Controversial conservative author, columnist and commentator Dinesh D'Souza '83 paid a visit to the Rockefeller Center Thursday. While on campus, the pundit ate with campus conservatives, visited a government class, promoted his new book and gave a speech on America's international image.
The author of several New York Times bestsellers including his most recent "What's So Great About America?" D'Souza has attracted attention for his unabashedly conservative views on political correctness, affirmative action and welfare programs. In his 1995 book, "The End of Racism," D'Souza ruffled feathers when he claimed that slavery was predominantly an economic as opposed to a racist institution.
In an interview with The Dartmouth, D'Souza touched on a number of issues including affirmative action, ideological imbalance, political correctness, free speech and the current trustee election.
When asked about affirmative action in higher education, D'Souza said the more effective way to achieve diversity is to improve minorities' high school education rather than operate a two-track system that admits lesser-qualified minority candidates. Referring to black and Hispanic students at Dartmouth, D'Souza said, "on average they're competitively outmatched."
Political correctness, D'Souza said, is the "impoverishment of academia." He claims it stifles the free exchange of legitimate ideas, specifically those dealing with race and affirmative action.
D'Souza decried the lack of ideological diversity among Dartmouth professors, a group he categorized as less ideologically diverse than students.
"[Darmouth] needs intellectual diversity. You have these big debates going on in Washington that are going on all over the world about economic policy and foreign policy, and the typical Dartmouth student should know both sides -- not just a liberal giving you his ventriloquist version of the conservative position, but rather both sides arguing it out."
While saying that free speech is not the paramount issue of this election, D'Souza expressed concern over President James Wright's mixed messages on free speech, calling him "a bit of a low flying duck who embraces all sides."
"You can't solve the tension by just rhetorically proclaiming allegiance to both sides," D'Souza said.
Sounding off on the trustee election, D'Souza praised the College's system of allowing petition candidates to run, which caused headaches for administration loyalists.
Regarding the success of petition candidates in the 1980s, he explained the College's response was to select more of its own candidates, which in turn increased the power of insurgent candidates. The College, he said, "decided to adopt the solution of the Iranian mullahs, which is to have elections among candidates chosen entirely by them."
D'Souza's speech then focused on America's two-faced reputation in the world.
"America is the most loved society on the planet and the most hated," he said.
He argued that the country is praised internationally for its commitment to equal opportunity, offering himself, an Indian immigrant, as proof.
It is hated, D'Souza argued, because of its self-interested foreign policy. He did not deny that America's foreign policy is dominated by self interest, but argued that it has improved the world overall in the past 50 years.
Students, regardless of their political orientation, seemed to be impressed by the Dartmouth alum's rhetorical presence and logical flair.
"I thought he was very intelligent and well-spoken," Diana Blank '08 said.
During his time at the College, D'Souza wrote for the Dartmouth Review.
After graduating Phi Beta Kappa, he became a managing editor of a conservative journal and wrote an upbeat biography of televangelist Jerry Falwell. The Reagan administration then hired him as a senior domestic policy analyst at the White House. He is currently a Hoover Institution fellow.
