A vice chairman of the state legislature's Joint Committee on Higher Education defended Salem State College's decision to honor their speaking contract with John and Elizabeth Edwards, saying that it speaks to the strength of the university's dedication to free speech.

Salem State booked the Edwardses for a Sept. 23 speakers series event in July and has maintained that the event is going forward as planned despite John Edwards confessing to having an affair in an interview with ABC News last week. 

In an interview with PolitickerMA.com, state Rep. Theodore Speliotis (D-Danvers), a vice chairman of the Joint Committee on Higher Education, stood behind Salem State's decision to go on with the event.

"The decision reflects the strength of the college and the program," he said. "If they continue to meet that obligation and still wish to speak the program is only going to be richer from it."

Shortly after news of the confession broke, Salem State issued a statement stating that the series has experienced "controversy, demonstrations, cancellations, reschedules, deaths of speakers and weather delays" in the 26-year history of the speakers series. "We feel that there is a compelling story to be told by the Edwardses who have experienced both triumphs and tragedies together."

While Salem State is a public institution that receives state funding, a privately funded foundation supports the speakers series.

Speliotis said his focus is less on how Salem State handles the event, and more on how the Edwardses cope with the situation. "I don't really think it's a question of what Salem State does," he said. "It's a matter of how a married couple deals with a very public situation."

The college, he said, is well within its rights to go forward to the event. "This one thing a university or college should represent is free speech," he said. "The First Amendment - the chance to expose students to a wide and diverse group of people."

Besides, Speliotis added, the controversy "certainly raises the awareness of the event. It may be more of a national event now than a local event."