Many thanks for your excellent post. I attended one of the most leftist colleges in the US back in the 70's and remember well the rigid enforcement of many forms of orthodoxy through the school, including Skinnerian behaviorism in the Psych department and Keynesian theory in Econ. This continued commitment to orthodoxy in academia is having a impact on quality, as in the case of Mary Habek, one of the best young military historians around, who was recently denied tenure by Yale.
Institutions of learning which do not permit any true competition of ideas are in very real danger of losing their reason for existence.
Plus, it's probably a good bet that univerity profs earned their doctorates spewing Skinnerian behaviorism in psychology, or Keynesian theory in econ, or Darwinism in the bio-sciences. Adherence to "orthodoxy" has much to do with the fact that their degrees and careers have been based upon it. Question the Skinner school of behavior, etc., and you're questioning the validity and basis of their professional standing.