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The Academy Is Revolting. What Can Be Done About It?
Some time ago, more than four years ago actually, I posed several questions about the long-term survival of the American academy in light of online options for education. To quote one of my (ahem) favorite writers:
Yes, all of the important socializing aspects of university life may disappear. Many students, of course, make lifelong friends on campus or find their spouses who may or may not be lifelong mates. University towns have thrived around the traditional university, to serve the needs of faculty, students and staff. So, if the traditional university disappears then by extension, university towns might disappear as well. On a positive note, the more radical hybrid of social/anti-social activities – like protests and riots either motivated by winning or losing a sports title or vandalizing school property because capitalism is of course, evil and unfair would also disappear […] at least if the university campus is no longer used as an academic institution.
Please keep in mind that this post was written before stories about “safe spaces” in the academy started to surface in the media. Since Donald Trump’s election, students between the ages of 18 and whatever (I don’t wish to discriminate against students who have made college a lifelong daycare choice) are shell-shocked, offended, trembling in fear, and teary-eyed. They can be found curled in fetal positions or playing with Play-Dough, crayons, or cuddling with one another, wiping one another’s tears, or being excused from attending class by equally-flummoxed and upset Leftist professors. That is, when they’re not screaming at bystanders, hurling obscenities about how rude Donald Trump is, and crying for the elimination of another college (the Electoral one). This is the quality of education your tuition checks are funding if you’re a parent of a college-attending student while the federal and state governments support them through subsidies, grants, and programs.
Via The Blaze, Republican Bobby Kaufmann, a member of the Iowa House of Representatives is apparently doing something about college safe spaces:
After hearing about state schools in Iowa coddling students, creating safe zones, cancelling exams, etc., Bobby Kaufmann, a member of the Iowa State house, decided he had seen enough.
Kaufmann, Chairman of the Iowa House Oversight Committee, has announced he is going to open an investigation into the state schools, hoping to learn just how many taxpayer dollars were wasted on the “cry baby” reactions to Trump’s victory over Clinton.
Perhaps Kaufmann should be hired by the incoming Trump Administration to look into the matter on a federal level to see how to curtail federal largess for colleges and universities that waste taxpayer money on this snowflake coddling programs and facilities. Kaufman isn’t alone: There are even some left-of-center politicians who seem to agree with Kaufmann that colleges and universities need to eliminate restrictions on free speech on campuses and do away with safe spaces.
I encourage you to take some time out and listen to David Horowitz, a converted Marxist, who has specialized in exposing Marxist radicalism in academia, discuss his book, One-Party Classroom: How Radical Professors at America’s Top Colleges Indoctrinate Students and Undermine Our Democracy. Beginning around the ten-minute mark in the video below, Horowitz relates one seminar course he happened across that’s being offered at the University of California, Santa Cruz:
[W]hich is described in the official university catalog in these exact words, ‘The goal of this seminar is to learn how to organize a revolution’ and then it tells you that its an anti-capitalist revolution.
Horowitz explains that this isn’t a course that looks in a comparative way about different revolutions – the French, the American, the Bolshevik, etc.. On the contrary, this is course on “how to organize a revolt to overthrow the American government and the American economic system.”
This, despite the fact, Horowitz that the regents of the UC system have a standing order that UC classrooms are not to be used for indoctrination.
Apparently classes in organizing the overthrow of the American government are acceptable since they move beyond mere indoctrination to actual guidance on participatory sedition. And Californian’s tax dollars and American’s tax dollars through grants, awards and, other programs help to fund, in this case, a course on radical revolt.
At UCLA, The Daily Caller reports that the chairman (what a sexist title!) of the political science department, sent out a letter in sympathy with students distraught from the election of Trump:
“It is clear that the unexpected election of Donald Trump and events that have occurred since have left many in our community and particularly many of our undergraduate students deeply anxious, fearful, and despondent,” UCLA political science department chair Jeff Lewis wrote in an email Sunday. He added that there have been reports about physical and verbal assaults on minorities, immigrants, Muslims, and members of gay community following Trump’s victory.
Apparently Department Chair Lewis doesn’t mention reports of masses of UCLA students and other protesters blocking, tracking, and verbally assaulting shoppers in nearby Westwood Village, an off-campus community of shops, restaurants and apartments frequented by the general public, with repeated chants of “[Expletive] Donald Trump!” But I digress.
More from The Daily Caller article and Professor Lewis’s comforting letter:
“Others less directly imperiled are nevertheless expressing deep anxiety about the resulting uncertainty and overall post-election climate of divisiveness, hostility and recrimination — and what all of this may mean more generally about the country and the future. And, of course, others still may feel relatively removed and are simply wondering what is happening. Particularly as political scientists, our students will look to us for guidance, understanding, and reassurance and, although we might ourselves be struggling, we must be ready,” Lewis continued to say.
