I'll admit, I've been pretty busy lately with midterms and summer plans, often ignoring the various issues that are "en vogue" on this campus. That said, I have noticed a disturbing trend developing on this campus in the past few weeks. That trend is censorship.
I am not addressing any event, person or group of people specifically, but I do feel the presence of an undercurrent that began last semester with the Shelby Steele lecture and continues today in the build-up to the lecture by Lawrence Summers, the former president of Harvard University. Various members of our community, both students and faculty, have expressed openly that they do not wish to see Summers speak here, and they are encouraging the university to more carefully consider the speakers that they invite to Tufts. Some are calling for a boycott of the lecture; others, an all-out protest.
The goal of higher education is to prepare students to go out into the world as informed adults, informed not only in academia, but informed about the world and about the people around them. A university fails at this goal if those who graduate do not understand the diversity of viewpoints that exist in the world. People, as well as ideas, that we may find abhorrent exist in the real world, and keeping them out of Tufts only hurts, not helps, our community.
The job of the administration and faculty is not to make sure our sensibilities are never offended. In fact, I argue that we should have to defend our beliefs every once in a while. We should be challenged on our beliefs both inside and outside of the classroom, because it is in their defense that we are able to learn more about our ideas and ourselves. Keeping controversy out of our lives may make us feel safe and secure, but sheltering ourselves now will only intensify conflicts when we encounter them outside of the safety of Tufts later. How we will react in these situations will be greatly determined by our previous exposure to them. That is the purpose of a university: to expose us to things we may encounter in the real world, to challenge us, to make us think about our beliefs and how we respond to those who disagree with them. This should all be accomplished in a safe environment, where everyone feels free to express him or herself. It is not the job of the university to censor the messages we hear or who we hear them from, only to make sure those messages are as balanced as possible.
Mr. Summers, whether we like it or not, has valuable experience in undergraduate education. He is coming to Tufts to discuss reforming undergraduate education, and no one can deny he has experience in this field, both positive and negative. Personal views of Mr. Summers aside, it should be an interesting lecture coming from the former president of one of the nation's premier universities. Boycotting the lecture, in my opinion, will reflect badly on the Tufts community, one that is supposed to embrace diversity, both of background and thought. Worse yet is the idea of stopping others from attending the lecture, which goes against everything the principles of this university and higher education stand for: giving students information and allowing them to interpret it.
Don't get me wrong; I am no fan of Larry Summers' view of women or Shelby Steele's opinion on innate ability. I do believe, however, that we should be open to having controversial speakers on this campus. The answer to these types of events is not to stop them from occurring, but to use them to stimulate a conversation. Much like a racist cartoon, divisive events can raise issues that would never have been openly discussed while also serving to show us what we will be facing when we leave this place.
Tufts is a light on the hill. We are a community of some of the best and brightest in America, engaged in amazing work in academics, civic leadership, athletics and international affairs, to name just a few of our endeavors. But we should never forget that there is a world that exists around our little hill, and that we will find some of the people in that world abhorrent. The important thing is that we are exposed to a wide range of views and opinions, whether we think they have merit or not, so we can really leave this place ready to change the world.
I encourage you to attend Mr. Summers' Lecture at 7:30 p.m. on March 14 in Cohen Auditorium. I also urge you to use your four years here to occasionally and voluntarily leave your comfort zone, to allow people to challenge you, even to make you uncomfortable, in the hopes that you will look back on your time here as one of the most intellectually and personally stimulating times of your life.
Neil DiBiase is a sophomore majoring in history.
