'Weekly Standard' editor discusses politics

Bill Kristol has often disappointed audiences expecting to be entertained by popular comedian Billy Crystal. But the more than 30 people who gathered in Bennett Hall's Penniman Library last week waited to hear Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, talk about the serious subject of the Republican view of the humanities. English Department Chairperson Wendy Steiner began the discussion with her own questions and then solicited others from the audience. In her introductory remarks, Steiner said the English Department brought Kristol to speak as part of a series of lectures on how literary thinking can be used in various professions. "We wanted to educate ourselves about what the Republican Party thinks about higher education and the humanities," she said. Kristol, who used to be a Political Science professor at the University, said he enjoyed his homecoming. "It was fun to come back and get beat up a little bit," he said afterward. Both Steiner and the audience members focused their questions on Kristol's view of intellectuals. "Intellectuals have a lot to answer for," Kristol said. "They enjoy loosening ideas on the world without being held for the consequences of these ideas." Calling for "less theory and more common sense," Kristol cited communism and fascism as intellectual theories which have had harsh consequences in reality. He also discussed his ideas on public education. Kristol suggested that the quality of public education at the university level could be improved by giving more money to fewer institutions. "One good Ph.D. program is better than five second-rate Ph.D. programs," Kristol said. "I think that's something state legislatures and governors should look at when considering how to make cuts." He talked about the prevalence of political correctness in higher education, especially at public institutions which receive state funding. "There are formal and especially informal pressures for political correctness," he said. "However, the main assault on political correctness has come from within the universities themselves." He also noted that most people go to public elementary and secondary schools, specifically focusing on the overcentralization of the public school system. "Kids who could learn much more don't get to," he said. "We should decentralize and pluralize, and use vouchers to give parents more control." Kristol also discussed how personalities like Rush Limbaugh can transcend the gap between intellectuals and the common man. "Limbaugh takes the ideas of The Wall Street Journal and George Will and uses humor and cult appeal to translate them for the general public," he said. In addition, he talked about his views on organizations like the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. He suggested that the government should not fund art, for example, in order to avoid controversy over what types of art should and should not be supported. English Professor John Richetti said he admired Kristol for speaking to the generally liberal crowd. "Kristol was brave to come into a lions' den because he was obviously speaking to an audience that would by definition be hostile," he said. "There aren't a lot of Republicans in the English Department."

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