Freedom Wins at Dartmouth

When George Gilder showed up at Dartmouth on the afternoon of May 13, he had only the faintest notion that he had become not only a local cause célèbre, but also an issue the implications of which went far beyond the local. A kind of intellectual convulsion had preceded his visit. Gilder, of course, is the author of Sexual Suicide and Naked Nomads. I had known him myself when he was a liberal Republican speechwriter in the Nixon presidential campaign of 1968. George Gilder—the focus of passionate controversy? But in early May Gilder had been canceled at Yale, under circumstances still unclear, and then he was canceled at Dartmouth, under circumstances all too clear. Determined radicals on the faculty had transformed Gilder into a sexual Ron Ziegler.

Gilder’s talk had originally been commissioned by an arm of the college called the Tucker Foundation, as part of a series on relations between the sexes, with special attention to their social and political aspects. The Tucker Foundation is itself a rather peculiar entity. It has its remote roots in a vaguely Protestant brand of moral uplift, but it is certainly far removed from any specifically religious or theological concerns. In recent years it has interpreted its uplift mission as meaning almost exclusively liberal-left advocacy. Thus the sexual role series this year had been heavily feminist in content— not just pro-woman, but ideologically feminist, the woman as victim and liberatee. As we will see, this doctrine has inclusions and exclusions. The sexual role series has featured, for example, a presentation by a group of radical feminists from New York, the radical feminist lawyers Brenda and Marc Feigen-Fasteau, and other ideological feminists. Just how George Gilder slipped into this particular deck is not altogether clear. When Gilder’s invitation became generally known, however, a kind of informal standing caucus of feminists and/or radicals immediately protested to Dean Warner Traynham, the black head of the Tucker Foundation, who then canceled the invitation.

About the Author

Jeffrey Hart

Jeffrey Hart is a contributor to National Review.

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When George Gilder showed up at Dartmouth on the afternoon of May 13, he had only the faintest notion that he had become not only a local cause célèbre, but also an issue the implications of which went far beyond the local. A kind of intellectual convulsion had preceded his visit. Gilder, of course, is the author of Sexual Suicide and Naked Nomads. I had known him myself when he was a liberal Republican speechwriter in the Nixon presidential campaign of 1968. George Gilder—the focus of passionate controversy? But in early May Gilder had been canceled at Yale, under circumstances still unclear, and then he was canceled at Dartmouth, under circumstances all too clear. Determined radicals on the faculty had transformed Gilder into a sexual Ron Ziegler.

Gilder’s talk had originally been commissioned by an arm of the college called the Tucker Foundation, as part of a series on relations between the sexes, with special attention to their social and political aspects. The Tucker Foundation is itself a rather peculiar entity. It has its remote roots in a vaguely Protestant brand of moral uplift, but it is certainly far removed from any specifically religious or theological concerns. In recent years it has interpreted its uplift mission as meaning almost exclusively liberal-left advocacy. Thus the sexual role series this year had been heavily feminist in content— not just pro-woman, but ideologically feminist, the woman as victim and liberatee. As we will see, this doctrine has inclusions and exclusions. The sexual role series has featured, for example, a presentation by a group of radical feminists from New York, the radical feminist lawyers Brenda and Marc Feigen-Fasteau, and other ideological feminists. Just how George Gilder slipped into this particular deck is not altogether clear. When Gilder’s invitation became generally known, however, a kind of informal standing caucus of feminists and/or radicals immediately protested to Dean Warner Traynham, the black head of the Tucker Foundation, who then canceled the invitation.