To the editor:

When Ann Coulter was chosen as the Vickers Memorial lecturer this spring at Kansas University, I thought the choice was inappropriate. Past speakers included the first President Bush, the late Yitzhak Rabin, and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Coulter is a popular, polarizing commentator, but she doesn’t belong in that company — although I do think she would have been suitable for other campus venues.

Now, I am even more disappointed by those who went to the Lied Center on March 29 to disrupt Coulter’s talk and contribute to the increasing divisions in our community and country.

The hecklers achieved nothing positive. They took Coulter’s bait and proved some of her points about liberals being childish and intolerant. Did they think they would change Coulter’s mind or those of her supporters? If they did, they are as clueless as Coulter says they are.

Until progressives toughen up and refuse to let Coulter and her ilk push their buttons, they will stay powerless. If they want to make a difference they will need to be different and stop falling to the level of their antagonists. Instead of wasting time heckling Coulter and being immobilized with anger, progressives should be creating better alternatives and setting better examples.

Ray Pence,

Lawrence