Letter of the day: St. Kate's has a long history of spirited political discourse

The Oct. 22 article "To the right and left, St. Kate's says no" attempts to portray the College of St. Catherine as an institution that "avoids all things political" and hampers intellectual discourse. We see it differently. St. Catherine has long had a policy to encourage political dialogue on campus in which all sides of a given issue are represented. The requests for visits by candidates, or by partisan speakers affiliated with campaigns, have come in fast and furiously the past two weeks, hampering our ability to provide a balanced perspective by candidates and campaigns in this volatile election season. We have a distinguished history of political involvement at St. Kate's. We have held forums for local and statewide races, for example, in which candidates from both sides of the aisle appeared, and our St. Kate's Votes initiative dates back to 2000. St. Kate's Votes "is all about civic engagement," according to Ann Redmond, CSJ, coordinator of the Center for Women, Economic Justice and Public Policy at the college. "The initiative takes students beyond just voting to talking and working with legislators in their communities." We respect the decisions of other institutions to honor the requirements of their 501(c)(3) status in different ways. We have chosen, instead, this election season to encourage students to remain involved and informed -- by following the news, by bringing their questions to the classroom and by helping campus neighbors get to the polls on Election Day through St. Kate's Votes. We also provide opportunities for students to engage in vigorous debate among themselves -- for example, by watching the presidential and vice presidential debates together and discussing their views as a community. As for Bay Buchanan, we have warmly invited her to speak on campus after the elections on Nov. 4. COLLEEN HEGRANES, senior vice president, College of St. Catherine, St. Paul