The Bowdoin Orient

The National Association of Scholars announced their study of Bowdoin roughly a year and a half ago. Since that day, most of us could have guessed its overarching conclusions. It is therefore instinctive to treat the release of the NAS study with disinterest: it offers no new perspectives, it continues the NAS’s record of omitting basic facts and including blatantly false statements, and it does not develop a unique and convincing argument.

To be sure, there are topics in the report that call for closer examination. But most students and faculty seem to have come to the inescapable conclusion that the NAS is not an open-minded, civil or constructive debate partner. I believe that this conclusion is fair, and I have posted a lengthy justification of this point on my website.

But this conclusion comes with two caveats, both of which implore us to take action.First, we should give the NAS every opportunity to change their tone and rhetorical tactics. The association has been around for over 25 years, it rakes in extensive funding from many conservative foundations, and many of its members are well regarded scholars who publish in high-profile journals and newspapers. Their resources put them in a position to influence policy-makers and the general public.