News-Letter

Media Credit: Matt Hansen [Click to enlarge]

The liberal paradigm is a nearly universal phenomenon in universities today, as it has been since the Vietnam era. However, over time, the voice of dissent has quieted. Having nearly finished my run as an American undergraduate, I wonder why we have become so complacent. Even in a decade defined by political polarization and Iraq, the campus protest seems like an exotic bird. Here at Hopkins, dissent has practically gone the way of the dodo.

Perhaps the real issue -- if it's an issue at all -- is that the "establishment" has, at least on its face, gone liberal. Whereas university administrations once represented an authority to push back against, today they have enacted policies that accommodate, rather than oppose, the liberal tendencies of their students.

This could go a long way toward explaining why today's student movements tend to be much more about raising awareness about specific issues -- Darfur, the death penalty, global warming -- than about enacting systematic institutional change. Granted, increased awareness can eventually lead to institutional change, but in a much more subtle way than the mass protests of the late 1960s.

I don't mean to imply that our university should uphold liberal views to the exclusion of any others. One of the fundamental responsibilities of the modern university is to engender free thought. However, being slightly left of center in terms of University policies such as faculty diversity and minority recruitment encourages this variety of viewpoints.

But the strange consequence of the institutionalization of liberalism in our universities is this chilling effect on political activity by students. Today, the few outcasts and rebels who do take dramatic action to get their points across aren't lefty students. They are campus conservatives purposefully raising the ire of university administrations.

One conservative demonstration that has been replicated at several campuses, including our own, is the "affirmative action bake sale." Conservative student groups charge black students less than white students to demonstrate the perceived injustice of affirmative action policies.

On our campus, the right-leaning student magazine the Carrollton Record prints a slate of anti-establishment rabblerousers. The Record's front page routinely criticizes the administration for suppressing conservatism. Meanwhile, their liberal counterpart, the Hopkins Donkey, is as tame and benign as its name would suggest. Perhaps this is an indication that our university has pushed too far to the left in its policies, to the exclusion of the conservative line of thought.

Granted, I base these observations largely on my experience at our notoriously apathetic campus. Had I attended a traditionally politically active college, such as UC Berkeley or New York University, my perception of political action among college students today might be different. Yet I still get the distinct sense that, across the board, the intensity of political action among college students hasn't been this low since the 1950s.

The lack of war protests is explainable. While the rocky course of the Iraq war may recall echoes of Vietnam, at the level of social impact, there is no comparing the two. Without the specter of a military draft hanging over our heads, we aren't galvanized to action. Yes, Iraq is a mess. But there's hardly anyone to disagree with over it.

Fortunately, changes to Hopkins' admissions criteria have targeted activist-minded students of all political leanings, resulting in a slight but noticeable increase in the amount of political activity on campus. This policy must be continued if we are ever to overcome the apathy problem at Hopkins.

This is my last column after four years writing for this page, and I want to take this final opportunity to thank my readers for their feedback, both positive and critical, and for taking the time to read this page. Even if you do not write, reading the opinions section is a form of political participation in its own right. But I encourage you to pick up the pen. When I was the editor of this page during the 2005-2006 academic year, I was surprised by how difficult it was to recruit opinions columnists -- a phenomenon that the present editor confirms has continued.

There should never be a shortage of Hopkins students from all parts of the political spectrum striving to make their voices heard. Inaction may be easier than action, but the latter is far more rewarding.

-- Joshua Robinson is a senior International Studies major from Potomac, Md.

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