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"“Diversity” has become a buzzword on college campuses as
of late, and for good reason" reports Mike Kozinski ’21, Guest Writer.
When college campuses use the word
“diversity,” they oftentimes do not use the word to its fullest extent.
Rather, the word “diversity” has become a neologism that means
“diversity of race, gender identity, and sexual orientation, not in
thought.” With all this talk of diversity, especially given that last
week that last week was Campus Inclusion Week, it is imperative that
some some balance be brought into the discussion.
While there was much discussion of things such as
diversity of gender identity, there was nothing said on the subject of
diversity of thought, and that is infuriating because at a
self-described liberal arts college, students should expect a liberal
arts education.
The whole purpose of a liberal arts education is to open
minds, develop critical thinking skills, and to vigorously debate all
ideas — old and new, offensive and inoffensive. How can Dickinson
possibly fulfill its commitment to providing a liberal arts education if
it is unwilling to include diversity of thought as an important part of
its dedication to diversity as a whole? When it comes to thought,
Dickinson is embroiled in the same intellectual environment of many
college campuses across America that Washington Post columnist George
Will has described as “smug complacency and cloying
self-congratulations.”
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)
has given Dickinson a “Red” rating for its speech code, meaning that the
college has “at least one policy that both clearly and substantially
restricts freedom of speech.” For example, one of the responsibilities
of the Bias Education & Response Team (BERT) is to resolve “bias
incidents,” which are defined as “a pejorative act or expression.”
While BERT and the college administration are right to intervene in
cases that involve bigoted actions by one person towards another, the
idea that thoughts and ideas potentially being censored because they
were deemed offensive by some arbitrary and subjective standard is
downright Orwellian. Again, one of the key tenants to a liberal arts
education is to openly and honestly debate ideas. That is incapable of
happening if whatever someone says will be deemed offensive and
therefore worthy of censorship by an arbitrary standard.
Additional resources
Dickinson has Free Speech by Vincent Stephens, Director of The Popel Shaw Center for Race & Ethnicity.
"For the second year in a row, a member of the Dickinson community has written an editorial to The Dickinsonian to share their perspective on the Bias Education and Response Team (BERT)."
Source: The Dickinsonian
