Victims on Parade at NYU “Academic Freedom” Conference

Front Page Magazine ^ | 4/10/8 | Mary Madigan

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The poster advertising New York University’s “Academic Freedom in the Age of Permanent Warfare” conference featured a scolding Statue of Liberty pointing an accusatory finger and stating: “YOU! Stop Asking Questions. You’re Either With US or You’re With the TERRORISTS!”

The speakers and attendees gathered around the pastry-laden table at NYU’s new Frederic

Ewen Academic Freedom Center last week didn't appear to be oppressed or under attack. But once they wiped the sugar from their mouths and stood up to speak, they assured the audience that they were, in fact, victims in an “age of permanent warfare.”

According to keynote speaker Roger Bowen (of “Revolting Behavior” fame), director of the Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellows Program, the purported enemies of academic freedom include the “rabid right” and/or “Republicans, conservatives, the elderly, and the uneducated.”

Joan Scott of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, decried the loss of academia as a sanctuary, both from public opinion and the “enmity of patriots and trustees.” David Hollinger, professor of history at UC Berkeley, noted that fellow academics in engineering and the hard sciences often felt “no solidarity with the humanities.”

Sheila Slaughter, professor of higher education at the University of Georgia, criticized the influence of neo-liberalism and globalization. Most agreed with Barbara Bowan of the City University of New York, who equated true “academic freedom” with financial security and tenure for all academics in the social science/humanities “collective.” Under this worldview, anyone who does not support pampering the humanities collective with a lifetime sanctuary is an enemy. That’s a lot of enemies....

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