The UCLA professor is calling for “an emergency meeting of all faculty and graduate students” Monday morning. Lewis wrote, “At this meeting, we will come together to discuss and inventory the fears and circumstances that students are facing and the resources available to help those in crisis. We will also discuss how best to constructively respond to students’ questions and concerns and develop some talking points that might, in some cases, be useful in providing reassurance.”
“If this all sounds a bit vague to you, we confess that it is. There is no playbook for this situation. It will have to be a collaborative effort. We are asking for your help,” the UCLA political science department chair continued.
Yes, there is no playbook for this situation. We’re in uncharted territory. “We spent years indoctrinating you, we were all convinced that Hillary Clinton would be president and Barack Obama’s fundamental transformation of America into a more purely socialist state would move forward unabated. We’re not exactly sure how this happened, but yes, it’s quite upsetting. Let’s all hug one another. Come on: Group hug. Now, go out and protest and know that we are always here to hug you some more.” Oh, all right the last paragraph was my embellishment.
Personally, I’d like to peruse the campus police reports at UCLA since Tuesday’s election to see exactly how many incidents of physical assaults on minorities, immigrants, Muslims, and members of the gay community have been reported. Of course, Lewis was probably referencing unsubstantiated reports that popped up on social media or were mentioned on CNN or MSNBC. And my guess is that there aren’t any tenured or non-tenured conservative poli-sci professors at UCLA or, if there are, they’re not eager to voice their opposition to the chairman of the department, disrupt their careers, or be ostracized in the faculty lounge.
Perhaps, given the recent election results — not just Trump’s win, but Republicans’ hold on Congress, governorships, and state legislatures — it’s time to make some much-needed changes in the academy that has indoctrinated generations of Americans to expect government care from cradle-to-campus, if not cradle-to-grave.
Perhaps, colleges and universities should have a portion of their federal funds revoked if they establish “free-speech zones,” prohibit the handing out of copies of the US Constitution, target conservative and Christian groups for harassment and punitive actions, or convene kangaroo courts on complaints of campus rape without allowing the accused from hiring legal counsel or presenting witnesses in their defense.
It may take a long time to reverse decades of Marxist-inspired indoctrination in the academy. It may not happen at all. But there’s no time like the present (or, at least, until after Inauguration Day) to take a whack at these breeding grounds for brainwashed and determined Leftists and anarchists.
If you have any ideas on how a Trump administration or the states can put leverage on colleges and universities that encourage lawlessness or waste taxpayers’ money on unconstitutional free speech zones, or spend taxpayers’ money on comforting and coddling students like pre-schoolers, then let’s hear them.
The Academy is revolting, in both senses of the word.
Pretty much by definition, any organization whose very existence depends on taxpayer subsidies exists in a constant state of existential threat. It means that the organization cannot exist by its own merits.
However, sadly, that does not mean the organization is ever actually threatened with extinction, because it is so terribly difficult to turn off the subsidy tap for long-lived organizations.
The first goal of (virtually) any organization, regardless of their stated primary mission, is survival.
Since taxpayer-supported organizations know that their survival depends on the continued flow of taxpayer subsidies, they devote an inordinate percentage of their resources to ensuring the subsidies never end (instead of devoting those resources to their stated primary mission).
Universities. State-funded media. State-funded NGOs. Government contractors. Etc. They all demonstrate this paradox. They exist in a constant state of existential threat because they cannot survive on their own merits, and yet at the same time their continued existence is virtually assured because they devote so many resources to their own survival.
One of the “favourite quotes” I have on my Facebook profile is from E.J. Hill: “The March of Dimes was created in 1938 to end polio and when that was accomplished twenty years later did they proclaim “mission accomplished,” throw a party and disband? No, they just had to find a disease less curable.”
Please understand that the OP is not advocating the extinction of colleges and universities (even as my earlier OP from four years also did not advocate for their extinction but questioned whether they were becoming obsolete and whether there were benefits in promoting online education as an alternative).
This post is posing whether there are creative ways that can be employed at the state and federal level from hampering or eliminating the radical indoctrination and activities that seem to be institutionalized by a Marxist-inspired faculty…not eliminating the entire academy.
Is what we have now the actual traditional university? I think we may be seeing a return to the traditional university. They used to be institutions that defined the culture, preserved it and taught it to the next generation.
I think we are seeing the beginning of a rejection of the idiocracy that they have been peddling for a few generations.
Support Hillsdale College, the no-government-money standard-bearer.
I did not think the OP was advocating their extinction.
I think the OP was predicting their extinction.
I think such a prediction would be extremely far-fetched, considering the history, longevity, and sheer tenacity of taxpayer-subsidized organizations.
In what way? In the court of public opinion? From conservatives? Certainly not in the greater academy itself.
No, the current OP was not predicting their extinction. You’re conflating the earlier OP with this one.
Oh.
Well then.
