A College Education… But No “Free Exchange Of Ideas”
By DONALD DeMARCO
A friend of mine related a memorable experience he had while visiting the campus of Smith College in Northampton, Mass. Smith was founded in 1871, established, according to its Mission Statement, on “the free exchange of ideas.” Its motto, translated from the Greek, is “In Virtue [One Gains] Knowledge.” What my friend discovered, however, was not an affirmation, but actually a contradiction to the college’s founding principles.
At the time of my friend’s visitation, Dr. Alice von Hildebrand was scheduled to speak. Her topic: “Feminism, Abortion, and Motherhood.” She would attempt to explain to her audience how abortion is an affront to women.
Her presence was an occasion for student protest. Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902), a heralded champion of women’s rights, also held that abortion is degrading to women. How times have changed! My friend, a Franciscan priest who taught philosophy at a neighboring college encountered, a group of about 25 young ladies sitting in a semicircle and chanting, “Our bodies, our lives, our right to decide.”
Giulio Cesare Aranzio (Arantius) (1529-1589) was a leading figure in the science of human anatomy in his time. He was the first to show that the unborn was neither continuous nor contiguous with its mother. The Smith chanters, unknowingly, were more than four centuries behind the times. Concerning their lives, one would think that they would want to have reliable scientific knowledge about the adverse effects of abortion. The chanting provided a knowledge barrier both to themselves and to others. It was as if they were practicing a kind of intellectual contraception.
I thought that if they had a second stanza to their chant, one more honest than the first, it might read: “We don’t want knowledge, that’s why were in college, so grant us our degree, to certify we’re free.”
The assertion that our lives are “our lives” is essentially atheistic. We are not the authors of our lives. Our lives were given to us by God. We are their custodians. We should live, indeed, by virtue, so that our lives honor their Creator. What we should decide is to live virtuous lives.
Gloria Steinem, Smith College’s most celebrated graduate, underscores this atheistic mentality when she states, “By the year 2000 we will, I hope, raise our children to believe in human potential, not God.” This is a Marxist notion, but one that did not bring about the flourishing of humanity, but the brutal death of millions. God is not our enemy. To reject Him is to invite disaster. In her book, Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions, she makes the comment that the Smith Class of ’56 (her graduating class) voted three to one against Reagan, and “98 percent thought abortion should be a safe and legal choice.”
In 1871, when Smith College was founded, America was going through its post-Civil War Reconstruction period. At that time it was utterly unimaginable that female college students would use their privilege to promote abortion and attempt to block anyone who spoke in defense of life. Smith was open to women because, at that time, the path to college was not easy for many women. Hence, Smith’s commitment to “the free exchange of ideas.” Smith’s motto is sorely in need of being reactivated.
My priest friend, who has pledged himself to walk in the footsteps of St. Francis, no doubt looked at the protesters as representing sheep who have lost their shepherd. St. Francis felt a kinship with everyone as well as everything in nature. Here were college students who were opposed to women cultivating a motherly kinship with their own unborn children. Much apostolic work is needed to be done.
The feminist approbation of abortion, in many places, has turned higher education upside down. With regard to abortion, the important thing is “not to know” and to demand that, on this basis of an absence of knowledge, that others agree with you.
Robert H. Bork, in his book Slouching Towards Gomorrah, writes about the feminist takeover of education: “Feminists increasingly control what is taught in high schools and elementary schools as well. Speech codes and ‘sensitivity’ training severely limit what can be said on campus. The feminists have not only done harm to the intellectual function of universities and schools, they have made campuses extremely unpleasant, especially for white males, who are subject to harassment and demands that they toe the feminist cultural and political line.”
A free-wielding independence may be appealing to feminists, but it is obtained, to the degree that it is obtained, at the price of denying the legitimate freedom of others, especially the unborn. A few years ago protesters threatening boycotts caused Calvin Klein to cancel a semi-pornographic ad. The controversial ad showed teenagers in provocative poses. John Leo, writing for U. S. News & World Report, called the ads “decadent.” A spokesman for Calvin Klein, however, thought they were perfect for today’s independent generation. “People who do only what they want to do.”
A society cannot continue to exist when people do only what they want to do. Who would want to wash windows, clean the bathroom, scrub the floors, read a book, or study for exams if these chores could be avoided? College students may suspend themselves from reality while dreaming of unlivable lives, but colleges should prepare them for a world in which personal sacrifice and concern for others is an un-barterable necessity. It is painful to think of how far so many institutions of higher learning have departed from their founding ideals and Mission Statements.
One organization that is doing something about rectifying this problem, especially for those interested in attending Catholic colleges, is the Cardinal Newman Society that publishes annually The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College. It may be a small step, but it is a most important one.
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(Dr. Donald DeMarco is professor emeritus of St. Jerome’s University and adjunct professor at Holy Apostles College. He is a regular columnist for St. Austin Review. His latest two books, How to Navigate through Life and Apostles of the Culture of Life, are posted on Amazon.com.)
