The Brown website describes its campus as a "vibrant, diverse community." But the truth is that the Brown campus is one of the least diverse places in the United States. The sheer homogeneity of the school is overwhelming. It is evident in almost every serious discussion and every poll taken of the student body, and will be made even more obvious by the upcoming national elections.
For years, Brown has been known as a liberal bastion where conservative views are not welcome. Even President Ruth Simmons has admitted to a "chilling effect caused by the dominance of certain voices on the spectrum of moral and political thought." The astonishing lack of political diversity at Brown leaves the University without a true debate on important issues.
Admittedly, the amount of socioeconomic and racial diversity on campus is impressive. Brown boasts students from all 50 states and close to 100 countries. We have student groups for Christians, Muslims and Jews. Admission offers are made without considering financial need. But according to a Herald poll, 86.1 percent of Brown students supported Barack Obama in the 2008 elections, compared to just 53 percent of voters nationwide. There is not much room for a campus-wide debate if nearly nine in 10 students support the same presidential candidate.
The numbers do not tell the whole story. There is also a general attitude at Brown that there are only two acceptable political views: liberal, or very liberal. This intolerance of conservative political views reached a fever pitch March 23 when the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property came to College Hill to protest Rhode Island's proposed legalization of gay marriage. The group held signs, played bagpipes and handed out pamphlets with their arguments against gay marriage.
To say that Brown students reacted fiercely would be a gross understatement. While the society members stood on the Main Green and exercised their First Amendment right to free speech, Brown students surrounded the group. One student spat on one of the protesters. Another ran through and ripped a large "Traditional Marriage" banner. Others were seen giving the middle finger to the protesters. The students may have thought terrorizing the protesters and vandalizing their property was funny. The University never apologized to the protesters for the broken property, nor did it reprimand the students involved. But to anyone observing the events of March 23, supposedly liberal and accepting Brown students seemed hypocritical, seeking tolerance of different nationalities and skin colors, but not of different political views.
To make matters worse, students are not the only members of the Brown community who seem to hold uniform opinions on news and politics. The Department of Political Science is dominated by liberals. In fact, when Steven Calabresi, a renowned law theorist, joined the department as a visiting professor, his conservative political views were novel enough to warrant a news story in The Herald. The addition of new ideas to the university should be commonplace and treasured, not newsworthy.
Beyond learning from professors, Brown students also frequently attend lectures from notable politicians, theorists and activists. Last year alone, the University welcomed Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., public health activist Paul Farmer and neurosurgeon and reporter Sanjay Gupta. All three of these men are either self-proclaimed liberals or have donated to liberal politicians in the past. None of the well-attended lectures last year were given by conservatives. Without a change in policy of some kind, we will continue to be a liberal bastion. The lack of true debate on campus will continue to detract from Brown's prestige.
Fortunately, there are several easy solutions to this pressing issue. First, the University should make a well-publicized effort to hire professors with a wide range of political views — liberals and libertarians, conservatives and communists. And the University absolutely must achieve a balance in the speakers that it invites to campus. Brown should welcome Newt Gingrich as warmly as it would Nancy Pelosi. With these changes, conservative and moderate students will flock in greater numbers to Brown, and the University can correct what has been a major shortcoming for generations. Students of all persuasions, backgrounds and views will feel welcome, and the University will have achieved a much greater level of diversity.
Garret Johnson '14 is a neuroscience concentrator and former sports writer for The Herald.
