NYT OPINION: My Liberal Campus Is Pushing Freethinkers to the Right
By Adam S. Hoffman
Section: Opinion
Source: New York Times
Published Date: March 1, 2023 at 02:00AM
For that bygone breed, an education at an elite institution was a moderating finishing school. Even then American universities skewed liberal, but the conservatives of old had real opportunities to make their case — and have their ideas respectfully challenged — in the public square. At my own school, Princeton, I’ve been told, politics were mostly separable from personal relationships.
How things have changed.
Today’s campus conservatives embrace a less moderate, complacent and institutional approach to politics. Instead of belief in the status quo, many tend toward scorched-earth politics. But these changes aren’t solely the consequence of a fractured national politics.
By Adam S. Hoffman
Section: Opinion
Source: New York Times
Published Date: March 1, 2023 at 02:00AM
No longer moderating influences, universities have become breeding grounds for conservative firebrands.
In the not-so-distant past, the Typical College Republican idolized Ronald Reagan, fretted about the national debt and read Edmund Burke. Political sophistication, to that person, implied belief in the status quo.For that bygone breed, an education at an elite institution was a moderating finishing school. Even then American universities skewed liberal, but the conservatives of old had real opportunities to make their case — and have their ideas respectfully challenged — in the public square. At my own school, Princeton, I’ve been told, politics were mostly separable from personal relationships.
How things have changed.
Today’s campus conservatives embrace a less moderate, complacent and institutional approach to politics. Instead of belief in the status quo, many tend toward scorched-earth politics. But these changes aren’t solely the consequence of a fractured national politics.
Read more at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/01/opinion/campus-conservative-freethinkers.html
Posts
