I suppose this is easy for me to say over my blog, but I wouldn't sign it. Nor abide by it, even if I did sign it. Kindness is no friend to intellectual advancement, which is what college's ought to be in the business of...
...maybe they ought to have an integrity pledge instead. I'd sign that.
From Postrel:
Kindness isn’t a public or intellectual virtue, but a personal one. It is a form of love. Kindness seeks, above all, to avoid hurt. Criticism -- even objective, impersonal, well- intended, constructive criticism -- isn’t kind. Criticism hurts people’s feelings, and it hurts most when the recipient realizes it’s accurate. Treating “kindness” as the way to civil discourse doesn’t show students how to argue with accuracy and respect. It teaches them instead to neither give criticism nor tolerate it.
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