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BY APOLLINE BERTY

In print | Published March 8, 2007

Lang Visiting Professor George Lakey achieved notoriety in the “Dirty Dozen” rankings released this past December by the conservative watchdog group Young America’s Foundation.

Lakey’s class on “Nonviolent Responses to Terrorism” was listed as “one of the most bizarre and troubling instances of leftist activism supplanting traditional scholarship in our nation’s colleges and universities,” according to the group’s Web site.

The “Dirty Dozen” also includes classes such as Occidental College’s “The Phallus,” Mount Holyoke College’s “Whiteness: The Other Side of Racism,” Johns Hopkins University’s “Mail Order Brides: Understanding the Philippines in Southeast Asian Context” and many others.

Several “dishonorable mentions” fell just short of the top 12. The runners-up included two more Swarthmore classes: “Peace Study in Action” and “Renaissance Sexualities.”

Professor Lakey said he was “proud to have made the dirty dozen” after a career of contradicting prevailing political conventions through outspoken activism.

“I was one of the early people to see through the Vietnam War and nuclear power as an energy solution,” Lakey said. “I started advocating against racism at 12 years old. So, in a way, the point of my life has been to come out with views that are not widely accepted. I’m always proud when my opponents think I’m worthy of being paid attention to.”

As pleased as Lakey was that his class had earned the opprobrium of conservative watchdogs, he was even prouder of his students for choosing to take a class that he doubts will enhance their occupational prospects. “I don’t think that choosing this course will help their careers much. My students are brave to embark on something when we are not at all sure it will be successful,” Lakey said.

Lucy Warrington ‘10 expressed enthusiasm that the course had been designated as one of the “Dirty Dozen.” "I’m pretty proud of it," Warrington said. “I’m not usually into rankings, but I’m hoping for as close to number one as possible.”

Bethanne Albert-Bruninga ‘10, also one of Lakey’s students, described the ranking as “pretty cool. Actually it’s really cool. I like doing what the conservatives tell me not to do,” Albert-Bruninga said.

Ishita Kharode ‘08 said she was uncertain as to why the class qualified for the “Dirty Dozen” rankings. "I was trying to find out why it was on that list and I don’t think they really explained it," Kharode said.

Lakey said his class is controversial because he attempts to refute the political convention that problems can be rectified through violent acts.

“It has been a fundamental assumption for the longest time, as fundamental as believing the earth is flat. And anyone that challenges such a basic assumption is bound to be called crazy,” Lakey said.

Lakey added that many advocates of nonviolent political action, most notably Mahatma Gandhi, have been discredited as “crazy.” “So I understand where [Young America’s Foundation] is coming from, because the view that nonviolence can be powerful is hard to believe,” Lakey said.

Kharode said, “The most interesting courses are usually the ones that are the least conventional.”

Lakey contrasted his conservative critics with “people on the left who think it’s good to think out of the box, and believe that creativity and innovation are good things.” Conservatives, by contrast, “believe that staying with the time-honored ways is best,” Lakey said.

During the first half of the semester, students enrolled in “Nonviolent Responses to Terrorism” read “Waging Nonviolent Struggle” by Gene Sharp and “Dying To Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism” by Robert A. Pape, as well as a series of case studies of past nonviolent struggles.

According to Lakey, the second part of the semester will be geared toward a final term paper, in which students will propose nonviolent solutions to current terrorist threats.

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