During my years at Minnesota universities, we argued — and listened — and we were better for it. Now, inhibition rules the day.
Grant F. Smith, Star Tribune, 12 October 2007
The other morning I removed my Masters in International Management degree from the office wall and carefully pulled it out of the frame. I held it in my hands and considered a chaotic journey of discovery during a campus era that has now come to an abrupt end. Born in the Minneapolis suburbs, I did not have to travel far for an exciting education. The University of Minnesota was a thrilling place to learn in the mid-1980s.
Most stimulating for me were the perpetual classroom and campus debates. My first day in a philosophy class titled “Life of the Mind” opened with a pitched verbal battle between a proud semisocialistic professor and a rabidly free-market freshman. Their verbal sparring over the course’s reading list benefited me greatly and set the tone for what was in store for me on campus.
At the time, I had no idea what the term “political correctness” meant, or what the possible tradeoffs were between the quest for individual wealth and social welfare. It was all new, heady and contentious stuff.