The recent uptick in political violence across the country paints a very worrying picture for the future of cross-party dialogue and collaboration, both nationally and here at Middlebury. With the killing of a Minnesota democrat legislator, Melissa Hortman and their spouse this past June, and the killing of conservative media personality and political activist Charlie Kirk last week, gun violence as a form of political violence is undoubtedly trending upwards. The Editorial Board condemns political violence and gun violence and calls for the broader Middlebury to play an urgent role in reintroducing and affirming dialogue and connection as a tool to mend a political spectrum that is trending towards more polarising extremes.
We recognise the wide range of political beliefs on our campus. As the news of Charlie Kirk’s shooting on Wednesday, Sept. 10, spread, the cracks of a nation fractured by political divide were laid out. Middlebury and college campuses across the nation tend to skew more towards the left. However, many members of the Editorial Board were surprised by the connection that students and community members here at Middlebury expressed to Kirk after the shooting. The aftermath of his death demonstrated the growing ideological diversity on our campus. While most Middlebury students self-reported as leaning liberal in our annual Zeitgeist survey last spring, a smaller but notable portion (eight percent of respondents) identified themselves as conservative. We welcome the increase in political thought from all sides, and call for students to embrace this growth as a way to understand different ideological perspectives, while maintaining a commitment to our mission statement, and community standards.
Allowing for diversity in political thought and affiliation cannot come at the expense of the individual well-being of our students. We note that, unlike co-existing in the general public, living on a college campus entitles you to a sense of security. It acts as your home. When the college invites speakers who call for the deliberate marginalization of members of our community, they risk alienating those very students who apply and enroll in Middlebury as a way to ensure their personal safety.
Inviting “controversial” speakers to speak on moderated panels does not foster political conversation, but instead creates a top-down system, where students are made to listen to views with no chance to engage with said speakers. The college is proud of its small class sizes and the chance to engage in discussion with professors and fellow peers. This must be replicated when speakers are invited to campus, allowing us to simultaneously advocate for diversity in political thought, and for students who may feel othered by political conversation.
We also affirm that our campus should commit to freedom of speech, while actively limiting hate speech. We cannot let this commitment to free speech and variety of opinion come at the expense of the protection and the wellbeing of our community.
Many students on both sides of the political spectrum who do not typically comment on politics seemed to find an outlet to share their views as a result of the recent uptick in political violence. We call on all students to maintain this increase in political awareness, in earnest, by engaging with news, professors, and their fellow peers. We call on students to create a large personal political repertoire, as we believe that it is one of the few ways to ensure safe and productive dialogue between students of all political beliefs. We call for all members of the Middlebury community to do the labor it takes to remain informed.
The U.S. is at an ideological crossroads, affecting everything from global political movements, to individual conversation and connection at our local level in Middlebury. It is the imperative of every student to continue interacting with each other. If Middlebury students can commit to these principles, they can replicate this form of community building in their wider communities, working to mend the cracks alarmingly widening.
