Debate at Dartmouth! WAH-HOO-WAH

I only had 2 days "in the office" this week, and then I was off to Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH for an ISI Cicero's Podium Debate between Harvey Mansfield of Harvard and Professor Peter Travis, (English Professor) of Dartmouth on the topic, "Is Manliness a Virtue in a Free Society?" This was a great debate. In about a couple months, it will appear on the ISI website.

Before the debate, I didn't know what to expect. Also, beforehand, we had dinner with about 10 students from Dartmouth, representing the Dartmouth Review, the College Republicans and the ISI Group that is forming there, and Harvey Mansfield was there as well. He is absolutely awesome by the way.

When the debate kicked off, both sides made some good points and represented their side well... and then Professor Travis just made some ridiculous (and ridiculously weird) comments... among them were that "there are more than 2 genders" (i'm paraphrasing) and that there "are at least 5 or 6 genders". Say what? I had to ask myself, "did he really just say that?"

He also said he was hopeful that we are perhaps entering "a queer age" and then cited the Kinsey report (yea, that nutty professor from about 50 years ago) as some kind of precedent on sexuality. Yes, these are the professors who are running things at our universities. They think they are someone "progressive" in their thinking. They're weird, that's it. He even referred to his wife as his "partner". It's like the guy wants to be gay but isn't. Why not? Because it's not natural. The politics this guy is playing is that he wants us to be a "gender neutral" society in EVERY aspect. That's just a sick idea. One conservative professor who was in the audience told me later that the most important point against that idea was never made - women can get pregnant, men can't. Case closed on gender differences.

Anyway, the debate was interesting. Afterwards, the 11 students from Thomas More College who came up for the debate joined me and about 5-6 students from Dartmouth, plus Harvey Mansfield and one other conservative professor from Dartmouth at a local establishment, where dessert and drinks were enjoyed. It was a good time, and great conversation ensued for about 2 hours or so. The TMC students are great and I am going to go hang out with them on Friday night and visit their campus for a "Friday night lecture" before I head back to Wilmington.

And, don't get me wrong, the Dartmouth students were awesome as well. I met Noah (forget his last name) who is the Student Body President at Dartmouth. His convocation speech made national attention a month back or so when he told the incoming freshman class about following moral leaders and used Jesus Christ as an example of a moral leader. His ideas were cited as controversial because a few students thought his use of Jesus as an example of a moral leader was "inappropriate". Yep, this at a school that was founded by a religious sect. It's not longer a religious school by affiliation, but why can't Noah express his opinions in a convocation speech when professors express theirs every day in the classroom? I was happy to meet Noah and he was a really excellent individual, totally was above my already high expectations.

Scott and Mike from Dartmouth also invited me and the TMC students to visit the office of the historic Dartmouth Review. It was a very impressive office (very big) and they gave us all a free Dartmouth "Indian" t-shirts (it was the old "Indian" mascot that was banned in the 1970s, but the Review staff keeps it alive by selling merchandise with the Indian logo on it. I've always wanted a Dartmouth Indian t-shirt and I finally got one.

Scott and Matt (leader of the CR's) also invited me back to their frat (which was keeping the party going at 1am or so), where I beat them in a game of beer pong and won a Dartmouth College Republican t-shirt from Matt. After about an hour at the frat house, I honestly had to get out of there. I just felt way too old for that. The beer was a 'flowin' and it was fun, but it had been a seriously long day. The President of the Review gave me a ride back to my hotel and I called it a night about 1:40 AM. Gotta love the Ivy League college life... prepartion, dinners, debates, drinks, dessert, office time, and a frat party.