On Wednesday, March 5, Dickinson hosted Dr. Amy Reid on campus, who is the Senior Manager of Freedom to Learn at PEN America. In her talk, “In Defense of the Liberal Arts, Gender Studies & Languages,” Dr. Reid outlined the specific, devastating effects of the GOP’s attack on higher education, by telling the story of her former school, the New College of Florida. Although the Trump administration has been attacking higher education since the inauguration, Trump’s decrees are, of course, a multi-year effort to undermine the liberal arts, language education and the teaching of concepts like critical theory, which has dire effects on the livelihoods of students of color and transgender students.
Dr. Reid championed the mission of liberal arts colleges like Dickinson, which allow students to explore complex, interconnected pasts, presents and futures. She particularly emphasized that, in a time when such educations are coming increasingly under attack by the government, privileged institutions like Dickinson should do what they can to assist students and faculty at schools like New College that are more directly being defunded and censored.
In particular, Dr. Reid praised the top staff of Dickinson, who are committed to supporting the academic freedom and mission of faculty and students, as well as our robust, interdisciplinary general education program. In Florida, general education requirements have been largely cut, which narrows students’ ability to learn and develop as well-rounded individuals and civic contributors. Provost Cramer also spoke about her commitment to freedom of expression and learning.
Dr. Reid’s talk helped contextualize for those grievances within the broader discourse about higher education that is presently happening in the country. Dickinson is, in fact, a highly privileged institution, and I am truly appreciative that the College intends to uphold those values.
When, Dr. Reid was elected as the Chair of Faculty on the New College Board of Trustees, it underwent a takeover orchestrated by Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Most of the new trustees were not from the state of Florida, and were only interested in pushing their own anti-education agenda.
After spending 30 years teaching French and Gender Studies at New College, the latter of which being cut, Dr. Reid left the school to work for PEN America. PEN America is an international organization founded ten years ago dedicated to free speech and literature in schools, from kindergarten to higher education. Dr. Reid’s “Freedom to Learn” team identifies, tracks and works against state legislation that censors higher education using buzzwords pertaining to the exploration of race, gender, sexuality, diversity and more.
At New College, students had spent decades gathering hundreds of books and syllabi dedicated to women’s, gender and sexuality studies in the pride dormitory on campus. The new board of trustees, then, ordered all those books, as well as some from the library on the subject, to be thrown away. Students and faculty alike dumpster dived to rescue as many as they could. Though this happened several years ago, I appreciated Dr. Reid’s in-depth revisitation of the incident, and her demonstration of its continuing effects. For years, similar efforts and rhetoric have spread across the country, and are only worsening under the Trump administration.
A major problem is that colleges and universities often overcomply with state censorship and gag orders, cutting diversity programs and initiatives before legislation is passed or even going beyond the censorship that the legislation orders in attempts to protect the school from retaliation. Such legislation also targets minority groups, and I was glad to actually learn this statistic: despite the fear-mongering and discourse over the past several years about transgender college athletes, there are less than 100 out transgender college athletes in the entire NCAA. The GOP does not want to protect women. The GOP wants to persecute a small minority group as a scapegoat to distract from the party’s desire to strip away the rights of every non-white, non-male, and non-heterosexual individual.
Despite the depressing landscape of higher education at the moment, Dr. Reid’s advice for how to resist was clear, uplifting and inspiring. She implored Dickinsinians commitment to using the privileges we do have at this elite private school to help students at more targeted colleges. We must use our platform to speak out. I believe that the ideals of a liberal arts education come in handy here: independence, critical thinking, open-mindedness, compassion and joy. It is important to pick your battles and avoid getting overwhelmed to the degree that you cannot contribute at all: that is how the fascists win.