2008 Woodie Awards
Speech showed high interest in discourse
Issue date: 4/3/08 Section: Opinions
We're kind of partial to buzz.
We pay attention to the things that make Truman students tick, the ideas that get us riled up or tickle our collective fancy. For all our northeast Missouri homogeneity, our classrooms regularly house zealous debates on philosophy, politics and public policy, and frankly, we like it that way.
One of the ideas that apparently can pack a 250-seat auditorium, with latecomers disappointedly crowding the exterior aisles, is race-based affirmative action. And one of the speakers who garners both spontaneous bouts of applause and abundant cries of outrage is apparently Ward Connerly.
You probably saw the Facebook invitation with affirmative-action proponents "counting on you to show up in full force" to contest Connerly's positions. And by now, we're sure you've heard about Connerly's decrial of the attendees' behavior (see story, Page 1).
The spotlight on the Funds Allotment Council, which helped make possible the appearance of this divisive speaker on our bucolic campus, might seem justified or inappropriate (see columns, Page 5). Honestly, you're probably bracing yourself for the upbraiding you're expecting from us.
But we just want to give you props.
Whether you support race-based affirmative action or condemn it as a relic that's lived past its usefulness, you let everybody know. Sure, a few boorish individuals peppered the Violette Hall crowd last Thursday night, abusing their posts and leaving a bad taste in our mouths.
But many of you listened with respect, articulated your positions with confidence, engaged in productive debate and illustrated the critical thinking skills Truman so likes to highlight in its admissions literature. Shoot, maybe the Liberal Studies Program is actually working.
When a student is confronted with an alternate point of view, she is forced to reflect on her position, if only so she can become an effective advocate for it. For all of Truman's interdisciplinary rhetoric, it sometimes fails to wield controversy as an operative teaching tool, and we'd like to see many more arguments and much more debate, both inside the classroom and outside it, now that we've shown ourselves to be capable of decorum.
We pay attention to the things that make Truman students tick, the ideas that get us riled up or tickle our collective fancy. For all our northeast Missouri homogeneity, our classrooms regularly house zealous debates on philosophy, politics and public policy, and frankly, we like it that way.
One of the ideas that apparently can pack a 250-seat auditorium, with latecomers disappointedly crowding the exterior aisles, is race-based affirmative action. And one of the speakers who garners both spontaneous bouts of applause and abundant cries of outrage is apparently Ward Connerly.
You probably saw the Facebook invitation with affirmative-action proponents "counting on you to show up in full force" to contest Connerly's positions. And by now, we're sure you've heard about Connerly's decrial of the attendees' behavior (see story, Page 1).
The spotlight on the Funds Allotment Council, which helped make possible the appearance of this divisive speaker on our bucolic campus, might seem justified or inappropriate (see columns, Page 5). Honestly, you're probably bracing yourself for the upbraiding you're expecting from us.
But we just want to give you props.
Whether you support race-based affirmative action or condemn it as a relic that's lived past its usefulness, you let everybody know. Sure, a few boorish individuals peppered the Violette Hall crowd last Thursday night, abusing their posts and leaving a bad taste in our mouths.
But many of you listened with respect, articulated your positions with confidence, engaged in productive debate and illustrated the critical thinking skills Truman so likes to highlight in its admissions literature. Shoot, maybe the Liberal Studies Program is actually working.
When a student is confronted with an alternate point of view, she is forced to reflect on her position, if only so she can become an effective advocate for it. For all of Truman's interdisciplinary rhetoric, it sometimes fails to wield controversy as an operative teaching tool, and we'd like to see many more arguments and much more debate, both inside the classroom and outside it, now that we've shown ourselves to be capable of decorum.
Be the first to comment on this story