has been so important in my own career,” he said.

Simon believes the life of Rushdie reflects the danger of people misunderstanding a person’s point of view and rejecting freedom of expression.

“Your words can be taken out of context in ways that are actually counter to your own sense of what you’re trying to accomplish,” he said. “I really think it’s as much politics as theology.”

Rushdie’s writings presented a political threat to the Ayatollah and questioned religious teachings in the Islamic faith, which is why Simon believes Rushdie’s literary works received significant backlash from certain groups.

Despite the tragedy of the attack on Rushdie, Simon believes there is a lesson that can be learned from the event.

“Obviously anything that we learn is a silver lining and you don’t want to in any way minimize the horror or the trauma or just the affront of the attack,” he said. “I think it reinforces something that Rushdie himself has written about, that words matter, literature matters, imagination matters and freedom to use all those things for the greater good. The world would be a better place if we really could listen and understand first before imposing our own projections onto other people’s stories.”

MIKE IGOE

Mike Igoe, who teaches journalism, warned the attack on Rushdie demonstrates the growing threat against free speech. He explained that while countries like China and Russia significantly limit free speech, the threat against free speech has grown even in the United States, as represented in the attack against Rushdie’s controversial works.

“Rushdie represents the ideal to ‘seek the truth and report it,'” Igoe said. “From an academic point of view, the message for our students is how important seeking the truth is to a democracy. As history has shown us many times, truthful free speech can have consequences. The Rushdie incident represents an extreme reaction to information that’s not favored by a certain group. More than ever, critical thinking is not only important in the classroom but also to our country.”

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