Interviews

Why Williams student Zachary Wood brings conservative speakers to campus

“College is arguably the best time and place for us to push our intellectual limits.”

Zachary Wood is president of Uncomfortable Learning, a student group at Williams College in Massa­chusetts that brings in speakers with an eye toward broadening the range of political discourse on campus. Speakers have included sociologist Charles Murray, National Review writer Jonah Goldberg, and economist Richard Vedder.

What led you to join Uncomfortable Learning?

In October of my freshman year, Uncomfortable Learning brought to campus Randall Kennedy, a professor at Harvard Law School, to discuss his book Nigger: The Strange Career of a Trouble­some Word. At the event, I asked Ken­nedy a pointed question that caught the attention of Uncomfortable Learn­ing’s leaders, and they later asked me to join the club.