Not Everyone Likes Me Part II

The two comments I have received so far to the last post were very thoughtful and I will respond to them here:

The first person said that what bothers students is not my political views but rather my attempts to make myself controversial. My last post obviously supports this conclusion. I admit that I enjoy creating controversy.

But in defense of myself, as the only openly conservative professor at Smith I often get invited to speak at political events where I am supposed to represent the conservative side. (I was invited to three such events last semester.) By going to such events and speaking what I believe, I will necessarily make myself a subject of controversy. In class I do like to create controversy because I think this makes class more interesting.


The second commentator wrote "[By] posting the only egregious comment to appear and not those in support of having a conservative voice on the Smith campus reeks of an attempt to further bolster your issues concerning conservatives on the college campus. "

I should first say that most students at Smith are wonderful and a joy to teach. When they disagree with me they almost always do so with respect and intelligence.

But there are students and professors at Smith, and many other colleges, that hate conservatives and don't want them in their multicultural domains. Many liberal professors deny this and think that conservative academics are paranoid when they claim that some leftists are out to get them. Consequently, I think it is instructive to point out to the world what conservatives on liberal college campuses sometimes face. This is why I made the last post.