Activist Academics Threaten the Integrity of Higher Ed

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | June 19, 2020 | Anthony Hennen

[karpov]

The rise of activist professors has shaped the culture in higher ed for decades. As activists have become more prominent, a familiar process has changed academic departments, pushing scholars out and replacing them with professors who think in political terms and prioritize social change.

A new Martin Center policy brief, ‘Witches’ and ‘Viruses:’ The Activist-Academic Threat and a Policy Response, looks at that process and how activists conceive of their project. Joy Pullmann and Sumantra Maitra analyze two feminist papers that present strategies for capturing institutions and using universities to further political change. The politicization problem doesn’t stay within one or two marginal departments, either—it creeps across the many arms of the university and beyond, they argue:

[G Larry]

"integrity of higher ed"

Uh.....there hasn't been any "integrity" in higher ed for at least 40 years.

[alloysteel]

In the study of chemistry, the way you pronounce “unionized” shows just what kind of chemist you are.

[Lurkinanloomin]

There is no integrity in higher education.

Communists took it over.

[MichaelRDanger]

Academia is the mother of all swamps...

[wintertime]

Higher Ed has integrity? Gee! Who knew?

[BenLurkin]

Defund academia

[Oatka]

Back in the early ‘70s, attending a Community College in Southern California, I had a Paki Intro to Physics professor tell the class that the decision to Atom Bomb Japan was a racist decision.

I had just watched an interview with Paul Tibbets wherein he said it was a Helluva job in that he had to handle the possibility of bombing of Germany as well.

I told the prof that and he clammed up. What pist me off was that half the class were retired Marines and they all hung their heads when he said that. Hell, half of ‘em wouldn’t have been in class if we had to invade Japan.