On Thursday, George Mason University canceled an appearance by Michael Moore, who was slated to speak to students at its Fairfax, Va., campus six days before the November election. Its actions, unfortunately, go against the fundamentals of free speech and intellectual freedom.

“It was decided that this event would be an inappropriate use of state resources,” a GMU spokesman said.

But how is inviting a controversial speaker an abuse of state funds? Michael Moore might be biased and opinionated, but those are qualities one should expect from the very best public speakers. According to news reports, GMU made the decision after receiving critical letters from at least two Republican members of the Virginia House of Delegates.

The official reason for the cancellation was the $35,000 fee that Moore charged for his appearance. However, it’s blatantly obvious GMU caved in to partisan pressure. If Republican lawmakers are worried about Moore “brainwashing” students before the election, they foolishly give the filmmaker more credit than he deserves.

Moore typically draws audiences who already are politically opinionated. Some watch his films and attend his talks because they are avid supporters. Others go for the opposite reasons: to refute Moore’s claims and challenge his assumptions. In either case, Moore’s appearance would have drawn students from both extremes. Furthermore, it would have raised the level of debate on campus and created dialogue on both sides of the political spectrum.

Controversial people speak all the time at universities. Did our University cancel Jesse Ventura’s recent appearance because of his opinions? Of course not. Ventura was paid the same amount to speak to students specifically because of his views. What’s more, we doubt Ventura’s talk changed the political views of our student body.

Michael Moore has been known to stretch the truth from time to time, but he isn’t an all-out liar. He’s an entertainer and author who has achieved prominence in recent years for his politically charged books and films. Any university should be excited to have Moore speak to their students, regardless of his agenda.

Finally, it’s comforting to know Moore has told The Washington Post that he plans to speak at GMU anyway, regardless of whether he’s paid for the appearance. It shows that Moore’s intentions lay not in his bank account, but in his message.

We wish we could say the same for GMU.