To the Editor:
I was disappointed to see a shallow and inaccurate portrayal of the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal in the most recent issue of The Chronicle Review. In “Fascism and the University” (September 2), Jason Stanley mischaracterizes the goal of the center, saying that we want to change education so that it will “produce obedient citizens structurally obliged to enter the work force without bargaining power, and ideologically trained to think that the dominant group represents history’s greatest civilizational forces.”
This could not be further from the truth. Since its inception, the Martin Center (formerly the Pope Center) has championed free speech and viewpoint diversity on campus. We want more discussion, inquiry, and exploration on campus — not less. To that end, we have been strong proponents of meaningful general education programs, where students should learn to reason and gain an awareness of the world’s most important ideas. Foremost among those ideas are the ones that underpin liberal learning: freedom of conscience and mutual toleration.
We do not want, as Stanley suggests, to substitute one campus orthodoxy for another. Instead, we want the university to return to its original mission — the pursuit of truth.
Jenna A. Robinson
President
The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal
