Last year, I had the unusual opportunity to participate in a disputation held by the Peucinian Society, the undergraduate organization that featured prominently in your Nov. 12 story about free speech at Bowdoin College (“How Bowdoin College came to mirror the country’s national free speech debate).

These gatherings, at which challenging propositions are dissected and discussed (as opposed to debated in the conventional sense) are not open to the public. But my daughter, then a Bowdoin senior, was one of the society’s officers and she knew the subject that evening was of particular interest to me as a lawyer. So she got me in.

What I observed then was inconsistent with your claim that the Peucinian Society’s reputation for fostering free speech had become “strained.” Yes, this was long before the Charlie Kirk assassination but then, as now, campus free speech was a screamingly live issue. I was especially impressed by the part of the event that involved taking a stroll around the quad to chat with someone whose position differed from mine. 

Overall, what struck me about the Peucinian Society — as the dad of an unapologetically progressive officer of the group — is what a safe haven it is for conservative students on a predominantly liberal campus. 

I say “is” because the Peucinian Society described in your article seems identical to the one I encountered. Thus, what is truly strained is the implication that the Peucinian Society is anything but a stellar example of the kind of open and inclusive political culture that deserves to thrive on a campus like Bowdoin.

Donald Kreis
Concord, N.H.