In the aftermath of a raucous protest that shut down conservative author Heather Mac Donald’s recent lecture at Claremont McKenna College, Pomona College President David Oxtoby sent students an email reaffirming the school’s commitment to free speech. That message did not resonate with several students who drafted a letter calling on Oxtoby to apologize, further demanding the university “take action” against students involved with the Claremont Independent, a campus newspaper.
The letter, authored and co-signed by 25 students, is stuffed with more progressive buzzwords than you probably knew existed, awkwardly cobbling them together in a sad attempt to question the value of free speech.
“Free speech, a right many freedom movements have fought for, has recently become a tool appropriated by hegemonic institutions,” the letter says. “It has not just empowered students from marginalized backgrounds to voice their qualms and criticize aspects of the institution, but it has given those who seek to perpetuate systems of domination a platform to project their bigotry.”
The students invoke the school’s mission to explicitly ask, “If ‘our mission is founded upon the discovery of truth,’ how does free speech uphold that value?”
The answer, of course, seems blatantly obvious. But what is stopping these young progressives from understanding that?
Perhaps what stands out most is the authors’ contention that broader efforts to “search for truth” constitute “an attempt to silence oppressed peoples.”
Here’s their argument:
Historically, white supremacy has venerated the idea of objectivity, and wielded a dichotomy of ‘subjectivity vs. objectivity’ as a means of silencing oppressed peoples. The idea that there is a single truth — ‘the Truth’ — is a construct of the Euro-West that is deeply rooted in the Enlightenment, which was a movement that also described Black and Brown people as both subhuman and impervious to pain. This construction is a myth and white supremacy, imperialism, colonization, capitalism, and the United States of America are all of its progeny.
Because these students seem to believe the notion of “Truth” is rooted in the Enlightenment, and because they believe that movement was racist, their logic leads them to conclude “Truth” is necessarily a racist concept. While that claim, one that undermines our entire learning process, appears, for now, to be relegated to the fringes of the fringe, the possibility that more and more young people adopt it should not be dismissed.
Another area in which the Pomona letter goes further than most such documents comes towards the end where its authors demand the university “take action” against student journalists at the Claremont Independent. The letter also makes what appears to be a preemptive demand that the school take legal and disciplinary action against any Claremont Independent writers who publicize its contents, provided that information leads to threats and hate mail.
It’s always tempting to laugh and dismiss outlandish demands from college students, but this particular letter does not lend itself to either reaction. If two of the letter’s suggestions, (1) the idea that “Truth” is racist and (2) that student journalists should be targeted by university administrations, are indicative that either is proliferating on college campuses, tensions will only continue to escalate in the months and years ahead.
Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
