Lack of Faculty Tolerance Bodes Ill For Students

To the editors:



In your report on the March 7th meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) (“Tensions Linger at Closed FAS meeting,” news, Mar. 8), you quote Professor Diana L. Eck to the effect that “Wisse’s remarks ‘don’t make much of an impression on the Faculty’ because of their ‘extreme nature.’” This, in a nutshell, is the tactic of political correctness, never to confront the content of a divergent opinion, but to dismiss it as “extreme” or out of bounds. Through their attacks on me, my colleagues during the meeting and after were warning others not to step out of line lest they invite the same contempt. Imagine the fate of any junior faculty member who might share my point of view on such issues as the importance of ROTC on campus, the pernicious effects of group preferences for women in hiring, or the dangers of anti-Semitism in its latest anti-Zionist manifestation. (I know of only two who hold such views and I shall take their secret to the grave.)

FAS is currently at pains to convince itself and the world that it ousted President Summers solely because of his style of governance. Yes, and Jack Abramoff was only trying to promote Native American culture. Alas for the spinners, the minutes of faculty record the nature of the attacks against the President: complaints about his governance were merely the more decorous finale of a sustained and exceptionally nasty political onslaught. That Lawrence Summers refused to confront his critics has made it that much harder for those who shared some of his views. More than his departure, I regret that he failed to set students a better example of how a person can stand up for his opinions.

My colleagues say they are now eager to get on with the business of curricular reform that they subordinated for several years to the task of expelling President Summers. The most crucial reform would require ensuring greater intellectual diversity among those who teach the students. The dearth of conservative views (most of which were liberal views when I was an undergraduate) affects the nature of what is being taught, as well as the intellectual mettle of those doing the teaching. Students, irrespective of their own views, are being short-changed by a faculty that does not even acknowledge, much less wish to tackle, diverse opinions.



RUTH R. WISSE

Cambridge, Mass.

March 12, 2006



The writer is Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature.