Despite its blatant contradictions to Holy Cross’s mission statement, to Jesuit values, and to the objectives of Catholic education, the College’s “Ask More” tagline is decidedly appropriate for the current state of the school. Rooted in fallacies and dangerous inconsistencies, the now five-year-old motto is not only a direct source of the College’s intellectual and cultural decline, but it has also fundamentally distorted the College’s mission as an educational institution – whether those behind the motto acknowledge so or not. Because of the “Ask More” motto and its inevitable philosophical consequences, Holy Cross has devolved, on an institutional level, from a campus of higher learning to a campus void of answers, a campus void of lasting knowledge, and a campus void of truth.
In February 2014, Fenwick Review co-founder Fr. Paul Scalia said in an interview that his experience as a Holy Cross student could best be summarized as “the constant questioning, but never the articulation of an answer.” Scalia continued: “Once we say the purpose of a college is to ask questions, […] that’s a huge problem.” As Scalia rightly noted, the act of questioning innately presupposes an answer; interpersonal dialogue in and of itself – both formal and informal – is contingent upon the existence of truth and an underlying desire to reach it. But that’s not how many Holy Cross professors and administrators are inclined to approach their lectures and class discussions. Holy Cross’s version of ‘asking’ is not based upon seeking the truth or reaching a final conclusion, but on needless exposure and experimentation for their own sake.
The College’s “Campus Life” webpage suggests that “deep exploration” and the “uncover[ing of] new perspectives” are valued above all else. The Montserrat program’s webpage indicates the program “encourages engagement” and “fuels an enduring quest” for “growth.” The Office of Diversity and Inclusion purports “the best way to understand the world around us is to embrace the full spectrum of perspectives and life experiences.” And the list goes on. Several courses and seminars I have taken during my time at Holy Cross introduced students to a wide assortment of “perspectives” and “experiences,” but never once sought to analyze or dissect them, to dig deeper, or to – dare I say – answer any of the questions professors so tirelessly pose. A multitude of perspectives can be noble and worthwhile, but only when presented in a way that compares and contrasts them – in a way that acknowledges their flaws and their fine points and isn’t afraid to elevate one over the other, or cast one aside because it might fall short. When teaching their classes, it seems many Holy Cross professors are consumed with following endless roadmaps with infinite numbers of twists and turns, divergent paths, and no destination anywhere in sight. Just as roadmaps might be deemed useless if they fail to direct one to a final destination, the act of ‘asking more’ is fruitless and meaningless when answers are abandoned and truth is left unacknowledged. Asking without any intention of answering can only lead one down an eternal rabbit hole of uncertainty, indecision, and emptiness.
Unfortunately, the College’s apathy towards truth is not limited to the classroom. The administration and student offices have taken up similar methods: the bleak intellectual consequences of ‘asking more’ have bled over to other components of the school and have further exposed the fallacious nature of one of the College’s most highly touted marketing slogans. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education labeled three of Holy Cross’s policies and codes of conduct as “red light policies,” indicating they are guidelines that “clearly and substantially restrict freedom of speech.” In its Use of Information Technology Services policy, for instance, Holy Cross leadership states that “the determination of what is obscene, offensive or intolerant is within the sole discretion of the College.” Its Code of Student Conduct for Emotional Abuse denotes that “emotional injury” – for which the College offers no reliable definition – is considered a violation of community standards. Four additional rules and guidelines are categorized as “yellow light policies,” which the Foundation describes as having the capability to “easily be used to restrict protected expression.”
For a college that prides itself on “asking more,” encouraging “engagement,” and promoting an “enduring quest” for “growth,” aren’t free speech restrictions of any sort antithetical to the school’s mission and branding campaign? If the “power of a question and the door it opens” is truly the “fundamental idea” behind the Holy Cross experience, as the school itself asserts, why should the College have the right to silence students based on what it subjectively perceives as “emotional injury” or “intolerant”? If all ideas and perspectives must be acknowledged and discussed on equal playing fields, what gives the supposed champions of ‘asking more’ a right to shut them down? Here lies the problem with the morally relativistic and multicultural lenses through which the College is entrapped: if truth does not exist or is not worth pursuing, why should Holy Cross administrators have the right to tell one that his “perspective” is wrong or intolerant? If all “perspectives” are equally valid and worth exploring, then why aren’t some? Perhaps most importantly, how does censorship of “emotional injury” complement one’s “enduring quest” for “growth”? The College that insists exposure to a multitude of perspectives is the basis for intellectual and personal growth should not be the College that flaunts its “sole discretion” to determine what might not be an acceptable perspective. One cannot logically direct a body of students to “ask more,” but only up until someone’s feelings are hurt.
The “Ask More” tagline aptly characterizes the general academic and cultural atmosphere on the Holy Cross campus as palpably self-contradictory. Of course, not every professor or every class abides by this faulty approach: intellectual honesty and appreciation for truth have not yet been not entirely terminated from campus, but they seem to be lessening every new semester. Catholic Jesuit education is built upon pursuit of the truth. Holy Cross’s own mission statement, ironically enough, calls for “a passion for truth.” When will we start living up to it?
Truth is not always easy. The quest for truth can be distressing, onerous, and at times downright infuriating. But that doesn’t mean it’s worth forsaking. The act of ‘asking more’ is noble, but asking must lead somewhere or to something. A restoration of meaning, purpose, and value would lead to immeasurable improvement and would do infinite good for Holy Cross’s campus. As St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, wrote, “It is not much knowledge that fills and satisfies the soul, but the intimate understanding and relish of the truth.” In order for Holy Cross to live up to its strong potential as a Catholic liberal arts institution, it must shift from the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake to the pursuit of knowledge for the attainment of what is true and what is good. Like truth itself, Holy Cross is worth protecting. It is in seeking the answer, not the question, that we can open our minds, revitalize our intellect, and reach our potential as a campus of higher learning.