I was intrigued by the publication of the political supplement in the Oct. 23 edition of the The Dartmouth. As chair of the Dartmouth Students for Bush chapter, I can say that political activism is very important to me. At a close community like Dartmouth, though, I think we need to understand some very basic things about the intersection between the political realm and campus life.
I've been thinking about this a good deal recently. I sent out a campus-wide blitz asking for volunteers to the Bush campaign about a week ago. It was a blitz listing all of the President's accomplishments in foreign policy, economics, education and faith-based arenas. The response I got amazed and discouraged me. Certainly, at a left leaning place like this, I expected a few negative replies to such a public, pro-Bush expression. But I was taken aback by the viciousness of a good number of those responses. "Drop dead," one threateningly intoned. "You must not like minorities," another snarled. A number told me to "F-- off," or delivered the same message through me to the President. I found these responses both disturbing and ironic -- these opponents of the President, who cloth themselves in the mantle of the greatest compassion, had no problem berating and threatening a fellow student they had never met. How eye-opening.
Another strain of response proved even more disappointing though. Several students questioned whether or not I really believed that which I wrote in the blitz. One respondent in particular repeatedly asked if I really held the views expressed. At first I thought this was kind of absurd -- anyone who claims to believe something they don't is not acting in good conscience.
Then I realized a deeper interplay was at work. Some couldn't believe I thought the way I did because the environment here is so permeated with the liberal message that there are those here who do not think fellow educated Dartmouth students can hold these views. This is the kind of thought expressed by Ivy Schweitzer in the political supplement when she suggested students come to Dartmouth who share "forward thinking", a.k.a liberal, ideas. This is the real problem with the lack of conservative professors on campus -- a student can spend four years here unaware of the compelling intellectual arguments for conservatism. The kind of complacency and hubris this kind of "education" inevitably results in means that Dartmouth will graduate students year after year out of touch with millions of Americans, who they can only sneer at as uninformed and backwards.
This hurts the professors of this institution as well. They are human too -- we all know they are impacted by all the same feelings of peer pressure and group mentality that everyone else experiences. It's unfair for them that their most basic assumptions are not aggressively called into question by their peers. Bringing in more conservative faculty members may not change their views, but it will definitely challenge them, and isn't that a crucial element in the formation of ideas?
It is close minded to think that just because people believe different things than you, they must not be well-informed or well-intentioned. I don't question the good intentions of my liberal friends here who are pouring their heart and soul into the Dean campaign. I just simply have a different view of the world than them. I don't think higher taxes, more federal spending on social services and a U.N.-led foreign policy are the effective or compassionate approaches to the problems of our world -- but I don't question that they do, and I don't consider them personal enemies because they want to fight for what they believe in. That's because people are not my enemies, ideas are, and I'm willing to debate and discuss ideas all day long. We need more ideas here. We need to encourage more conservative faculty and conservative students to come to Dartmouth so we can provide the best education in the nation. And we must encourage each other to get engaged in this battle of ideas in a civil and decent way. Because when all is said and done, we must always remember that this is a small college, and an intimate one. Behind all of these political battles are real people and fellow students -- and hopefully that human bond is more powerful than the sordid and bitter world of politics.