From the market (I hope). Hillsdale and Grove City are flourishing and I hope others follow their lead. I think the universities are at the cusp of their bubble bursting if Donald doesn’t bail them out. You can’t charge $120 grand for a women’s study degree. Trade schools will slowly begin to eat away at them and if foreign student visas are cut, many schools will immediately be in financial turmoil.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KXLQ3C9alk
And there’s this today from Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit/USA Today).
This reminds me of a thought that came to me this week:
The Conservative Party of Canada is currently in the middle of a long campaign for choosing its next Leader, and there have been a couple of debates already.
In both the debates, it has been a standard talking point that the party needs to “do better” at “welcoming” young people. The young people are the future after all, and we cannot win without them.
I cringe whenever I hear that talking point. Can they not see what happens to people who admit sympathy with conservative principles on North American campuses at the moment, let alone what happens to young people who actually JOIN a conservative political party?
The primary recruitment tool is the Campus Conservatives/Young Republicans club. Nowadays, membership in such a club puts a freakin’ target on a student’s back! We can “welcome” them all we want, but if we cannot protect them from reprisal they are not gonna risk sticking their heads up just to be lopped off by professors, admissions bureaucrats, and/or future employers.
Yep. Well said.
I thought from the title this would be a film post, you know, the Academy?… oops.
Yeah, well that, too…but I’ll write that closer to February when the Oscar telecast is imminent.
How about some psychological counseling for those of us who can’t stop laughing?
Do you mean this academy?
Good Lord, Misthio, what is worse: that you thought of that or that I just watched it?
Brian, you and Ryan have some good ideas. I would add ridicule to under mine their pretensions. Also, couldn’t a strong effort be made to encourage corporations to stop treating a uni degree as an absolute requirement for a good-paying job?
Thanks for the link. This part was well stated:
Meanwhile the question goes unanswered.
Maybe state AGs need to do a little undercover work and find out whether Trump supporters feel threatened or unsafe on campus, something analogous to what a federal Civil Rights division would do if it wasn’t corrupt. A state legislature might hold hearings on the subject. I would recommend that Hillary supporters be queried, too, in such a way as to set standards for testing the veracity of claims.
It has been claimed that corporate reliance on college credentials is in part a consequence of the Supreme Court ruling in Griggs vs. Duke Power. The company used tests for hiring and promotion but they were challenged on the basis of disparate impact on minorities. After that ruling, corporations had to be prepared to defend any internal test they would use.
Since then, more jobs have required degrees, and the thinking is that the degree is a proxy for some competence in reading, writing, and generally being able to be organized. And the company isn’t making the determination, the college is.
I thought maybe, in IT jobs, companies might turn to a collection of certifications instead of a degree. But it looks like they mostly hire H1-B workers instead.
The Trump students may be better off. Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianof wrote presciently about what amounts to the creation (or at least exacerbation) of mental illness in students by teachers, administrators, media and parents who continually reaffirm that being exposed to different viewpoints isn’t merely difficult, it’s traumatic. These kids actually think they’re endangered, that they’ve been injured, that they are the helpless victims of overwhelming evil. That is to say, they’ve been made anxious, depressed, paranoid and, in a word, nuts.
You missed one. Artist and former Soviet dissident Oleg Atbashian was just arrested at George Mason University.
A friend of mine had almost exactly the same thought. Though I’d rather see the matter spearheaded by the governors where possible, simply having the Feds no longer subsidize this nonsense would do a lot of good.
This topic consumes my mind these days. I have daughters who are 16 and nearly 19. We want them to be free to explore and practice independence. I want them safe, physically, spiritually and intellectually. Not in the way the snowflakes demand, but in the ways I’ve enjoyed in my life.
We chose to homeschool the elementary years because we could not find what we wanted locally. The limiting factor was unwillingness to strap children in for daily commutes to and from school. Even when we did undertake the commute to get them to a school of our choice, there weren’t an excess of options. But you only need one at a time. Perhaps you cannot homeschool college, but the same willingness to throw off the shackles that pretend to offer legitimacy is needed to emerge from the academy’s lock on credentialing.
Since credentialing for employability is the demand driver for traditional college education, that is the place to disrupt the market for education. I can’t offer the packaged solution; only a direction for exploration. Entrepreneurialism in all its forms can legitimize new forms of education and credentials and make them legitimate through success. Apprenticeship has served well for centuries and is possibly a more effective determination of ability than a paper credential. There may even be a journeymen and masters on Ricochet who could cultivate apprentices to achieve delivered competence and demonstrable success.
There is such a steady stream of these stories every single say, it’s nigh-impossible to comment on all of them.
Here’s yet another:
http://thelibertarianrepublic.com/profs-demand-university-jefferson/
Excellent example that I have quoted for years. Global warming is a religion of the left and more difficult to eradicate but Trump just might accomplish it.
The U of Missouri has found that Republican legislatures have less patience with childish behavior by expensive public institutions but this will never happen in California, New York or Massachusetts. It is too much to hope that Congress would add some restrictions to student loans, which were nationalized by Obama.