School's snub goes national

Bigfork resident and Oscar-winning producer Gerald “Jerry” Molen says he was surprised about the national attention that came about on Friday regarding the story of him being turned away from addressing the Ronan High School graduating class because of his conservative political views.

By Friday afternoon, however, he had gotten an apology from the Ronan School District superintendent, prompted in part by the story’s single-day coverage in The Hollywood Reporter, then Breitbart News, then The Drudge Report, and then Fox News and other media outlets.

“It’s gone viral,” Molen said. “It’s just absolutely amazing to me ... I am surprised about it. The event took place in Ronan, Montana. It’s not like it took place in Washington, New York or Beverly Hills.”

Molen, the producer of Stephen Spielberg movies such as “Schindler’s List” and “Jurassic Park,” first told his story in a May 27 guest opinion on the Daily Inter Lake’s Montana Perspectives page.

He said he was invited to speak to the Ronan High School seniors, but when he arrived at the appointed time, he was informed that he would not be allowed to speak.

“The reason: ‘some’ callers had informed the principal that they were concerned about the scheduled speaker being too right wing or having an opinion that might be counter to theirs or some other lame excuse,” Molen said in his letter to the editor.

He spoke with Principal Tom Stack, who had made the decision to cancel Molen, and Stack informed Molen “that he was concerned about my presentation.”

Molen said Stack didn’t ask him about the content of his remarks, nor did he ask to read the speech, and he wouldn’t say who had complained.

“An egregious event like that, it’s just not something you can imagine happening here,” Molen told the Inter Lake on Friday. “I hope there’s some good that can come out of it... He probably did what he thought was the right thing, but he handled it terribly. I give him kudos for watching out for the kids, but I give him an ‘F’ for the way he handled it with me.”

Molen has been increasingly vocal about his conservative views, most recently pursuing development of a speculative documentary called “2016,” based on a book called “The Roots of Obama’s Rage” by Dinesh D’Souza.

Molen said the film, which will be released in theaters this July, is about “what America will look like in 2016 if the present administration gets another term.”

But Molen noted that his speech in Ronan, like many others he has given at other schools, was going to be a “totally apolitical” inspirational talk. He intended to urge graduates to imagine making a movie about their lives 40 years from now.

Friday afternoon, he spoke with Ronan Superintendent of Schools Andy Holmlund.

“I was very impressed by the conversation. There was an apology first, of course,” Molen said. “He felt just as strong as I did that it was handled poorly and it shouldn’t have happened. He said even if my talk had been politically oriented, there is no reason why students shouldn’t be able to hear a different point of view.”

Molen noted that he recently read an article about how 71 of the commencement speakers at 80 top American universities were liberal, while only nine were conservative. Reflecting on that, he said students should be able to hear a variety of opinions.

Contacted by the Hollywood Reporter, Holmlund said Stack made the decision to cancel Molen “based on his point of view. It is not the view of the district. That’s not the expectations that the district maintains. That principal will not be serving in this school district for the upcoming school year.”

He said Stack has accepted a position with a school in Clinton.