The college campus is the place for diverse ideas. It is the location where differing views of the world, politics, religion and morality collide oftentimes at great speeds with varying amounts of force. The problem or perhaps more correctly, the risk, posed to those in charge of regulating ideas and those holding them is to believe that these diverse ideas and opinions are completely safe from criticism and evaluation.

I know, questioning the sanctity of others’ opinions is very, very faux pas, and to expect others to jump on the bandwagon I am pulling is a bit naïve. This disregard for blind ideological pluralism is tantamount to stealing, lying or even adultery. (I’ll ignore how culturally acceptable these acts seem to be for the purpose of argument.) Withstanding these sentiments, I’d like to argue that there is some virtue in being able to admit, and say, to another person “You are wrong about that” because reality states that amid such varying claims to truth someone has to be right, and someone wrong.

Reality states this in the form of the law of non-contradiction, which is a boring way to say that it cannot be raining and not raining at the same time. It states that two or more contradictory ideas cannot be simultaneously true.

Popularly, it seems that this confrontational stance to academic interaction implies something more akin to “Your idea is wrong, and you are an indecent person for thinking that way.” Although some could think that way, it is neither directly implied nor courteous to think that way (in most cases).

So what would this utopia look like? First, more debates and more debating. Formally and informally, people need to express what they think and why they don’t think what others do. Again, there is nothing inherently criminal in expressing disagreement. Sometimes it even feels nice.

Secondly, people would need to take some courage to ask questions of other’s diversity. Understanding precedes questioning. College shouldn’t be a place where we can think or are encouraged to think that everyone is exactly like us. They’re not nor should they be.

As a last consideration, College shouldn’t be a place where we are led to think that there are no problems or that the problems are not pressing. Most of the world’s problems have a translated reality within the College, and hoping that differences won’t matter much is truly naïve.

Respecting diversity requires that we realize that each person is worthy of respect. It doesn’t require that we accept or respect any idea that any person passes our way. Doing the whole “you think that and I think this and we can agree to disagree” is inherently disrespectful. It says either “This person isn’t worth a proper explanation” or “This person is dumb enough to buy that two opposite things can be true at the same time.”

In the end, the inability to critically analyze new ideas before “respecting” or “accepting” them will ruin higher education. Some argue it already is.

Step on people’s toes. Attack other’s ideas. Poke holes in arguments. Respect everyone, whether you like them or not, but please, don’t automatically do the same for their ideas.