1.  There's a crucial distinction between speech, on the one hand, and the extension of a platform for speech, on the other.  Because Pace has many platforms for speech (indeed, he said so himself last time he spoke on campus), we should be less concerned about protecting his right to speak than about the gay Americans in uniform who are quite literally silenced by "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."  

2.  General Pace believes gays and lesbians under his command should not have the right to speak freely about their lives.  As Washington, DC's GLBT newspaper noted this week, "what makes Gen. Pace’s remarks especially outrageous" is "the fact that he could express his views and those he slurred cannot."  Not only are his views out of step with most Americans, they fundamentally disrespect the fundamental value of free speech and free expression that is the foundation for all we do at the University of Chicago.  This makes him undeserving of the honor of giving a keynote address.

3.  Retracting Pace's invitation to speak doesn't require taking a position on any political or social issue.  Cancelling a keynote address is just cancelling a keynote address, and the University isn't being asked to say or do anything beyond that.  Nobody has a "right" to give a keynote address; rather, extending such an invitation is a way that universities can honor a public figure.  The University has the right to bestow this honor, or not, as it sees fit, at any time, for any reason, and without explanation.  The University's Kalven Report, a 40-year-old document crafted in order to settle Vietnam-era controversies between administrators and student activists, and which predates the University's current nondiscrimination policy, provides little guidance in the present circumstance.

4.  By design, the GSB's Management Conference is not primarily a forum for debate and the exchange of ideas.  It is intended as a means for alums to stay connected with the University, network with one another, and meet colleagues in related fields.  Pace's name on the marquee, and the outrage for which he has recently made himself a lightning rod, will be a distraction.  The Management Conference's panels generally don't delve deeply into the intellectual problems that GSB professors research and students learn about in their coursework.  It's highly unlikely that canceling General Pace's keynote address will hamper free inquiry and debate.  On the contrary, because of his March 2007 remarks, his presence will interfere with the Conference's main purpose.

5.  General Pace opposes one of the very few values - nondiscrimination - that the University has seen fit to enshrine in an ironclad policy.  Since he has become America's most visible advocate of anti-gay discrimination, he does not deserve the honor conferred by the invitation to give a keynote address at the Management Conference. 

6.  Let's face it: the idea that President Bush's principal military advisor on Iraq can teach GSB alums about effective management is a joke.  Demonstrated managerial skills should be a prerequisite for being the keynote speaker at the GSB's Management Conference.