Jo Becker, writing in Vice:
In every class I've had at Shimer, women have struggled to speak and be heard. I've had classes where students had panic attacks and had to leave. One student, an undocumented Latina woman was called a "wetback" by a professor in casual conversation. Why should anyone pay tens of thousands of dollars into debt only to have their basic humanity disrespected?
I’ve been fascinated with Shimer for the past little while. In large part that’s been due to Adam Kotsko’s blogging. Kotsko is a Shimer professor and believes in the pedagogy and the curriculum. Much of his writing has been about his experience teaching Islam and the Qur’an. So, though I knew Shimer was based on the Great Books tradition, I thought that was balanced by an emphasis on women and minority voices in dialogue with that tradition, and that the culture of the college was in line with that dialogue. I’m disappointed to find out it isn’t so.
