intolerant leftists at Smith?

SmithieandProud
Sat, 26 Aug 2006 22:30:01 +0000

eye roll You really shouldn’t beleive everything you read PF8, especially when it comes from what you know are fairly biased sources. This article was pretty ridiculous, though parts of it were not untrue. Yes, Smith is not the Christian institution it once was, but that’s not the only thing that’s changed (we allow black students to live on campus now and everything!). And while by current standards, Sophia Smith’s vision statement may be a little conservative, by the standards of her time it was flamingly liberal (so we didn’t so much “go astray” as we evolved) :-). Yes, many Smithies are active in liberal causes and are against the war in Iraq. But there are plenty of Smithies who are also active in conservative causes, and there are supporters of the war as well. Yes, many Smith professors are very liberal, however, anyone who’s familiar with academia knows that that is normal for our region and kind of college. In my experience, professors do their utmost to keep discussions open and to not allow their personal politics to color the debate. Some professors naturally, are better at this than others.

Could Smithies do a better job at tolerating each other’s opinions? Sure. But in our polarized times, couldn’t everybody do a better job at that?

Ultimately , it’s up to each individual student to fight narrowmindedness and intellectual intolerance. If you want to have a balanced intellectual life, that’s great, but at Smith or at any other college, you have to take some responsibility for making it happen.