Smith College and the bravery of Jodi Shaw
From our US edition
‘We have racism and sexism raging on the left.’ Those are words I didn’t expect to hear from deep inside the East Coast, elite liberal arts college culture — from a person with everything to lose by saying them. Let’s take a journey to the heartland of wokeness, the western Massachusetts college town of Northampton; and in particular, one of its biggest employers, Smith College. Smith, established in 1875, has long been a Mecca of sorts for the burdened white girl. Famous alumnae include Sylvia Plath, Betty Friedan and the statuesque firebrand Gloria Steinem, who no doubt began formulating her ideas on female oppression while at Smith — perhaps in part due to the actions of her fiancé at the time.
