ACTA in the News
Hamilton College finds itself embroiled in yet another conflict
March 9, 2007
William Kates
NewdayCLINTON, N.Y. -- An upstate New York college that has drawn nationwide attention
the past two years for inviting controversial figures to campus finds itself
in the midst of another culture conflict.
The college's abrupt reversal last November to cancel plans for creation of
the Alexander Hamilton Center has been widely decried in conservative circles
as another example of liberal bias on America's college campuses, and as retaliation
for one of the founder's past activism on campus.
Last month, lifetime trustee Carl Menges, who had pledged
$3.6 million to fund the center, resigned in protest.
"This had nothing to do with any ideology. It was a question of the institutional
relationship to the college," said college spokesman Michael DeBraggio.
"There were discussions and negotiations, and we thought we had a shared
understanding. It turned out not to be the case. We realized they were looking
to be more independent of the college. We envisioned a program in close
collaboration," he said.
An elite liberal arts college with just under 2,000 students, Hamilton attracts
high-level students usually among the top 10 percent in their high school
classes. Despite its size and location, Hamilton has a legacy of hosting
world renowned speakers, such as former President Jimmy Carter and Bishop
Desmond Tutu. In April, former vice president Al Gore, fresh off his Academy
Awards win, will speak.
But in recent years, the small, hilltop school 35 miles east of Syracuse
has endured a checkered reputation.
In 2004, former Weather Underground radical Susan Rosenberg _ imprisoned
for 16 years for an armored car robbery that left a guard and two police
officers dead _ was hired to teach a monthlong writing seminar but the school
canceled her appearance after receiving widespread criticism and hearing
from alums who threatened to take back hundreds of thousands of dollars
in pledges.
In 2005, Hamilton was prepared to host a little-known University of Colorado
professor, Ward Churchill, who created a nationwide firestorm when it was
revealed he had written an essay referring to 9/11 victims as "little Eichmanns,"
a reference to Nazi Adolf Eichmann. His appearance was ultimately canceled
by the school because of death threats against college officials and Churchill.
Churchill and Rosenberg were invited to campus by the Kirkland Project for
the Study of Gender, Society and Culture. In the wake of the scandals, the
faculty member who directed the program resigned and the school reformed
the program as the Diversity and Social Justice Program.
One of the leading critics of the Kirkland Project was history professor
Robert Paquette, one of the founders of the Alexander Hamilton Center.
Paquette said the governance issue was a "red herring" raised by faculty
members seeking a system "that would create a center they could subvert."
The center was to have an independent, self-perpetuating board on which
only one seat was assured to go to a Hamilton faculty member. As a result,
many faculty members complained that the center would have more independence
from the rest of the college than any other academic unit, said Dean of
Faculty Joseph Urgo.
Paquette said the center "did not seek to alter the curriculum of the college
in any way, to create new courses arbitrarily, or new faculty positions.
"We just wanted to add another voice to the campus discussion," he said.
Paquette said he believes the college's faculty would have rubber-stamped
a similar level of autonomy for a left-leaning center.
"There is a political culture here that is pervasive and that creates a
double standard," Paquette said, adding that rejection of the center also
was part "payback" for his opposition to Churchill and Rosenberg's appearances.
Urgo said the decision not to go forward with the center was not made lightly,
nor was it retaliatory.
"The feeling was this would be destructive to the faculty community here
_ so destructive that we were willing to walk away from a major gift," he
said, noting that part of the criticism of the Kirkland Project was that
the college did not exert enough control over it.
Nevertheless, the decision has angered many alums and triggered an avalanche
of criticism by bloggers.
In a speech at the University of Notre Dame, Anne Neal, president of the
American Council of Trustees and Alumni, condemned the college's actions.
"Instead of giving students a new center of learning, Hamilton is taking
educational opportunities away," Neal said.
The Center's fate has become an example of a "prevalent culture on the modern
campus that is politicized, one-sided, coercive, and manipulative," Neal
said.
The dispute has divided students, too.
The student newspaper took administrators and faculty to task in two editorials,
noting that students had lost the opportunity for internships, fellowships
and research stipends because of professors' "ideological biases, personal
vendettas and politics."
But Student Assembly President Stuart Lombardi defended Hamilton as "quite
intellectually diverse," even without the center.
"While many students are disappointed that the college lost the Alexander
Hamilton Center, students understand the need for faculty oversight of any
academic organization bearing the college's name," Lombardi said.