Academic freedom: exit, far left

[SteveLaura 0]

You obviously haven't seen the girls gone wild "Barely 18" promos at night..

Is that why you stay up so late?

The cable box seems to get 'stuck' on that channel.

Maybe your remote is sticky.

[HAL 9000 96]

I agree that many colleges and academics are by nature more liberal. In addition, we are adults that have the CHOICE of where to go for higher education and which professors we choose to take classes from. If you aren't super liberal, don't go to berkley. If it becomes a matter of discrimination for tenure then it becomes an issue. If it stifles original thought then thats a problem, but as an issue on its own, I dont think its a huge concern.

Yeah big adults someone is at 18. You obviously haven't seen the girls gone wild "Barely 18" promos at night..

The schools ideology, bias or philosophy is not the issue here. The issue is that students with opposing views are being punished and suppressed. Now if the table where reverse I'll bet $100K that liberals would be doing what they do best, kicking and screaming about it. The point of this article is not a I am being punished. It is to point out the blatant discrimination by the same people who claim to be "open-minded", "free-thinkers" and the opposite to those 'conservatives'. In other words they are full of ####.

I think its difficult to substantiate that without some specific examples. The faculties are the ones who decide what theories are taught as part of a given curriculum - so we can only really talk in generalities which I don't think is particularly useful. As I say you're going to run into situations in certain subjects (Literature is the only example I can think of) where a Conservative view lend itself to the material in any way.

It should also be pointed out perhaps that this applies largely, if not exclusively to humanities subjects which deal in opinions, rather than Empirical data collection.

You can't be open-minded if the response to the entire subject is to write it off as complete #######. The problem that I see with some of the complaints about this stuff is that the people making them are themselves not open-minded in the first place.

Well before Bush, Jr., scientists tended to patronize more conservative politics out of fear for biting the hand that fed them. During the last two terms, things turned around quite easily and not surprisingly.

Disciplines that utilize critical thought and social analysis- coupled with actual thinking things through to the nth degree, do have their liberal tendencies. Of course that's going to ruffle neo-conservative feathers that think that anything left of their own far-right narrow field of vision is too extreme.

And yet... these young adults become today's voters. Enough of them vote for conservative causes, so the whole idea of liberal academia as a menacing power to an American conscience is preposterous and yet again shows that if it were up to neo-conservatives, there is only enough room in the room for one narrow-minded view of reality and more so, one that only supports their at times irrational conduct.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

It is so pervasive that even Religious schools have lately installed "Speech codes", "free zones" and the like.

There are two ironies in all of this.

Those on the left either can't see that there is a problem with all this, or pretend not too.

Those on the Right actually hope it might change. ( not in your lifetime).

Just look at the posts by the left here on VJ.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Just look at the posts by the left here on VJ.

perhaps one day Lucky will actually grace us with an opinion, rather than a stock one-liner.

[HAL 9000 96]

Just look at the posts by the left here on VJ.

perhaps one day Lucky will actually grace us with an opinion, rather than a stock one-liner.

Don't hold your breath.

Oops... had to make it a two liner.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

What is the finding based on - complaint letters submitted to some sort of inquiry?

It doesn't surprised me that right-wingers are usually behind this sort of thing, though I don't think its really as outrageous as claimed.

To some respect you have to be fairly open-minded in academia, certainly in the Liberal Arts subjects which I think explains the identification with the ideological left. The problem as exemplified by some Conservatives is that their ideology is often black and white, and the "equality" they demand in those circles cannot exist without making their arguments the last word, as it were.

How can you discuss... say... English Literature from a Conservative view? Would such an approach not preclude a discussion of literary theories?

Perhaps a deeper analysis of how tenure is awarded or denied in US Academia in positions that typically skirt political perspectives would be needed now. All I can say now at this point is that some faculty members that challenge status quo politics aren't receiving tenure as, say, other professors. Before stereotyping, we'd need to consider each particular case.

Not much depth in the discussion of how tenure is awarded/denied.

At least since 1966, the method used has been "first go by cronyism; ain't got cronys in running, check applicants' quals". A very few academic institutions (such as UCalgary and UAlberta) no longer use this method (for the "doh" reason that they no longer award tenures).

[HAL 9000 96]

What is the finding based on - complaint letters submitted to some sort of inquiry?

It doesn't surprised me that right-wingers are usually behind this sort of thing, though I don't think its really as outrageous as claimed.

To some respect you have to be fairly open-minded in academia, certainly in the Liberal Arts subjects which I think explains the identification with the ideological left. The problem as exemplified by some Conservatives is that their ideology is often black and white, and the "equality" they demand in those circles cannot exist without making their arguments the last word, as it were.

How can you discuss... say... English Literature from a Conservative view? Would such an approach not preclude a discussion of literary theories?

Perhaps a deeper analysis of how tenure is awarded or denied in US Academia in positions that typically skirt political perspectives would be needed now. All I can say now at this point is that some faculty members that challenge status quo politics aren't receiving tenure as, say, other professors. Before stereotyping, we'd need to consider each particular case.

Not much depth in the discussion of how tenure is awarded/denied.

At least since 1966, the method used has been "first go by cronyism; ain't got cronys in running, check applicants' quals". A very few academic institutions (such as UCalgary and UAlberta) no longer use this method (for the "doh" reason that they no longer award tenures).

Yes... and they're mostly not in the US.

FWIW I do respect the elimination of tenure. It makes professors work towards renovating themselves intellectually a little more than merely resting on their past laurels. As long as there's a guarantee of academic freedom- which of course, there can't be when you have a polarized agenda making interpretations based on narrow viewpoints.

As for why I didn't get into an analysis, well... how much do you want to cover? Publications? Seniority? Good-ole-boy-ism? There's all of it as much as there are high school politics involved too.