The Real Defenders of Academic Freedom – The American Mind

A few weeks ago I received an Advocacy Alert email from the Modern Language Association (MLA) that mentioned the appalling takeover of the New College of Florida, calling it a grievous threat to academic freedom and shared governance. This was just before the trustees at New College of Florida, including me, voted on February 28 to close the DEI office on campus, cancel diversity statements in faculty hiring, eliminate mandatory diversity training for staff, and review all other diversity activities on campus.

The MLA wasn t the only appalled scholarly group. A quick web search turned up more indignation from the authorities. The American Anthropological Association drafted a letter dated January 23 that stated, These new trustees are ideologically motivated and their only apparent interest in the institution is political. The whole thing appears to be nothing more than an orchestrated attack on academic integrity.  Five other groups signed the letter, including the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, and the American Political Science Association. 

Still others added to the outcry. The American Council of Learned Societies cast the conservative trustees as would-be indoctrinators of views that undermine the purpose of higher education in a democracy and declared such intimidation and censorship must be stopped. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP), a historic pillar of academic freedom, set the appointment of conservative trustees within an apparent pattern of politically and racially motivated attacks on higher education in the state. It proceeded to decry political restrictions on teaching and scholarship, and it promised that a thorough report on Florida intrusions is in the works.

Now, if you laughed at these sober complaints, if the phrases political restrictions on teaching and scholarship and attack on academic integrity made you blurt, Yeah, r-i-i-i-ght, you ve probably spent a good part of your adult life in academia, where for decades you ve watched scholarly norms fall to political correctness and restrictions on allowable discussion increase every year. The ACLS worries about intimidation, but you ve witnessed so many scenes of intimidation behind closed doors and on the quad that you ve come to accept it as a standard feature of academic life.

via americanmind.org

Heh.