Sep 25, 2026 · 58 min · 11 segments
Nancy Whittier is an American sociologist and a professor at Smith College, in Northampton, Massachusetts. Her research and publications focus on activism against child abuse, sexual violence, and…
Warren BellHost
Nancy WhittierGuest
Now the interesting thing is that Smith College was explicitly created t- to advance evangelical Christian teachings.
But you pointed out to me when we were talking earlier that that didn't last very long, and it seems to me that it's the spirit of, uh, Sophia Smith that must have been at work in...
Although she explicitly had all this language, she herself was quite an extraordinary human being.
She was stone deaf or pretty much deaf by the time she's 40 years of age, which is quite early 'cause she lived another 30 or more years.
Um, she was e- she ended up being a caregiver for the, some of her siblings, her male siblings' children.
But, but, and I think this is the thing that struck me about her, she was an avid reader.
She didn't, her educational, formal educational experience were quite limited, but she read everything and, and it seems to me that th- that the quality you gain from reading widely helps you get away from prejudice unless, you know, u- u- unless you were really very narrow.
And the money that also-- The other thing that struck me about her was that the money that was made by her siblings, which is what she was given when they died, and, and her father as well, was made from, uh, stock market investments.
And it's interesting because when you look at what's happening today, when wealthy males make a lot of money in the stock market, they don't go running around trying to endow, uh, charitable nonprofit or entities.
They immediately rush off and get married in Venice or do some other extraordinarily capricious and expensive, uh, whim f- fulfillment.
At, on the campus, does, do you sense [laughs] Sophia Smith's spirit kind of roaming around and chastening-
I mean, interestingly, I hold an endowed chair that is the So- Sophia Smith Chair of Sociology, so I, I, I think of her [laughs] regularly in that way.
But, you know, I like to think that, of course, times are very different, and I'm sure she would be shocked by some of what she would see on campus.
But I, I like to think that, um, my students are getting the education that she wished she could have received.
You know? And, and my students who may have a hearing impairment, who are, or who are deaf, have the accommodations with a, a ASL interpreter or whatever that she might have wished to receive.
So I'm sure she could not have imagined the, the young people of 2026 and what they look like and their language and how, um, challenging they can be sometimes.
But, but also I think there are ways in which they are living out the life that she did not get to live.
Now the interesting thing is that Smith College was explicitly created t- to advance evangelical Christian teachings.
But you pointed out to me when we were talking earlier that that didn't last very long, and it seems to me that it's the spirit of, uh, Sophia Smith that must have been at work in...
Although she explicitly had all this language, she herself was quite an extraordinary human being.
She was stone deaf or pretty much deaf by the time she's 40 years of age, which is quite early 'cause she lived another 30 or more years.
Um, she was e- she ended up being a caregiver for the, some of her siblings, her male siblings' children.
But, but, and I think this is the thing that struck me about her, she was an avid reader.
She didn't, her educational, formal educational experience were quite limited, but she read everything and, and it seems to me that th- that the quality you gain from reading widely helps you get away from prejudice unless, you know, u- u- unless you were really very narrow.
And the money that also-- The other thing that struck me about her was that the money that was made by her siblings, which is what she was given when they died, and, and her father as well, was made from, uh, stock market investments.
And it's interesting because when you look at what's happening today, when wealthy males make a lot of money in the stock market, they don't go running around trying to endow, uh, charitable nonprofit or entities.
They immediately rush off and get married in Venice or do some other extraordinarily capricious and expensive, uh, whim f- fulfillment.
At, on the campus, does, do you sense [laughs] Sophia Smith's spirit kind of roaming around and chastening-
I mean, interestingly, I hold an endowed chair that is the So- Sophia Smith Chair of Sociology, so I, I, I think of her [laughs] regularly in that way.
But, you know, I like to think that, of course, times are very different, and I'm sure she would be shocked by some of what she would see on campus.
But I, I like to think that, um, my students are getting the education that she wished she could have received.
You know? And, and my students who may have a hearing impairment, who are, or who are deaf, have the accommodations with a, a ASL interpreter or whatever that she might have wished to receive.
So I'm sure she could not have imagined the, the young people of 2026 and what they look like and their language and how, um, challenging they can be sometimes.
But, but also I think there are ways in which they are living out the life that she did not get to live.
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