Dear pre-frosh,

Come to Wesleyan! I say that most enthusiastically. My four years at Wes were great, and I still visit frequently since I reside in Connecticut. But I must remind you that there is a difference between “keeping an open mind about things” and conforming to the norms or the “Orwellian Groupthink,” as Martin Benjamin ’57 discusses in his April 4 “Open Letter to President Roth” (Volume CXLIII, Number 37).

Comparing Old Wes with the Wesleyan of today, Benjamin raises the point that “Today, instead of ’Be yourselves!’ the tune is ’DON’T be yourselves!’” He alludes to Frosh “Disorientation” week’s force-feedings of liberal indoctrination masked as diversity training.

During my freshmen orientation week, I did not attend what I was told was a mandatory queer workshop, known as a BiLeGaTA. I asked fellow students who attended this workshop what exactly happened there. Some said that it was a positive experience, and others said that it was just plain dumb. As www.wesleyan.edu/weshistory/queergroups/queergroups.html describes it:

“Everyone taking the workshop, regardless of their orientation, stands up and says ’I am a gay man,’ or ’I am a lesbian.’ The experience can be very powerful, and has led to scores of students coming out of the closet and becoming active in GLBA.”

So, everyone there is compelled to declare that they are queer, even if they’re straight. Friends, this is not a powerful experience. This is brainwashing and forced indoctrination. These BiLeGaTAs also teach that gender is a social construct, there are more than two genders, and gender-neutral pronouns should be utilized. Many of these ideas hold little water in the “real” world. Even the editors of the New York Times would consider “ze” and “hir” to be typos. So I’m here to tell you that freshmen should not be told that attendance at these BiLeGaTAs is mandatory. By the way, I was not punished for not attending.

If these BiLeGaTAs take place to help queers on campus be comfortable with who they are, why not cater to conservatives, a clear minority on campus? We can have diversity training on their behalf. Everyone can stand up and say, “I am a Republican,” or “I am pro-life,” or “Ronald Reagan should be on the dime.” This experience can be very powerful, and it may lead to scores of students coming out of the closet and becoming active in the Wesleyan Republicans. This conservative BiLeGaTA can also teach students about the differences between abortion and infanticide, as well as explain the reasons why a smaller government is, as Democrat Thomas Jefferson said, best.

Of course, not everyone would want to attend such a workshop, perhaps because they disagree with what would be taught there, or maybe because they already know to treat people with respect (perhaps by following “What would Jesus do?”), regardless of race, class, sexual orientation, political beliefs, etc.

So I call for the incoming class of 2012, as well as all other classes, to think for yourselves! Wesleyan, like all colleges, will change you and help shape who you become, hopefully for the better, but it should not cause you to lose your individuality and ability to think for yourself. Nor should it force-feed students liberal ideology.