The Times reports that a Montana high school has canceled a speech by Nobel laureate climate researcher Stephen Running because "no opposing view would be offered".  From the article:

Dr. Running was surprised.

“Disbelief was the primary reaction,” he said in a telephone interview. “I’ve never been canceled before. But it was almost comical. I had a pretty candid discussion with the superintendent and the school board, and they said there were some conservative citizens who didn’t want me to speak.”

The irony here is that the superintendent, who canceled the speech, claimed that the reason he had to do so was the lack of time to explain the situation to those who complained.  To appease the concerns of the complainants, they could have easily brought on a global warming skeptic scientist, to speak alongside Dr. Running.  The question then is, how easily?  Perhaps its as hard to find a skeptic scientist in Montana as it is in Texas.

Fortunately, a student at the high school is fighting back.

The controversy here intensified when a local student’s article criticizing school officials was published Monday on the student-created “Class Act Page” of The Great Falls Tribune, a statewide daily.

“I was insulted as a high school student prepared to enter the world I need to hear both sides of the story,” the student, Kip Barhaugh, 17, said in an interview Tuesday. “I don’t feel there is another side. Global warming is not a controversial issue, it’s a fact. We need to be prepared to deal with it.”

Kudos, Kip.  I think its pretty impressive that a high school student would step up like that.