Is their a Leftist Agenda in Academia?

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How a Social Justice Mob Fired a Tenured Professor

The fall semester is off to a fiery start. We have Brown University’s decision to distance itself from Professor Lisa Littman’s research paper; the decision by the New York Journal of Mathematics journal to un-publish Professor Theodore Hill’s study; the University of Chicago’s refusal to defend Professor Rachel Fulton Brown from scurrilous attack led by a Brandeis professor; and the rush to give NYU Professor Avital Ronell a free pass for having harassed and sexually assaulted a gay graduate student.

These four cases have received a fair amount of attention—to the degree that I can name them without having to explain the details. For those who need a prompt to keep the cases in mind:

--Littman showed that some teenagers’ claims to trans-sexuality were likely influenced by the desire to win popularity with their in-groups.
--Hill offered a mathematical model to explain why males are so much more variable than females.
--Brown believes medieval studies should focus on medieval Europe, an opinion which her critics say makes her a racist.
--Ronell is a celebrated leftist literary theorist, which her defenders say absolves her culpability in her sexual exploitation of her former graduate student.

Political correctness continues to explore new frontiers. The common theme in these four cases is the supreme confidence of the academic left. It quashes any views it dislikes without a moment’s hesitation and feels little call to explain or justify its actions. Rather, it relies on the readiness of the academy at large to applaud the effort to keep thinkers-of-dangerous-thoughts in their cages.

--Littman’s dangerous thought is that some self-identified trans-sexual individuals may not have been “born that way.”
--Hill’s dangerous thought is that male virtuosity in some intellectual realms might have a biological basis.
--Brown’s dangerous thought is that Western civilization has a legitimate claim to attention in its own right.
--Ronell’s accuser, Nimrod Reitman, offered the dangerous thought that a feminist icon could also be a sexual predator.

https://www.mindingthecampus.org/2018/0 ... professor/

The market steps in and makes a correction. As they say, "Get Woke, Go Broke."

Evergreen State sees 'catastrophic' drop in enrollment after social justice meltdown

Evergreen State College enrollment plummeted after fallout from the controversial “Day of Absence” in May 2017 when all white people were asked to leave the campus.

The publicly funded college – committed to social justice – became the poster child of a campus overrun by hyper-political correctness when students shut down the campus and shouted down then-evolutionary biology professor Bret Weinstein for merely questioning the event kicking white people off campus.

Weinstein, who describes himself as “deeply progressive,” ultimately lost his job and was labeled a “racist” and “white supremacist.”

Although just estimates, a representative from Evergreen said they expect around 350 freshman this fall, with a total of 3,000-3,100 total enrollment, both of which “do represent significant decreases as compared to before the 2017 unrest.”

“It’s a catastrophic drop, but I’m hoping we’ll recover,” Evergreen Professor Mike Paros told Fox News.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/09/12/ev ... tdown.html

This is an interview from July with a student from Evergreen. I think what becomes clear is that they're sort of anarchistic model of education (ie. let the students and teachers hash it all out without much top-down from admin) set things on course, and obviously things did get worse with a lot of help from the president.

What this maybe shows in microcosm is just how difficult it is to do society, just how much everyone has to eat it to varying degrees when accepting to live in a society, but when you then try to have as much inclusion and freedom for everyone it seems like someone, somewhere, will be able to make a persuasive claim on why they should be able to establish a tyrrany over everyone else - and in that sort of environment people for whatever reason don't have the social or internal resource/mechanisms to say no or when a critical boundary has been crossed between a reasonable request vs 'I've been through x therefor I'll be the law here'.

I have to ask; how many people answering yes have actually been to university?

Free Speech is the right to express yourself in most ways without facing legal consequences. It has nothing to do with any other negative consequence.

The issue is freedom of expression/censorship. As far as sexuality, art there is a lot more freedom of expression today. What is bieng curtailed is language and certain opinions deemed offensive/racist etc. What has changed on campus(and in influential companies such as Google) is that what is deemed offensive has greatly expanded as has the consequences for expressing views deemed offensive.

I did graduate from college almost 40 years ago and the prevailing political view was “liberal”. It did inform to a degree course structure. But censorship was an anathema, speech codes/banning was something studied in history or political science courses.

Is a speech code at a public university a first amendment violation?

Free speech only protects one against government interference. It doesn't protect against counter speech. In the past we didn't get right wing Nazi provocateurs aiming to discredit universities by using free speech as a weapon. Check out what Richard Spencer said:
Conte asked Spencer, “Are we even pro-free speech?”

“No, of course not,” Spencer said. “But we have to use this platform in order—“

“So, we’re being radically honest, here?” Conte asked.

“Yes, radically pragmatic,” Spencer replied.

----

And that describes the conservative movement in general. They kick supporters out of Trump rallies for having the wrong facial expression (plaid shirt guy).

I was born in '60, my father got his PhD Educational Admin degree from the University of Oregon in 1969. I can tell you from personal experience as someone who grew up in that ideological cesspit that there has been a leftist lean in the Edu system deeper and for longer than most (even Limbaugh) would think. Whether there is a left lean to the system is rather beyond debate. As to what to do to avoid it, try to avoid state funded colleges and universities. If the NEA has their hands in it, it's corrupted all the way from university to preschool.

There is a bias towards liberalism among college professors, but that doesn't mean there is a biased agenda. There are conservative professors too, and conservative students. Politics doesn't enter the classroom in most subjects.

Yes, SO?, righties just are whiny brats when people don't agree with them.

Go start your own right-wing school and stop your *tching.

Is it South Africa in the 1950s, or the USA in 2018?

University offers whites-only meetings to help staff, students ‘work toward white consciousness’

A series of whites-only events happening this fall at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte looks to help white staff members and students at that university “work toward white consciousness” and develop “anti-racist practice.”

The program, called “White Consciousness Conversations,” is meant for both white staff members and students at the university “who are interested in engaging in conversations to assist in their understanding of Whiteness.”

“Understanding white privilege and engaging in anti-racist practice is crucial in creating racial equity,” the event listings declare. “Come join in conversation with IEE staff as we work toward white consciousness.” IEE refers to the school’s Office of Identity, Equity and Engagement....

Another public university was in the news recently for hosting a whites-only discussion group. The University of Maryland offered its students a program through its counseling center called “White Awake” that was meant as “a safe space for White students to explore their experiences, questions, reactions, and feelings.”

https://www.thecollegefix.com/whites-on ... ciousness/