To the Editor:
Re “Go Ahead, Sean Duffy. Let Your Daughter Go to Harvard,” by David French (column, Aug. 25):
In reassuring conservative parents that sending their children to Harvard will benefit rather than corrupt them, Mr. French — correctly, in our view — dismisses the notion that elite universities sometimes attempt to indoctrinate their students.
Less persuasive is his contention that elite institutions “are often extraordinarily intolerant of dissenting views” and that “peers and professors do sometimes make life difficult for conservative students.”
According to a 2024 Harvard Crimson survey, 76 percent of conservative students feel they belong at Harvard, almost equal to the 79 percent of liberal students who feel the same way. Similar majorities feel respected and connected to their peers. More conservative than liberal students say their goals at Harvard are being met and their well-being is supported.
To be sure, conservative students are less likely than liberals to say they can be their “authentic self” at Harvard, and only 46 percent of conservative students feel comfortable expressing their opinions to others, compared with 75 percent of liberals.
The environment at other elite universities is similar. As a recent Yale report noted, many conservative students find “a real home at Yale,” while also saying their perspectives in some classrooms and communities were “not welcomed or respected.”
Harvard, Yale and other top universities are working, as they should, to address these issues. In the meantime, concerned parents — and the public — should look at the facts, not conservative talking points.
David Wippman Glenn Altschuler The writers are, respectively, a president emeritus of Hamilton College and a professor emeritus of American studies at Cornell University.
To the Editor:
The “left-wing monoculture” that David French writes about is not a monolith. Ideological echo chambers can be pried open by anyone who can recognize a teachable moment and is willing to speak out.
During the 2006 midterms, whose environment has been compared to that of this year’s elections, I was teaching at a college where most students were strongly left of center. The day after the election, I walked into my Latin class to find my students boisterous with delight over the Republican defeat. I read them the riot act.
“What are you doing?” I said. “What if there are students in here who are sorry that the Republicans lost? Now they’re not only sorry about their candidates, but they also feel like no one cares.”
A sheepish hush fell over the room. There were several chastened mumblings of “sorry, Professor.” Lesson learned, or so I thought, but it turned out the lesson went even further than I had realized. Later one of the students approached me. “Thank you for saying that,” he said quietly. “That student was me.”
Deborah Beck Austin, Texas
To the Editor:
David French writes of his experience being a conservative and a Christian at Harvard Law School. Mr. French believes that the law school was a liberal bubble, but he appreciated his time being a distinct religious and ideological minority. He says he appreciated “being tested by the smartest people I had ever met” and that, as a result, he is now “a better conservative because they tested me.”
My own experience at Harvard Law School was rather different from Mr. French’s. I entered in 1987 after a career in radical left-wing politics. (I was the only felon in my law school graduating class, having burglarized 14 draft boards during the Vietnam War.) But Harvard Law School was not a liberal bubble.
A majority of my first-year professors were well-known conservatives. One had been an assistant attorney general in the Justice Department under President Ronald Reagan. Another was a prominent anti-abortion lawyer.
During my time at Harvard, two progressive legal scholars — David Trubek and Clare Dalton — were denied tenure at the law school. I, like many others, believed that this was because of their politics, not their scholarship.
While I heartily disagree with Mr. French about Harvard Law School being part of a liberal bubble, I just as heartily agree with him that I appreciated having my philosophical, political and ethical beliefs challenged by the smartest people I had ever met. I am a better progressive because they tested me.
Jerry Elmer Providence, R.I.
To the Editor:
The common conservative idea that kids can be ruined by attending universities that are known to be more liberal is just parochial paranoia. The idea that no one should ever change his or her mind about any number of issues or ideas shows the weakness of conservative thought. The most important lesson that liberal institutions impart to students is the ability to defend their positions and the clarity to see when ideas have no validity.
I also grew up in a conservative culture with strong religious underpinnings. When I left for the most liberal college in the state, my parents worried. But after several years they announced that my vocabulary was much broader and my interests were more varied, and my 50-year-old mother enrolled as a freshman at that school.
Fear of the unknown shouldn’t choke your child’s development.
Shari Reed Albuquerque
To the Editor:
David French’s column about conservatives at liberal colleges would have been much improved if he had included experiences of liberal students at conservative colleges.
Would they have similar reports of being shouted down in class and having difficult conversations with their parents? I suspect so.
Cecilia Cordeiro Cambridge, Mass.
The post Should Conservative Students Avoid Liberal Colleges? appeared first on New York Times.
