[Vision2020] Tony Stewart Retires From North Idaho College

[Tom Hansen]

I had the unique privilege of taking "Principles of US Government" under 
the instruction of Tony Stewart in the Spring of 1991; a class that kept 
me eagerly anticipating classroom discussions with an instructor I will 
forever remember.

North Idaho College will miss him.  Coeur d'Alene will continue to learn 
from him.  His students will treasure memories of him.

Good luck, Tony.

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>From today's (May 13, 2008) Spokesman Review -

http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/Tony_Stewart_051008.jpg
Tony Stewart, left, receives his honorary doctorate Saturday from 
University of Idaho Provost and Executive Vice President Doug Baker.
(photo courtesy: Andy Finney, Spokesman Review)

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Human rights activist to leave post 
Shawn Vestal
Staff writer 
May 13, 2008

Tony Stewart, a longtime champion of human rights, a college instructor 
and public-television host, is stepping down after 38 years at North Idaho 
College.

Stewart has scheduled a public gathering Thursday to announce his 
retirement and to address his future plans – including his acceptance of 
a “new position or responsibility” with another organization. Stewart 
would not answer questions about his plans this morning, saying he wanted 
to wait until the formal announcement.

“I wish to use this public venue to say goodbye and thank you,” he wrote 
in an e-mail message to the NIC campus, friends and members of the 
media. “You have been my special family for a very long time.”

Stewart’s human-rights legacy looms large in Coeur d’Alene. For years, he 
was among the strongest voices speaking out against Richard Butler’s Aryan 
Nations, during the era when the racist group’s Hayden compound was 
attracting white supremacist and national media attention for their yearly 
conclave. 

The family who sued the organization – and eventually won a $6.3 million 
judgment against it -- contacted Stewart first.

He was a founding member of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human 
Relations, which he described recently as a “SWAT team” dealing with hate 
crimes by helping victims and raising community awareness. 

At NIC, he’s organized the annual Popcorn Forum – a lecture series that 
brings top-tier speakers to town – for 37 years, and the Human Rights 
Celebration for area youth for 23 years.

“Myself and the rest of Kootenai County – it’s like we all won the lottery 
when he decided to move to Coeur d’Alene, and then to stay,” said Norm 
Gissel, an attorney and friend of Stewart’s who helped form the task force 
and worked on the case that brought the Aryan Nations to bankruptcy. 

Marshall Mend, another founding member of the task force, said that 
Stewart was a key figure in helping to establish human rights as a value 
in the community – after years in which many in the community wanted to 
ignore the issues underlying the white supremacist group’s presence and 
activities in North Idaho.

“He definitely is a human rights hero,” Mend said. “There was a time when 
people felt as a human rights organization we were a little too outspoken, 
and if we’d just keep quiet the Nazis would go away. Our answer is always 
that silence gives consent.”

The big question now is what comes next for Stewart, though it seems 
likely that it will be in the field of human rights. Mend and Gissel said 
this morning that they were surprised that he had planned an announcement 
this week. 

Bob Bennett, former NIC president and now the executive director of the 
Human Rights Education Insitute, said he hopes Stewart will keep working 
with the organization in the future. The institute was one of the changes 
that grew up in the aftermath of the Aryan Nations lawsuit – it was 
created with a $1 million donation from Greg Carr, who also purchased the 
supremacist group’s former compound near Hayden Lake.

Stewart has “certainly left his mark on this community and the college,” 
Bennett said. “He’s one of the good guys, as they say.” 

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"People who ridicule others while hiding behind anonymous monikers in chat-
room forums are neither brave nor clever." 

- Latah County Sheriff Wayne Rausch (August 21,
2007)

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