Republicans are making inroads at a traditional liberal stronghold: the Ivy League
This semester, Brown University is offering a new course on political conservatism. The university said the course is unrelated to current events and reflects Brown’s commitment to “broad-based academic inquiry and intellectual exploration.’’
But the fact that the Leadership Institute — a group dedicated to increasing “the number and effectiveness of conservative students, activists, and leaders in the public policy process’’ — sent out a congratulatory press release reflects another reality.
Conservatives believe they won at least a tiny beachhead in a sea of academic liberalism. With help from the Leadership Institute, similar courses are now offered at American University and the University of Virginia. Coincidental or not, the course in conservatism comes to Brown as power shifts from Democrats to Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Tea Party agitates to redirect the country’s political conversation to the right.
The independent study course — Modern Conservatism in America: Conservative Thought in the 20th Century — was designed by five students in collaboration with Steven G. Calabresi, a visiting professor of political science with a high profile in conservative legal and political circles. Calabresi, a Northwestern University law professor, co-founded the Federalist Society, the nation’s leading forum for conservative and libertarian thinking about the law and its impact on public policy. He also served in the Reagan and first Bush administrations, advised Attorney General Edwin Meese III and wrote speeches for former Vice President Dan Quayle.
Terrence George, a Brown sophomore who helped put the course together, said it “isn’t meant to indoctrinate anybody, but to inform people about a perspective they would not hear about.
“The history of intellectual conservatism at Brown is a history denied,’’ he declared.“;There are some people who do believe that being a conservative means you support the Iraq War and hate gay people,’’ said George. “I think that’s unfortunate. I aim to snuff that thinking out.’’
No political party or philosophy is entirely monolithic. But the conservative agenda does include a commitment to lower taxes, reduced government regulation, resistance to environmentalism, support for military intervention overseas, the right to bear arms, tough anti-immigration policies, and opposition to abortion and gay marriage.
