Academics frightened by stifling regime on campus

[BovaryX]

There is an excellent article by John McWhorter about the threat to academic freedom on campus. He compares the humiliation ordeals suffered by dissenting academics as like struggle sessions from Maoist China. He also describes the quasi religious aspect of this political orthodoxy and makes the interesting point that some of its most fanatical adherents do not belong to the demographic group on whose behalf they are relentlessly offended.

To what extent would you worry about the following consequences?” To the hypothetical “My reputation would be tarnished,” 32.68 percent answered “very concerned” and 27.27 percent answered “extremely concerned.” To the hypothetical “My career would be hurt,” 24.75 percent answered “very concerned” and 28.68 percent answered “extremely concerned.” In other words, more than half the respondents consider expressing views beyond a certain consensus in an academic setting quite dangerous to their career trajectory. So no one should feign surprise or disbelief that academics write to me with great frequency to share their anxieties. In a three-week period early this summer, I counted some 150 of these messages. And what they reveal is a very rational culture of fear among those who dissent, even slightly, with the tenets of the woke left

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/academics-are-really-really-worried-about-their-freedom/615724/

Thanks for sharing this. I really like John McWhorter in general and find he always has interesting things to say. There definitely is a climate of fear. I think what people often miss is how women academics have been struggling with this for years already, but it was seemingly confined to one issue. Now the same tactics and ideas are applied to every issue, the authoritarianism of the left is becoming impossible to ignore or dismiss.

Anyway, I'll look forward to reading this!

queen

It's a very interesting piece and it highlights the similarities this political movement has with other grim historical totalitarian regimes. The religious intensity with which its adherents denounce the heretic also has historical resonance. 16th century resonance.

Overall I found it alarming how many of the letters sound as if they were written from Stalinist Russia or Maoist China. A history professor reports that at his school, the administration is seriously considering setting up an anonymous reporting system for students and professors to report “bias” that they have perceived. One professor committed the sin of “privileging the white male perspective” in giving a lecture on the philosophy of one of the Founding Fathers, even though Frederick Douglass sang that Founder’s praises. The administration tried to make him sit in a “listening circle,” in which his job was to stay silent while students explained how he had hurt them—in other words, a 21st-century-American version of a struggle session straight out of the Cultural Revolution

I'll be reading this now, but, yes, academia is one area where we need a real melting pot of ideas, otherwise, what's the point? What do we learn other than the things we are told to think and feel about certain issues... Very wrong.

an interesting article and very worrying - is this coming about because social media allows global thought policing and makes it possible for anyone or any organisation to be targeted to a level that will impact them regardless of their location?
I keep wondering where the strong leadership is, pushing back on these threats and upholding of basic values of freedom of speech and thought but then maybe they are just people who will also be targeted and fear for their jobs?

Lots of Universities claiming they uphold freedom of speech but I'm not sure how. No matter how much they claim, it is no good if Academics still feel intimidated and I'm sure they do.

Education seems to have lost the plot and cleaning out the stables might be the only route out of this mess.

Time for the Government to tell us what freedom of speech is and to financially punish education establishments who don't uphold fully and with real commitment

Time for the Government to tell us what freedom of speech is and to financially punish education establishments who don't uphold fully and with real commitment

What could possibly go wrong?!

What could possibly go wrong?! 😂

Thanks for sharing this.

This does not surprise me.

Perhaps given the way the government is following suit (via Dominic Cummings), which university pioneered this?

@nosswith

This does not surprise me.

Perhaps given the way the government is following suit (via Dominic Cummings), which university pioneered this?

Actually, John Mcwhorter is writing about the situation in US universities. But given that the intersectional cabaret is the most successful US cultural export and is wreaking similar havoc on both sides of the Atlantic? His analysis is as relevant in the UK.

Interestingly, Australia is increasing funding for degrees which are likely to result in a job, while increasing the cost of other degrees. There are serious problems in academia. Something must be done to address the existential threat to freedom of speech, rigorous debate and fearless research in the institutions where these things should be sacrosanct. Not under relentless attack by authoritarian fanatics.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/26/australias-war-woke-university-degrees-inspiration/

Amazing article. I really recognise everything he's saying there. I would love to think that this being published in such a mainstream and well respected outlet would mean something to people but I'm very afraid there is currently such momentum behind the mob that nothing will slow them down. It's everywhere. You can even see it on threads on mumsnet - people who have totally fallen for this way of thinking and react with horror and outrage to anyone who questions it, however mildly or sensibly.

It doesn't even make sense. There can't just be one correct way of thinking about everything. We can't cancel people for knowing facts or asking questions. But we are doing just that. I hate to be catastrophist but it's somewhat terrifying.

