Forum for May 6, 2025: Diversity for whom?

Diversity for me, but not for thee

I can’t argue with a basic principle raised by Bill Hamlen’s recent column (“All but a few political donations from Dartmouth go to Democrats”; April 23): society is better off when people have space to freely and safely voice their opinions and to debate in a civil fashion.

It’s hard, though, to stomach what seems like an argument for affirmative action in faculty hiring, to ensure diversity in political views, given how Hamlen’s party has demonized and dismantled efforts to consider diversity in other contexts. Also concerning is the implication that educators can’t be professional and do good work independent of their political views. Should we similarly insist upon balanced personal politics among our police, our physicians? In light of differences in how people value and trust formal education, credentialed expertise and scholarly norms, might it simply be that far fewer from Hamlen’s side of the aisle have the passion and commitment to pursue a career as a researcher and educator?

Most alarming is that Hamlen, like most in his party claiming to champion free speech, completely ignores and thus condones efforts under the Republican party to do exactly the opposite. Where are all the Republicans standing up against book bans in libraries? Against pressuring K-12 teachers to pretend that the lives of some of their most vulnerable students aren’t valid by sanctioning them for talking about those kinds of people and the lives they live? Is Hamlen similarly championing the importance of political diversity on campus in Annapolis, or is Maya Angelou beyond the pale? Where are the small-government Republicans outraged by government threats against private law firms and universities and other institutions that dare promote values that don’t align with Hamlen’s party’s worldview? When faculty and students express views with which you disagree, does that make universities enemies of the people, as the vice president has argued?

At least Hamlen can sleep easy knowing that were he a foreign student in the US, his visa wouldn’t be revoked over the patriotic content of his newspaper op-ed. Have some principles, some dignity, some courage. Your free speech talk is cheap, your silence deafening and dangerous.

Brad Wible

Norwich