[Alumni-chat] DDN Editorial -- Suggestion regarding political percep

[alanbenard (alanbenard at pobox.com)]

>We were on campus in roughly the same era. I took a lot of positions that were contraryr to the prevalent POV on campus and never felt that I was subsuquently "called out" in a negative sense. If people did not like what I said they told me so.
What I experienced was consciousness raising. People explained to me why a behavior or speech was hurtful or not productive.  It lead to lots of heavy discussions, some of which seem silly in retrospect.

In Fall 1992 the first-year class was something like 225 -- hooray for Jimmy Williams. There certainly was a culture clash. For example, the young men of the class tended to call the womyn of Antioch "chicks." The young women of the class said they didn't mind. But others did, you can imagine. 

Did we call those younger people out, or did we educate them? Did that process and the perception of some of having to edit themselves to make a bunch of PC idiots happy harm retention? What should have been done differently? How many of those young people got their consciousness expanded on issues of language and representation? 

>Academically this was true as well. I was reminded of this when reading an interview either with Ralph Keyes or Goldfarb and issue of NAFTA came up. I WAS pro-free trade, pro-Clinton, pro-NAFTA and was able to present those views in an economics class at the time. One student got on my case about being from the white upper middle class establishment powers that would benefit from such a mood and it became, love this term, a teachable moment about the insecurity of any race when it comes to economic class stability or benefit. That happened again and again with the views I had and I did the same to others. I always thought that was what education was.
Yup. See my comments above.

>I also have to laugh at descriptions of the prevailing thought on campus as politically correct or even leftist. During the SOPP wars the predominant position, or at least the loudest was frequently the anti position. Not what you would suspect in an era when date rape was a plank in the "politically correct" platform. What was politically correct about the Boneyard? Greene Hall etc. I would suggest that there was a positively reactionary climate on campus.
>
>What do you think? Did you feel like your POV was stiffeled or that people were ostracized for failure to comply with a leftist agenda?
I didn't think there was anything wrong with healthy debate and having to defend one's position. I felt comfortable at Antioch because a lot of left/progressive/radical ideas were acceptable. On a larger scale, that's why I live in a college town now. 

In an earlier post I mentioned peer pressure. Those I traveled with made it clear that writing "Rapist" anonymously on someone's door was way uncool. But so was putting up "Spirit of '73" posters with pictures of bombs on them -- at least, I made it clear that I felt that was counterproductive. I've read in the most recent Records that the Renewal and the administration's efforts to prevent the lower-division students from getting infected by the PC Hate Virus (good work, Steve) prevented upper-division students from having an impact -- negative OR positive -- on the young 'uns. 

There were plenty of people -- among them my good friends -- dismayed that I hung around with the "f-'in hippies" and whose politics were center-right. One of them was an army paratrooper. I experienced diversity in opinion and outlook at Antioch. But my affinity was with the other commies. :-)

>I am asking because I want to know if I was living in a bubble.
>
>At the end of the day though the point is perception becomes reality so how do we change the perception?
If I had suggested a public relations firm alone, oh, the accusations of "spin" we'd soon be reading. I agree with you and Art and Pam and see Laura's point -- we don't think there is a problem. But a radical approach to convincing those who think there's a problem is to go way overboard and create, oh, I dunno, a "Fairness Czar(-ina)." If there is no problem, it couldn't hurt, and if there is a problem, it could help. And we'd be seen to be doing something, rather than trying to convince people of something. 

Alan