Pomboy #2 to Goodman 2002

TO: Goodman@sover.net
DATE: February 1, 2002

Dear Denny,

Thanks for sending me Reed’s very thoughtful letter.

I have my own experience which supports Reed’s comments. I was a trustee of a college in California and the trustees were asked to come up with any major themes we thought were missing in the curriculum. I pointed out that a student could graduate without ever examining what it meant to be an American, i.e. what are American values (good and bad). The faculty rejected the concept claiming they could not identify what American values were. I thought this was rather shocking so I presented those interested with a copy of "American Exceptionalism" by Lipset which provides an excellent analysis of the positives and negatives in the American value system. I was not advocating a point of view, simply that undergraduates be required to discuss the subject. My idea went nowhere.

Thus, in addition to Reed’s comments I would add that many faculty members charged with opening and expanding the minds of students have closed minds themselves. While I can understand the inherent bias among faculty members which Reed describes, I think that the damage the faculty can do can be mitigated by a fair and objective college administration. While I can appreciate that college presidents are like orchestra leaders and have little real line authority, they can take steps to insure that students get a more balanced exposure. For example, when I was a college trustee I was able to get the administration to allow Dinesh D’Souza to speak on campus (of course I had to pay his fee). Dinesh, as you may know, is a Dartmouth grad, a leading conservative and author of "Illiberal Education" among other books. Dinesh spoke to a record audience and was a huge success.

I think we should challenge the administration, not the faculty, to level the playing field. The administration should set the standards for a clear balance of ideas and do this through guest lectures, encouraging conservative newspapers on campus and subsidizing conservative groups to the same extent as liberal ones. Dartmouth’s administration, in my view, has failed miserably in this regard and, just as in the case of Summers at Harvard, lives in fear of the vocal liberal faculty.

As a class, we may be unable to influence the faculty, but the administration should be more responsive to our economic power and we should consider exercising it.

Best regards,

Richard Pomboy