To the Editor:
I write as a retired English and history teacher to protest the use of the term “conservative” to describe the politics of the current Republican party in Matthew McGowen’s article about Representative Tom Reed’s recent visit with 12 campus Republicans.
I also marvel that a presumably well-educated college student quoted in the article can question why he might experience some “social backlash” at Cornell wearing clothing bearing the name of a president who calls climate change a hoax, extols “pussy grabbing” on a campus (like all other college campuses) where sexual assault is a serious problem and refers to the nations of origin of many Cornell students as “shithole countries.”
I’d love to have any of the twelve students who met with Reed explain to me what any of the above characterizations have in common with political conservatism, and I suggest that all of these students, along with Matthew McGowen, ought to take a survey political science course while at Cornell.
I must also add that it offers us “left-leaning Ithacans” some pleasure to learn that Reed’s visit attracted 12 twelve students on a campus of 24,123. It looks like education might be working!
Barbara Regenspan