Some have noticed the Philips Theme Tower a symbol of Pepperdine’s commitment to proudly stand up for truth and inclusive Christianity is leaning a little to the right.
This perception that Pepperdine is a conservative bastion crystallized during election season in the battle over Proposition 8.
Although Pepperdine as an institution took no official part in the proposition through School of Law Professor Richard Peterson’s 30-second ads supporting the ban on gay marriage its public image shifted. However the problem is not that the university is pushed rightward by powerful conservative forces. The problem is the paucity of liberal voices to push back.
Therefore since Feb. 3 School of Law Professor Harry Caldwell and Seaver political science professor Dan Caldwell (no relation) have led a commendable and necessary effort to rectify the university’s reputation. The two founded the Pepperdine Coalition for Balance in an effort to bring more diverse speakers to campus.
Dan Caldwell determined that 68 percent of the guest speakers at the Pepperdine School of Public Policy between 2000 and 2007 were identifiably conservative compared to 6 percent who were liberal (the remainder were nonpartisan or their affiliation was unidentifiable).
Although these statistics cannot be haphazardly applied to Pepperdine’s other four schools they point to a troubling truth: The university has typically favored conservative speakers.
This favoritism is not malicious and probably not intentional. It reflects the fact that most faculty and administrators are more familiar with conservative speakers and that Christian and conservative speakers are more familiar with Pepperdine. Many members of the Pepperdine community have personal connections with a high-placed Republican. These relationships offer students a tremendous opportunity and they should be embraced.
Furthermore College Republicans should be praised not censured for their recent successes in recruiting prominent representatives including former Attorney General John Ashcroft.
But this comfort level is no excuse. It only raises the stakes if the university fails to provide similarly persuasive voices from the other side of the aisle (or altogether outside of the power struggle between Republicans and Democrats).
Educating students on the burning issues of the day and involving them in timely and timeless debates are vital functions of any university. The arguments to which students are exposed and the general atmosphere of the learning environment profoundly impact their opinions and lifestyle. This was George Pepperdine’s reason for founding a place of higher education as Frosh Follies has instilled in us.
It is a disservice to students and society to ignore arguments from diverse perspectives – whether that diversity is political religious or racial. Well-informed minds experienced in weighing arguments from all sides will make better personal professional and political decisions.
Perhaps the greatest benefit in increasing the diversity of guest speakers will come to those who strongly disagree with a given speaker – mentally wrestling with the opposing opinion will either correct their flawed thinking or strengthen their opinion.
And conceivably challenging perspectives will keep students awake during Convocation.
Liberal students may currently feel overwhelmed on campus but Pepperdine’s conservative reputation may be misleading – more students voted for President Barack Obama than for John McCain according to a Graphic poll of more than 1000 students taken just before the presidential election. Obama spread his message well despite the conservative and republican preferences other opinions – whether liberal or libertarian – may never be articulated as well to Pepperdine students.
Leading Democratic figures have visited Pepperdine but Caldwell’s statistics and the experience of most Pepperdine students show that equality is a distant goal.
Pepperdine would do well to utilize resources like Doug Kmiec the School of Law professor who helped Obama to his victory to attract more diverse viewpoints.
Granted the political spectrum holds countless perspectives not just two and one person’s moderate is another’s liberal loon. However the Graphic applauds the Coalition for Balance for recognizing the problem and contributing to the solution.
Others should join that conversation.
This struggle will not pull the campus apart. Instead powerful speakers from the left and the right together can straighten the Theme Tower and the ideals it represents.