Sunday, January 31, 2016

Why I (finally) agree with George Will...


I have to admit it never occurred to me that I would agree with pundit, George Will on anything; but a column he authored just before Christmas (I read him, I just don’t agree with him) caused me to take a second look.  Will’s column focused on the current hot-button issue raging across college and university campuses: whether to define (or not) the limits of free speech.

In it he applauded the leadership of Purdue University for its efforts to receive the top ranking from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) which opposes campus restrictions on speech. This is a particularly thorny issue, in part, because understandable concerns about how to handle hate speech in the Academy have evolved to include “micro-aggressions” (conversational messages that - intentionally or not - denigrate a member of a minority group) and “trigger warnings” (alerting students that an upcoming classroom discussion topic could “trigger” in them painful memories of previously experienced trauma).

In support of his frustration with this galloping trend, Will cites Emerita University of Chicago President Hanna Holburn Gray, who summarized the “Chicago Principle” (supporting free speech on campus) this way: 

"Education should not be intended to make people comfortable, it is meant to make them think.”

 What caused me to give Will’s column a second look was his reference to an amazing turn of events that took place on Yale’s campus last Halloween.  Erika Christakis and her husband, Nicholas, are faculty members and “Masters” of one of Yale’s residential colleges. In response to some student concerns regarding a series of instructions by Yale’s Intercultural Affairs Committee encouraging students to be culturally sensitive in their selection of Halloween costumes (think Prince Harry and the swastika debacle), Christakis sent an email to her students encouraging them to question the rationale for these instructions - largely along the lines of this notion: shouldn’t college-age students be allowed to make their own mistakes? The final sentence of her email summarized her position:

“Whose business is it to control the forms of costumes of young¨ people? It’s not mine, I know that.”

That rather innocuous statement set off a fire-storm of protest by students who were outraged at Christakis’ “insensitivity” to their felt victimization at the hands of “oppressive” attitudes seemingly prevalent throughout the University

Now, if you have hung in with me this long, I want to assure you that this isn’t an academic version of “inside baseball.” What alarmed me - and what caused me to agree with George Will - was what happened next.  In an attempt to mediate the firestorm of protest, Christakis’ husband - and co-Master - Nicholas, a tenured Sociologist and Physician, voluntarily met with concerned students on a nearby quad. It should not be surprising that, given the emotionally charged atmosphere, nothing Dr. Christakis said was going to make a dent in the students’ anger (ignoring whether their anger was, in fact, righteous). What was surprising - indeed astonishing - was the debased quality of their interaction with him. (Check out this link for a brief view of the outrageous interchange: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tsgc0k594Js). I will just quote a few statements made by one student - who persistently shouted at Professor Christakis throughout her interaction with him:



“Be quiet! … “Why the f… did you accept the position”… “It is not about creating an intellectual space here” … “You are disgusting.”



After which, she stormed off, leaving the professor without an opportunity to respond…a professor with quite a pedigree - here is a snippet of his Yale Curriculum Vitae:



Nicholas A. Christakis, MD, PhD, MPH, is co-author of Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives, which has been translated into nearly twenty foreign languages. He is a sociologist and physician who conducts research in the area of biosocial science, investigating the biological predicates and consequences of social phenomena. He directs the Human Nature Lab at Yale University, where he is appointed as the Sol Goldman Family Professor of Social and Natural Science, and he is the Co-Director of the Yale Institute for Network Science.



So - here’s my issue - assuming that these students (and the one quoted here) have a righteous complaint - how did it come to pass that young people eligible to vote, intellectually gifted college students, individuals attending one of the most elite universities in the United States - found it acceptable to shout, curse and disrespect an accomplished, renowned professor who took the time to engage in a conversation about their concerns regarding an email sent by his wife? As I watched the video of this young woman shouting at Professor Christakis, I wondered what her parents’ reaction was (the video went viral, so I assume they saw it).  I know what my parents’ reaction would have been - get on the next plane home - we’re not paying tuition for you to allow people to think we didn’t raise you to speak respectfully to your elders.

            I worry about trends like this playing out at colleges and universities across the nation (University of Missouri, Wesleyan, University of Illinois, Claremont McKenna College and the University of Michigan, to name a few) which lead to shouting matches self-censorship and forced resignations - and here’s why -  because we here at La Salle devote a great deal of time and energy shaping an intellectual environment in which students not only feel safe to articulate opposing, controversial and even unpopular positions, but - as importantly - to do so with respect for those engaged in the conversation, regardless of their placement on the ideological spectrum.

            I don’t know where this trend of anger-fueled political discourse will take the Academy, but I do know this: we expect our students - and our graduates - to anchor their intellectual debates in the Lasallian values of respect for the individual and a commitment to nurturing a community atmosphere in which no one has the right to shout at another simply because they disagree.

            In support of that principle, George Will and I are on the same page.



¨ meaning college-age

No comments:

Post a Comment