Higher Ed
What’s happening in higher education.
Graduation Week With Common Sense
On commencement week, FAIR advisor Bari Weiss reminds us of the importance of staying attuned to what is happening on campus—as those donning their caps and gowns will soon learn, “what happens on campus doesn’t stay on campus.”
Diversity Statements Are the New Faith Statements
Diversity statements as part of the faculty hiring and advancement process are now ubiquitous, professor of philosophy Justin McBrayer shows, and are akin to attesting one’s religious faith.
Georgetown’s Cowardice on Free Speech
In this important piece, David Frum asks, “How is a society ever to settle its most important questions if it follows the rule ‘The more important a question, the more strictly its discussion is forbidden’?”
When Stanford's Therapists Become Activists
Wallace argues that Stanford’s counseling center’s clinicians, “turning a blind eye to prejudice, promoting bigotry through DEI programs, and forgetting their obligations…[as] mental health professionals” is “nothing short of catastrophic.”
Paper Summary—Free Speech on Campus: Countering a Climate of Fear
University of Chicago’s Dorian Abbot summarizes an “extremely insightful and important” paper by Georgetown University’s John Hasnas that proposes adding “safe harbor” provisions to academic freedom and a pro bono legal group to litigate issues.
On the Uses and Abuses of Identity Politics
An interview with Georgetown University philosopher Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò on the academy, the elite, and identity politics. Táíwò recently published Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (and Everything Else).
American Bar Association Considers Dropping LSAT Requirement
The American Bar Association is considering dropping the LSAT as a requirement (or any standardized test) for law school admissions. The decision will be put to a vote in May 2022.
No More 3-Hour Finals for Some Cambridge University Students
Cambridge University’s vice-chancellor announced that the notorious 3-hour finals in some subjects would be eliminated. “The changes are expected to cut the gap in the number of first-class degrees achieved by women, ethnic-minority students and the disabled compared with others, and to reduce anxiety.”
Five Professors Tell How They Were Canceled — and Why They Fought Back
This NYPost piece documents the cancelation of FAIR Advisor Peter Boghossian (Portland State), Sue Bergin (Brigham Young), J. Angelo Corlett (San Diego State), Sophia Nelson (Christopher Newport) and Dorian Abbot (lecture canceled by MIT).
The Liberal Arts Are the Future
An argument for liberal arts. “Nations that exclusively prioritize STEM end up with unimaginative, conformist cultures led by unimaginative, conformist oligarchs. They may be materially wealthier, but they are also morally and spiritually impoverished… Eliminating the liberal arts leads to mass self-objectification.”
Stanford Paper Announces "Woke Watch"
“When an ideology becomes so prevalent that it is nearly impossible to challenge, it becomes a serious problem—and a threat to academic freedom.” The Review’s new “woke watch” initiative will expose ideas and initiatives on Stanford’s campus that promote or are grounded in intolerance.
An Alum’s Lament: Free Inquiry on Campus is in Jeopardy
MIT alum and Yale professor explains why he will donate his 40th reunion class gift to Princeton’s James Madison Program instead of his alma mater, MIT.
Western Civ Takes Off in Australia
Despite encountering “intense hostility” from the staff of universities, Australia’s controversial Western civilization courses are popular with students. “Staff said that the programs… undermine institutional autonomy and promote uncritically triumphalist perspectives of Western civilization to cadres of privileged white students—claims the universities deny.”
The humanities are facing a credibility crisis
Hanlon, a Colby College English professor, explains that scholars can earn back public trust in the humanities, but first must choose whether the humanities is a “kind of pure activism” or is “foremost…knowledge work.”
Why My NYT Article Inspired So Much Fury
UVA’s Emma Camp ‘22 responds after the heated response to her March NYT piece on self-censorship: “The vicious rage in reaction to the article is telling. It shows, with biting efficacy, what happens when you don’t self-censor.”
Princeton’s Mixed-Up President Discards Free Speech and Demonizes Its Defenders
Princeton mathematics professor, Sergiu Klainerman, argues that Princeton’s president, Christopher Eisgruber, holds two irreconcilable beliefs: 1) a belief in academic freedom and 2) a belief that a university’s main goal is to advance social justice.
Dorian Abbot’s ACTA "Hero" Acceptance Speech
U of C geophysicist Dorian Abbot accepts the “Hero of Intellectual Freedom” honor from the ACTA in a speech that calls upon alumni to defend academic freedom and academic excellence from the assault underway at universities including flagrant race-based discrimination and intolerance of competing views.
I’m a Conservative Professor Who Opposed Safe Spaces. I Was Wrong.
Shields, a Claremont McKenna professor and founding member of the AFA, argues that “the debate we should be having is not one that pits free expression against safe spaces. The real question is how to design safe spaces that aid the goals of liberal education.”
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Free speech is a fundamental U.Va. value
University of Virginia faculty members’ letter to The Cavalier Daily, a student-run newspaper at UVA, objecting to an editorial which argued that former Vice President Mike Pence doesn’t deserve a platform at UVA.
Free Speech Surveys Hit Roadblocks at Universities
The Chronicle reports on two separate incidents—one at the University of Wisconsin, the other at public colleges in Florida— in which campus free speech and viewpoint diversity surveys have been contested or refused due to the political nature of such inquiry.