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03/31/2004: "Is that all?"
A name from my family's past surfaced at the Weekly Standard today. Jonathan Last's column is on slavery reparations ferment at Brown University, whose president is Ruth Simmons, the former president of Smith College in Massachusetts. My daughter spent her first year in college at Smith, and while she loved her classes, she found the campus environment stifling. Dr. Simmons, you see, is a diversity-hound, so the result was that at Smith, students came in all different colors, sizes, languages, and backgrounds, but with just one set of political views. Being a Republican was what you did when you wanted to protest the mindless left-wing orthodoxy, but you had to watch your back. Well, anyway, Dr. Simmons is quoted today talking about the plethora of gifts and talents she brings to the Rhode Island Ivy:
By way of explaining her views on identity politics, Simmons has said, "If I have something to teach our students, if I have something to offer Brown, it's the fact that I am a descendent of slaves."
That's it? That's really all she has to bring to one of the best universities in America? She's a Ph.D in Romance languages from Harvard, a former African Studies professor, a long-time college administrator, and what she has to offer Brown is something she has in common with about 10 million other Americans, including Michael Jackson and Charles Barkley (neither of whom were considered for Brown's presidency when Simmons was hired, I guarantee)? What kind of self-respecting academic reduces herself to her genealogical table?
