Re: “Letter to the editor: Give us liberty from liberal elite faculty” (Feb. 18, Page D3):

One of the main things that a college education teaches students to do is to think critically: to learn how to separate fact from fiction, understand cause and effect, consider consequences of actions and use evidence and reason to arrive at fair conclusions. Perhaps the reason that there are more liberals than conservatives in our universities is that they are more likely to adhere to this intellectually disciplined process of evaluating information.

Republicans have, for many years, been the anti-education, anti-science party, from attempting to underfund public education to denying global warming. They seem to want to keep the populace ignorant and unable to think for themselves.

Though I too believe that there must be diversity in the marketplace of ideas, and that universities should invite more conservative views into their halls, every idea must stand or fall based on the evidence that supports it. Notions that conflict with reality ought not to be accepted.

Unlike Charles Todorich in his letter of Feb. 18, I would rather be governed by someone who is informed, open-minded and fair than someone who sticks to his or her position no matter what the evidence shows. Our survival on this planet depends on it.

Nancy O’Hagan

Portland


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