And time gives you some perspective, but there are certain things in life that really, really grip you, and the way I feel about my experience at Davidson is something that I wouldn’t say I’ve changed my opinion about. I wasn’t overreacting, [Davidson] was really stifling for anyone who was even remotely different from a white, Protestant person.
Dr. Sara Gebhardt was raised in Bethesda Maryland and graduated from Davidson in 1998. She went on to receive her PhD from Harvard University and now teaches adjunct at George Washington University and manages her own communications firm.
Summary: Sara Gebhardt recounts her experience going from a largely liberal, diverse, and pluralistic environment in the suburbs of Washington D.C. to Davidson, which felt “20 years behind.” While at Davidson, she was a member of the field hockey team, studied abroad in Spain, and wrote for Libertas. During her sophomore year at Davidson, she wrote an editorial in the Davidsonian objecting to students’ erecting wooden crosses in front of Chambers during Holy Week. In the wake of the editorial and the ensuing controversy, Sara describes, she became a “known” Jewish student on campus, for better and for worse. This propelled her to become the first white student leader of the Minority Affairs Committee.
