402
PARTISAN REVIEW
William Phillips:
I see.
c.
Vann Woodward:
Of course if there are that many, if there's that
percentage of people with intelli gence and integrity and courage, I
would be surprised. But I don't believe that that other side, if described
by those terms, is eighty percent. The minorities are important if you can
get representatives of them. If you can come out strongly, I think it's
important to do so.
William Phillips:
It seems to me that if eighty percent are opposed,
we don't have to do anything.
Edith Kurzweil:
William, you yourself spoke of a vocal minority and
of a non-vocal majority.
AI Shanker:
All this wi ll do is help the non-vocal contingent to speak
up . To let them know that if they speak up they won 't be alone, and
that a majority would stand by them.
Roger Kimball:
It would be interesting
to
know w hat kind of results
you'd get if you conducted that poll at Duke or at Princeton.
Jean Elshtain:
I am not opposed to polling, but I'm just wondering
how helpful that would be in getting at the issues we've been talking
about. In part for some very good reasons. Our culture sustains and
sometimes even celebrates the minority position, even a minority of one.
I'm concerned that students see their timid professors withdrawing and
all owing small groups to define the nature of intellectual discourse. For
whatever they're learning in the classroom, they ' re also learning that if
they're going
to
make their way it's best
to
till your own garden, do
your own work, and pay no attention to what's going on around you,
or
to
become part of a very determined and ideologically conformist
group engaged in power play . That's the lesson that's being taught, and
that's very unfortunate . I don't think we're going to change that
through showing how many are moderates, or conservatives, or how
they self-identify. Universities are peculiar also, because a few people can
make all sorts of noise and have an influence far beyond their actual
number. That's why it's so important, it seems to me, for people to
speak out, to take a stand. For all the bruises one incurs that would do
more than polling every institution.
Arthur Schlesinger:
It wou ld encourage people to see that they're not
