Conservatives on the Faculty

In a Nov. 13 letter, Bruce Price ’63 echoes a common complaint of those who call themselves conservative: that Princeton’s diversity does not extend to recruiting conservative faculty. But being African-American, or female, or gay is not antithetical to the mission of a university; being conservative is.

The essence of being (politically) conservative is justifying old beliefs and power structures simply because they are old and sanctified by authority. Universities, on the other hand, are dedicated to using reason to find truth; in a tradition reaching back at least as far as Socrates, it has meant questioning old beliefs and authorities – and being opposed and often punished by the conservatives of the day.  

Modern “conservatives” go beyond this: They believe that there is no truth but what is backed by political power. “Creationism” is an example: Modern conservatives’ answer to the science of evolution is to invent a pseudo-science that denies it and then pass laws requiring that that pseudo-science be taught. Is this the sort of thinking that belongs in any university?

It is one thing for Princeton to hire great scholars who happen to be conservative (and perhaps in spite of their being conservative). But demanding that universities make a point of hiring “conservative” faculty to provide some sort of ideological balance is as ill-conceived as demanding that hospitals hire executioners to balance out all those people who are saving lives.