To the Editors:
In last week's op-ed "Strengthening our intellectual discourse," Amanda Gartside quotes me as declaring the academic climate of Bowdoin dull. For the record, what I complained of back in 2004 was not a lack of "intellectual discourse" on campus, but a lack of candid debate over contentious issues.
There is no shortage of academic dialogue at Bowdoin. This is, after all, a college, and it is a fine one, blessed with no shortage of renowned scholars, courses, and extra-curricular lectures and performances—all of which contribute hugely to a vibrant intellectual discourse. Students have but to take advantage of what is already here.
I understood Ms. Gartside to be asking about something different (though perhaps related), which is the tenor of the public conversations we tend to have at Bowdoin.
My original comments on Bowdoin's atmosphere were made in the context of discussions of diversity on campus, not a more general concern with intellectual discourse. What frustrated me was the degree to which this campus, like many of its peers, seems to resist a frank and candid conversation about hot-button issues such as this.
There is an intellectual liveliness that attends vigorous debate over important social issues, but we tend to shy away from it. The columns of the Orient are seldom scenes of rhetorical contention, at least when compared with the raucous newspapers of large campuses. Expensive, polarizing speakers may occasion flares of concern, but we quickly retreat to the shade of the familiar.
That, to me, is a shame. College is not meant to insulate, but expand. That requires the courage to be made uncomfortable.
Sincerely,
Patrick Rael, Associate Professor of History