OPINION:
It took threats to cut off its federal funding after antisemitic, anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrations for Harvard University to consider again pursuing what used to be the foundation of its motto, “Veritas,” or truth.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Harvard’s leaders are discussing whether to create a center for conservative scholarship. This would mirror the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in California. The discussion is a tacit admission that Harvard has been excluding conservative thought from its curriculum, not to mention most of its professors who toe the liberal line and teach their students to do the same.
Like the other old Ivy League schools, Harvard once had a religious and conservative foundation. Founded by Puritans in 1636, Harvard had its roots in the Puritan worldview and way of life. Its purpose was to train ministers and prepare students for community and civic leadership. By the mid-18th century, Harvard had evolved into an increasingly secular institution, broadening its curriculum to include a more liberal arts education and establishing a research branch. Although it still has a divinity school, that, too, is liberal in its theology and more aligned with a liberal political agenda.
When he was president of Harvard (1953-1971), Nathan Pusey said: “The finest fruit of serious learning should be the ability to speak the word ‘God’ without reserve or embarrassment.” Given what we’ve seen in recent months on Harvard’s and other campuses, it would appear that God has become an embarrassment, unless his name is used as a blasphemy.
The idea that there should be a separate institution to “study” conservatism will be an affront to some conservatives. It sounds like a form of “separate but equal.” Are conservatives considered such a rare species at Harvard that their way of thinking must be studied to be understood? Are they a life form from another planet that could infect others if not kept away from “normal” people? Will students who study conservatism be required to wear identification badges or arm bands to identify them to liberal students and liberal professors to avoid possible “contamination”? Will this new branch of studies produce a conservative commencement speaker instead of the continuing stream of liberal speakers at graduation?
Over the years, many conservative intellectuals have contributed ideas and policies that have demonstrated far more positive results than secular liberalism. Such thoughts and history should be incorporated into mainstream learning and not put at the “back of the bus.”
One of the towering conservative intellectuals of the 20th century was William F. Buckley Jr. Although he graduated from Yale and wrote a book “God and Man at Yale,” he famously said this about Harvard: “I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the telephone directory than by the Harvard University faculty.” Imagine what he might say now, given all that has transpired at the university in recent months.
Better to have a place where conservative thought can be studied and students exposed to a different way of thinking than to have nothing at all, but even better to have that line of thinking taught alongside liberal thought. That would give conservative thought and conservative thinkers the recognition they deserve, along with examination of why conservative economic, social and foreign policy ideas have produced mostly better results than secular liberalism.
• Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book, “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (HumanixBooks).
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