Word: mansfield
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...last time I checked, subscriptions to The Socialist Worker weren't booming in Harvard Square. Professor Harvey C. Mansfield '53 was still talking about grade inflation...
...distressed to note that several of our colleagues at the College can find no better way to express their disagreement with the views of Kenan Professor of Government Harvey C. Mansfield '53 on affirmative action than to hold disruptive and hollow protests ("Students Gather to Protest Views of Mansfield," News, April 26, 1996). I often disagree with Mr. Mansfield's views on contemporary social and political issues, but I also know that he is a distinguished scholar who is happy to discuss his opinions with interested students. Such discussion is precisely why it is valuable to have such a superb...
...protest does nothing to further this end; rather, it allows both the protester and the individual being protested to rest on simple, unrefined opinions that do not adequately account for the real complexity of the situation being considered. If the protesters had been willing to match wits with Mr. Mansfield, they certainly would have left with more subtle and intelligent arguments, and they would be better able to construct nuanced arguments in the future. Mr. Mansfield even may have refined his opinions through such an encounter...
None of this is to say that the protesters should have kept silent, or even that they should have limited their criticism to discussing the issue with Mr. Mansfield. He wrote an opinion piece ("A Poor Defense of Diversity," Guest Commentary, April 8, 1996), and I am certain that The Crimson would have welcomed a retort. In such an article, the argument of the protesters could be developed beyond slogans and adhominem attacks. Many of us would have been more impressed, more sympathetic and more likely to be convinced if they had answered his arguments, just as he answered President...
...very least, debating Mr. Mansfield on the issues either in person or on the pages of the campus press would have proven the protesters capable of formulating opinions beyond "we agree" and "we despise." I do not believe that civil and intelligent discourse is too much to ask of Harvard's student body. --Jarrett N. Blanc...