The Professor Who Was Harassed for Pointing Out the Truth

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | December 14, 2018 | George Leef

[reaganaut1]

That famous line from the movie A Few Good Men—“You can’t handle the truth!”—applies more and more to the world of higher education. If you doubt that, consider the case of professor Samuel Abrams of Sarah Lawrence College.

Abrams, a tenured professor of political science who admits that he “leans conservative” has been studying the political landscape of American higher education. In an op-ed piece for The New York Times, Abrams argued that the heavy imbalance toward leftism that we see among faculty members is even more pronounced with respect to college administrators, especially those who directly interact with students.

He wrote, “It appears that a fairly liberal student body is being taught by a very liberal professoriate—and socialized by an incredibly liberal group of administrators.” (Italics in original.)

It has been known for more than a decade that zealous administrators with an ideological agenda are moving into administrative positions where they attempt to influence student beliefs. The University of Delaware’s blatantly political “Residence Life” program had young administrators pushing students to accept leftist beliefs on politics, race, sexuality, sociology, philosophy, and environmentalism—with sanctions for those who resisted. (The National Association of Scholars exposed the program in 2007 in a series of articles, which eventually led to its suspension by Delaware’s president. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education applauded the apparent end of that “chilling” program in this release.)

But the attraction “progressives” have for positions of influence did not end with their setback at Delaware. Eager administrators across the country continue to use their positions to inculcate their views among students.

[BenLurkin]

The ranks of so-called “academia” are ripe for purge.

[marktwain]

But how?

Perhaps any institute of higher learning should be required to put a portion of their classes online, for free.

There would have to be a way to pay for testing and grading, and to get full credit, that would be transferable, or at least, usable for a degree.

Online use of the course would be without any race, sex, or political identifications. Neutral.

The point would be to provide competition available for cheap, if the school gets any federal money.

[SMARTY]

I say, ‘over ripe’...Like rotted fruit, that looks OK but has maggots inside

[jonascord]

The Purge. "But how? "

You won't like it. Since democrats are no longer satisfied or willing to accept the Constitution, a solution will have to be created that will separate them from the system they don't understand and can't tolerate.

I've got a simple plan. It's sorta Final.

[SES1066]

Is there a difference between the German Universities of the late 20s & 30s and the current Social Justice Warriors (SJW) (oxymoron) of our current Universities & Colleges? The National Socialists (Nazis) sought and were very successful in purging those institutions of Jews and Communists and the SJWs are getting quite strident in their efforts against Conservatives and traditional Christians. The only thing missing from then to today is a bonfire of offending books, but that could well be coming!

[Rurudyne]

There’s a reason why socialist scum like Bill Ayers is went into teaching teachers. This article describes the results of a system that has in too many cases devolved into simply producing Useful Idiots or Communist Collaborators to the Cultural Marxist drumbeat.

[Huskrrrr]

California now requires colleges to have many Deans, monitoring “diversity” and a variety non-academic issues. These Deans are all powerful, I know because I tangled with one who ordered me to give the exact same exam to a student who was seven days late taking the exam, due to a panic attack.

[motor_racer]

To begin to fix so-called “higher education”, first, make it possible for student debt to be wiped out in bankruptcy proceedings. This will motivate lenders to care whether the student is studying in a field that will let them pay it back. Scholarships can be used to assure a steady stream of people in unemployable fields (the social “sciences” and anything ending in “studies”) Require that scholarships derive only from endowments created with private funds for that purpose. Second, force colleges to demonstrate, and audit them annually, that tuition is to cover only the cost of expenses related to the student’s education, and not to all the other activities colleges involve themselves in. Third, outlaw tenure in any state chartered institution, or any that receives government funds.

These aren’t enough to cure it, but would be steps in the right direction. I’m sure others here can add more.

[Leaning Right]

> The only thing missing from then to today is a bonfire of offending books, but that could well be coming! <

Oh, yes. Right now “hateful” books are just being removed from reading lists. But the next logical step would be to burn them.

And just what is a “hateful” book? It’s any book that is not sufficiently PC. As just one example, some libraries are considering removing Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Little House on the Prairie”. Why? It’s somehow “racist”.

[Leaning Right]

> To begin to fix so-called “higher education”, first, make it possible for student debt to be wiped out in bankruptcy proceedings. <

The problem with that idea is that some student loans are federally guaranteed. So a bankruptcy would put the taxpayers on the hook for the loan.

> This will motivate lenders to care whether the student is studying in a field that will let them pay it back. <

That would cause a flurry of lawsuits: How dare you deny my child a loan just because he wants to major in Navajo tribal chants!

I’d rather see colleges be forced to co-sign for student loans. So if some college wants to offer a major in say, Navajo tribal chants, okay. But it’s on them to get their money back.

(Just my rambling two cents.)

[Erik Latranyi]

We have book burning today....it is called Facebook and Twitter banning and removing content.

[Mr. K]

This is happening in the workplace too.

I have seen it on numerous occasions. Liberals cannot be made a manager because soon there will be nothing but other liberals hired... even to the detriment to the company.

Fortunately I am very good at software... so when I have been left off a project I usually get a call back to fix what has been screwed up- at a much higher rate- because liberals are generally pretty stupid.

[Mr. K]

You’ve hit the nail on the head there- This is happening more and more BECAUSE of federal money. A school has to have a ‘diversity program’ or it loses federal money.

Stuff like that.

[MeganC]

I’d begin the fix by abolishing government backed student loans entirely.

But then I’d improve the benefits for veterans who have served honorably.

That would drive more people into the military where they’d be better prepared to resist any BS leftist indoctrination in academia.

[yoe]

A few years back, The University of Colorado at Boulder was going to try an experiment of hiring ONE Conservative professor....how many other universities-colleges have even ONE Conservative professor teaching....this is nutsville Marxist on a grand scale!

[itsahoot]

The problem with that idea is that some student loans are federally guaranteed. So a bankruptcy would put the taxpayers on the hook for the loan.

It might surprise you to know all student loans are federal loans.

[itsahoot]

That would drive more people into the military where they’d be better prepared to resist any BS leftist indoctrination in academia.

That used to be true, not any more.

Men walking a mile in her shoes training.

[MeganC]

I suppose we need to get the faggots out of the military, too.

[Svartalfiar]

He wrote, “It appears that a fairly liberal student body is being taught by a very liberal professoriate—and socialized by an incredibly liberal group of administrators.” (Italics in original.)

...But no italics in the article excerpt. Nice.

On a more serious note, this is a huge issue. Student debt is a massive bubble just getting bigger and bigger. Many colleges have grown their admin many times over the rate of growth of professors/students. Ballooning costs.
I've seen several solutions, and many of them come around to getting the FedGov out of student loans. Whether private companies start only loaning for real degrees, or the colleges/professors are tied into the student loan and liable for job ability post-graduation, The big issue is that the people taking in the $$ have no responsibility on the debt.

If colleges were forced to lower tuition because the funding for loans galore started shrinking, they'd start (eventually) putting out a product that had value in the post-college world. Your mostly worthless humanities/arts/diversity/etc degrees would be limited to people who could afford to pay for them. Loans would go to Engineers, doctors/nurses, business degrees, people who can't afford the degree but will have the ability to pay it back. Win-win all around.