October 3, 2014
In response to various controversies about the campus climate, President Stewart has appointed a working group to address issues of diversity and inclusion. While it remains to be seen what recommendations this group will produce, the usual pattern for such bodies is to produce some well-intentioned but ultimately ineffective proposals. This ineffectiveness results from a mistaken belief that the problems we face are largely remedied by education and etiquette. Education and etiquette both have their place, but they ignore the broader context that drives issues of inequality and privilege. As political scientist Clarissa Rile Hayward has recently written, “challenging racial injustice requires more than simply changing racially privileged people’s beliefs and attitudes. It requires changing the institutions and the physical spaces that help keep racial injustice alive, even when attitudes shift.”
For this reason, I hope that this task force will focus on specific institutional changes to make Hamilton a center of learning and opportunity for all its students and not just a bastion of privilege and partying. Specifically, Hamilton should implement the following institutional changes:
1. Increase the number of Pell Grant recipients from 14 percent now to at least 25 percent over the next five years. Nothing changes the environment of a college like changing the composition of its student body, and increasing the number of Pell Grant recipients will help to make Hamilton more diverse and inclusive.
2. Increase the diversity of the faculty by allowing departments to compete for target of opportunity hires. In addition to its current efforts at recruiting a diverse faculty, these positions should be taken from the usual allocation pool and reserved for hires that will contribute to the social and ideological diversity of the college.
3. Abolish all Greek societies. Recent studies of higher education have shown a strong relationship between a culture of partying and a lack of opportunity and achievement for students from less privileged backgrounds. Greek societies are not the only reason for Hamilton’s culture of partying and privilege, but they are an important aspect of it, and abolishing them will represent a long step towards improving the academic and social climate for all students.
4. End the open curriculum. The open curriculum allows too many students to avoid a rigorous and well-rounded liberal arts education. In its place, Hamilton should develop a strong core curriculum that includes, among other things, serious study of languages, mathematics and sciences to better prepare all Hamilton students for the challenges that they will face.
Now is not the time (if there ever was) for Hamilton to be Hamilton. Nor should we be content to brand ourselves as a “Changemaker Campus” if we are unwilling to make real changes on campus. Now is the time for us to transform Hamilton from a place of privilege into a home for real education and opportunity for all of its students.
— Philip Klinkner
James S. Sherman Professor of Government
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