An “old white guy” defends Bowdoin

Letter to the editor: Bowdoin must stand up for the liberal arts

To the Editors,
The NAS report lowered the level of discourse to partisan mudslinging, but we ought to rise above it, as Bowdoin taught us to do.
The promise of the liberal arts is an education that pursues a better understanding of the human good by way of deliberation on diverse ideas. Diversity is not the goal in and of itself. Rather than merely acknowledging that people live differently, we are supposed to be considering how to live best ourselves. Studying other cultures informs our answer to this question.

Letter to the editor: Bowdoin’s hypocrisy of divestment issue

To the Editors,
Until Bowdoin’s endowment is entirely free of companies that profit from fossil fuels, the College should stop referring to itself as a “leader” in confronting climate change. President Mills should stop flaunting the College’s environmental bona fides when he gives speeches, because when it comes to this issue, Bowdoin is really more of a follower.
Make no mistake: I am proud of the fact that only 1.4 percent of the College’s endowment is still invested in fossil fuels. And I am proud of the financial aid, faculty salaries and campus facilities that Bowdoin can provide as a result of trucking with companies more interested in today’s profits than tomorrow’s common good. It’s the hypocrisy that I find unbecoming in my alma mater.

Letter to the editor

An “old white guy” defends Bowdoin

April 11, 2013

To the Editors,

One might think that an old white guy (Class of ’64) like me would be cheering the recent National Association of Scholars study for putting Bowdoin in its place. After all, the report notes that the Bowdoin I knew is a far cry from Bowdoin today and suggests that the changes have been very detrimental to the Bowdoin experience.

One would be dead wrong. I say this with above-average awareness of Bowdoin yesterday vs. Bowdoin today. I’ve stayed very involved: I’ve worked in admissions when the College went coeducational and made SATs optional, served as host parent to several fine students, given mock interviews for Career Planning, attended cultural and sporting events, served as Assistant Secretary to the Board, wrote for the magazine, and audited two courses. In addition, I’ve come to know several other students from a wide variety of backgrounds since I returned to Brunswick 11 years ago.

The report suggests that Bowdoin isn’t rigorous. While there has been grade inflation, Bowdoin is much tougher today than in my day—more reading, more papers, more emphasis on class discussion, more group projects, more people in the library on a Friday night, and fewer “gut” (easy) classes. Dare I admit that in my French class—a gut—we never had to speak a word of French?

The report implies that Bowdoin students are being politically indoctrinated by a liberal faculty. This implication insults both the students and the faculty. I often ask students to name some top faculty and some of Bowdoin’s “conservative” professors regularly appear on the list. I ask if those—or any other—professors inject their politics into the discussions, and they say, “No.”

The report mocks the Common Good, multi-culturalism and area studies. Striving for the Common Good, helping students be “at home in all lands” and connecting disciplines remain Bowdoin hallmarks.

Space precludes addressing other issues. I’d just add that a review of the National Association of Scholars website suggests that any top college or university would have received an equally scathing report. (The NAS wrote a scathing report about the University of Texas at Austin and cited an article blasting the Naval Academy for the same sins). The term Johnny One Note comes to mind.

Sincerely (and in full support of Bowdoin today),
David Treadwell ’64

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