I preface these remarks by stating that I am a political conservative. I can't remember the last time I voted for a Democrat. I certainly do not subscribe to many of the current politically correct theories about such things as global warming (not without a clear understanding of the role of solar radiation fluctuations and oceanography on climate change), universal health care, etc. Heck, I don't even accept the theory of evolution as anything more than an interesting hypothesis, until somebody can find a way to test it by scientific method.
I also firmly believe that the Primary Source can be a fine thing to stimulate useful political discourse at Tufts.
So, it was frankly with more than a little bit of disgust that I read the "O Come All Ye Black Folk" piece in the Primary Source last December. That piece was in no rational way a "satire" directed at affirmative action. It was instead, by any objective measure, a misguided, hurtful and frankly condescending tome directed at a discrete group of people - "52 black freshmen" that the Source deemed somehow unworthy for admission to Tufts.
The mere publication of such a piece was a profound display of bad judgment. There was really only one response that the Primary Source could make - a sincere apology and revision of whatever journalistic "standards" that led to such a piece of "commentary."
Instead, the Primary Source has attempted, in the face of the predictable backlash that followed, to hide its lack of journalistic standards through belaboring of the notion that "students and administrators alike resort[ed] to vilification of dissenting voices" as stated in the editorial in the Sept. 17 edition of the Primary Source. Indeed, the editor-in-chief was quoted as accusing President Lawrence Bacow of "McCarthyist fear tactics of intimidating the students who express views that dissent from the mainstream" in the Sept. 14 issue of the Tufts Observer.
Please, just stop it.
The campus is now, and was when I attended Tufts, overwhelmingly liberal in its political orientation. Indeed, this is one of the reasons the Primary Source was founded. Its function ought to be to express intelligently points of view not often expressed in such an environment, which should be a good thing. Imagine the good that would result from scholarly, civil, impressively written news and opinions delivered by the Primary Source.
Instead, what exists is a publication that made an egregious error, and persists in attacking those who object to what it has done as "McCarthyist." These comments do nothing to advance "Conservative Thought at Tufts." If the issue is indeed affirmative action, what is the evidence that minority students are less qualified, as the carol implies? What is meant by "qualified" anyway?
I wonder if the admissions office has ever looked to see what the average SAT score is of those students who identify themselves as politically conservative on their applications as opposed to the larger pool of applicants. I know from statements made by Dean Coffin to TAAP interview trainees several years ago that the admissions office has had a policy of deliberately accepting politically conservative applicants precisely so that that the Primary Source will continue as a source of political dialogue on campus. Is that manifestation of "affirmative action" misguided?
I am proud of my Tufts education and what I learned there, both the lessons that I was taught by faculty and those that I learned from the great diversity of my classmates. I am pleased with the administration's balanced response to the Primary Source. The admissions office at Tufts has done an excellent job of attracting and admitting an eclectic and fascinating group of students year after year, minorities and conservatives included. I note that one response to this controversy has apparently been to increase the number of minority applicants accepted this year, and I think that is a good thing as well.
I am much less enamored with the actions of the "The Journal of Conservative thought at Tufts University." The Primary Source is far better served by striving for excellence in its stated goals than in continuing to try to persuade the campus that it is persecuted as the result of its own appalling mistakes.
If a central tenant of conservative thought is individual responsibility and accountability, it is time for the Primary Source to walk the walk: Stop the obfuscation, apologize and take responsibility for a serious error. Correct the problem and produce the excellent publication that your own applications for admission suggest you are capable of producing.
William Henchy (LA '81) is an alumni interviewer for Tufts. He has two sons currently attending Tufts.
