2008 Woodie Awards
Letter: Administrator defends political views of left
Issue date: 10/30/07 Section: Editorial/Opinion
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10/30/07 - In response to Professor Pegueros' letter regarding the URI College Republicans, Carolyn Sovet, Gail Faris and I do not hold professorial rank. However, we are educators with decades of experience on college campuses, and are more authoritative voices on many social issues that unite and divide academia than many other members of the campus community.
For us, the informed, reflective and constructive resolution of social problems has been a focus of our professional work and study over the course of our lengthy educational careers. As longtime members of this campus community and the broader professional U.S. educational community, there is no reason for our voices to be silenced, invalidated, or diminished in any way. We are confident we speak with the support of numerous faculty, staff and students.
The climate for leftist thought is under such broad-scale attack in the United States that many of us are pleased that higher education is positioned to the left of mainstream American society. My personal sense is that academia in the United States is not a leftist monolith, but that the American university is inhabited by a healthy proportion of moderates and rightists.
Depending on the region, leftists can be regarded as in the ascendancy at some universities, while conservatives dominate at others. A primary problem that I have with the disciples of Horowitz is that their tactics suggest that they want to "exterminate" the voices of the left from campus discourse and policymaking. Provocation and stereotypical labeling have often become their tools in trade to accomplish these goals.
The university has become one of the few venues where leftist work for social change can be conducted in a supportive or neutral environment, rather than as a zero-sum game. If "leftist" means I believe that the United States will never reach its optimum economic, political, educational, creative and moral potential until it resolves to be more inclusive, both domestically and globally, then I do not apologize for my leftist views.
For us, the informed, reflective and constructive resolution of social problems has been a focus of our professional work and study over the course of our lengthy educational careers. As longtime members of this campus community and the broader professional U.S. educational community, there is no reason for our voices to be silenced, invalidated, or diminished in any way. We are confident we speak with the support of numerous faculty, staff and students.
The climate for leftist thought is under such broad-scale attack in the United States that many of us are pleased that higher education is positioned to the left of mainstream American society. My personal sense is that academia in the United States is not a leftist monolith, but that the American university is inhabited by a healthy proportion of moderates and rightists.
Depending on the region, leftists can be regarded as in the ascendancy at some universities, while conservatives dominate at others. A primary problem that I have with the disciples of Horowitz is that their tactics suggest that they want to "exterminate" the voices of the left from campus discourse and policymaking. Provocation and stereotypical labeling have often become their tools in trade to accomplish these goals.
The university has become one of the few venues where leftist work for social change can be conducted in a supportive or neutral environment, rather than as a zero-sum game. If "leftist" means I believe that the United States will never reach its optimum economic, political, educational, creative and moral potential until it resolves to be more inclusive, both domestically and globally, then I do not apologize for my leftist views.