If you don't already read it, there's a newsletter called 'Persuasion' that has some really good articles. I think you can sign up for all sorts of bells and whistles, but I just subscribe to the free newsletter. Worth following.

but I'm very afraid there is currently such momentum behind the mob that nothing will slow them down. It's everywhere. You can even see it on threads on mumsnet - people who have totally fallen for this way of thinking and react with horror and outrage to anyone who questions it, however mildly or sensibly

queen
I absolutely agree with this. This hasn't happened overnight. It's been simmering for decades. There is a fanaticism in the air and the most outrageous, violent statements are justified, while previously anodyne statements result in cancellation. Some of the most fanatical denouncers of the new orthodoxy are also some of the most privileged people on the planet. The other thing which has happened is the legacy media refuses to report 'problematic' news. Or it reports it in Orwellian style. One much ridiculed example of the latter was a CNN reporter standing in front of burning buildings in Kenosha with the tagline 'Fiery but mostly peaceful protests.' It's not only freedom of speech which is facing an existential threat. It's the existence of external reality.

Author is concerned about criticisms over anecdotal data. Stock had around 30 replies in 7 days in 2019 for this particular piece indicating there is a problem, even though it remains hidden. I think more evidence was sought over a longer period.

medium.com/@kathleenstock/are-academics-freely-able-to-criticise-the-idea-of-gender-identity-in-uk-universities-67b97c6e04be

the author is concerned about criticisms over anecdotal data

No, I don't think that's an accurate assessment at all. John McWhorter makes the point that criticism of cancel culture is dismissed by falsely claiming that it doesn't exist. Even when it is on explicit display in the state and corporate sectors. Its chilling impact upon the educational institutions which should be bastions of freedom of speech, thought and debate is the specific topic of his article.

^The result is academics living out loud only in whispers. A creative-writing instructor:

The majority of my fellow instructors and staff constantly self-censor themselves in fear of being fired for expressing the “wrong opinions.” It’s gotten to the point where many are too terrified to even like or retweet a tweet, lest it lead to some kind of disciplinary measure … They are supporters of free speech, scientific data, and healthy debate, but they are too fearful today to publicly declare such support. However, they’ll tell it to a sympathetic ear in the back corner booth of a quiet bar after two or three pints. These ideas have been reduced to lurking in the shadows now^

Interestingly, Australia is increasing funding for degrees which are likely to result in a job, while increasing the cost of other degrees. There are serious problems in academia. Something must be done to address the existential threat to freedom of speech, rigorous debate and fearless research in the institutions where these things should be sacrosanct. Not under relentless attack by authoritarian fanatics

I can't access the article. Are you saying this is good or bad?

I think it is an awful idea!

I think that there is a serious problem with the massive expansion of tertiary education and the production of millions of social science graduates with eye watering debt, who have been indoctrinated with rigid totalitarian views and whose career prospects are limited. Why should any state bankroll that?

OK. So you are siding with the right on this one, at the same time as tarring the social sciences with one brush and making assumptions about who gets jobs and who does not. OK. There are a hell of a lot of science and maths grads out there who don't get jobs either - or who have to move in order to do so (often to Germany or Switzerland). But that's OK ....

And don't forget that it was in the social sciences where feminist theory began and where it is still being defended.

Er, if pointing out that the expansion of tertiary education has caused multiple problems makes me 'right wing?' I couldn't care less. I think that the rise of a tide of identity obsessed authoritarian fanatics who have not emerged from a vacuum but from the critical race theory and queer theory which dominates academia is a serious threat to Enlightenment values. The Robespierre faction didn't hatch out of an egg.

OK. So you are siding with the right on this one, at the same time as tarring the social sciences with one brush and making assumptions about who gets jobs and who does not.

That's not siding with the right. This is the absurdity of these political discussions now, where "right" is just a proxy for "things I dislike". Australian universities are fairly predatory institutions, which saddle students with a lot of debt, whilst providing a fairly low standard of education. I don't think this is a particularly good policy, in that it doesn't effectively tackle the underlying issue it is targeting, but I don't think it is an especially right-wing or terrible policy, either.

Er, if pointing out that the expansion of tertiary education has caused multiple problems makes me 'right wing?' I couldn't care less

It is a right-wing government proposing this. This is how you are siding with the right.

But crack on stereotyping all of us social scientists, even those of us who are gender critical and who are the targets of the left and the right.

That's not siding with the right. This is the absurdity of these political discussions now, where "right" is just a proxy for "things I dislike"

No. To be clear, it is a policy of a right-wing government.

It is a right-wing government proposing this. This is how you are siding with the right.

Right-wing governments propose lots of things. Some of these things are good, some of these things are bad. It is just incredibly bizarre to think that agreeing with anything proposed by a right-wing government makes you right-wing by a process of contagion.

It is just incredibly bizarre to think that agreeing with anything proposed by a right-wing government makes you right-wing by a process of contagion

Except that wasn't what I said. I pointed out that Bovary was siding with the right on this one.

Note the difference?