Henry Kissam ’20 News Reporter
During a school meeting last Fall, Head of School Katie Titus first used the phrase “courageous conversations.” For those unfamiliar with this term, it essentially means starting a conversation about a controversial topic and listening to viewpoints that might be uncomfortable to hear. Despite this, conservative students on campus feel as if their views are stifled. As a conservative student myself, I am inclined to agree.
While I think that traditional conservative views are stifled, I acknowledge that it is not necessarily intentional. A common complaint among the silent minority is the lack of right-leaning speakers invited to speak at Mercersburg Academy. Even when the nature of the speech is not political, there often times is a clear liberal bias. Take Molly Smith, our most recent Monday night speaker, for example. Disregarding the central purpose of her speech, her words contained a definite political lean. In my four years here at Mercersburg Academy, we have only heard from one conservative woman who focused on the importance of respectful discourse, and a libertarian in favor of open borders.
The speakers invited to our school simply do not adequately represent the conservative point of view. As a school, we claim to seek out courageous conversations, yet the speakers we bring to campus represent only one side of the political spectrum. Moreover, I encourage you to ask your teachers about their political views to see for yourself the dearth of conservative faculty here at Mercersburg. Although our faculty do a phenomenal job of keeping these biases out of the classroom, I personally find the lack of intellectual diversity disheartening. Looking back at our school meetings, the root problem is that the committee in charge of selecting the speakers lacks a conservative voice. Thus, a lack of adequate representation is unavoidable, and many students find their point of view silenced or even demeaned.
The conservative party is misunderstood, and the negative reaction I have received from some of my peers after learning about my political leanings serves as a proof. Racist, misogynist, xenophobe, homophobe, etc. These are the words so often used to describe conservatives, and that has consequently put a negative label on the entire party. In reality, however, that is the extreme minority. Charlottesville, the Unite the Right rally, is not the conservative party line I identify with. I favor a small government, support state rights, and disprove of taxes; I do not want to ban abortion, discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community, or close our borders. In other words, the same issues that people with different political leanings are passionate about are the ones I care about: immigration, healthcare, the justice system, education, gun control, etc. We all agree that problems exist, but the disagreement lies in how we approach the solution. The root of my belief is that the private sector should be utilized to solve societal problems, and this is also the foundation on which conservatism was built. Nevertheless, not once have I heard a speaker on this campus share similar views. In fact, even teachers rarely express support for this viewpoint.
I am often told to qualify my arguments and that I am too set in my ways, yet my more liberal peers do not receive similar comments when they lack evidence for their assertion. Whether intentionally or not, Mercersburg Academy has failed to responsibly represent the conservative viewpoint. It is paramount that we as a society learn to understand those with differing views, thus it is our school’s duty, as an academic institution, to foster this crucial understanding. Mercersburg Academy strives to create greater understanding for diverse groups of people; however, the conservative voices are left behind.