Campus Freedom in Peril
by Paul Jacob, Contributing Author:
Murray thinks the answer to the first question is “more than 50 percent.” He doubts that is the answer to the second.
He is pessimistic about free inquiry on campus.
And has reason to be.
College faculty members are closing ranks, as many at Middlebury did, calling Murray — famous for books such as Losing Ground and The Bell Curve — “a discredited ideologue paid by the American Enterprise Institute to promote public policies targeting people of color, women and the poor”** and “not an academic nor a ‘critically acclaimed’ public scholar, but a well-funded phony.”
Mark J. Perry has listed many more complaints, all offered as reasons not to listen or debate with the famous intellectual.
That was last Thursday. On Saturday, a pro-Trump, “Proud Boys” march in Berkeley culminated not only in violence, bloodied faces, destroyed property, but also in the burning of a purloined “Free Speech” placard.
The University of California at Berkeley seems uninterested in controlling the mobs. Berkeley City Police have poorly defended non-leftist protestors. It’s open season on freedom of speech and the right to peaceably assemble.
Unless something is done, officially, mobbing will be the new normal. And our basic rights? A memory.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
* His colleague Professor Allison Stranger was seriously injured in the riotous shoving and grabbing. Murray tweeted yesterday, “Everybody in the mob could be criminally prosecuted, but those who injured Prof. Stranger must be.”
** It is worth noting that his recent Coming Apart was entirely devoted to the economic performance and culture of white Americans.
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Paul Jacobs is author of Common Sense which provides daily commentary about the issues impacting America and about the citizens who are doing something about them. He is also President of the Liberty Initiative Fund (LIFe) as well as Citizens in Charge Foundation. Jacobs is a contributing author on the ARRA News Service.
Tags: Paul Jacob, Common Sense, Campus Freedom, in Peril To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
- What is the percentage of tenured faculty on American campuses who are still unambiguously on the side of free intellectual exchange?
- What is the percentage of them who are willing to express that position openly?
Murray thinks the answer to the first question is “more than 50 percent.” He doubts that is the answer to the second.
He is pessimistic about free inquiry on campus.
And has reason to be.
College faculty members are closing ranks, as many at Middlebury did, calling Murray — famous for books such as Losing Ground and The Bell Curve — “a discredited ideologue paid by the American Enterprise Institute to promote public policies targeting people of color, women and the poor”** and “not an academic nor a ‘critically acclaimed’ public scholar, but a well-funded phony.”
Mark J. Perry has listed many more complaints, all offered as reasons not to listen or debate with the famous intellectual.
That was last Thursday. On Saturday, a pro-Trump, “Proud Boys” march in Berkeley culminated not only in violence, bloodied faces, destroyed property, but also in the burning of a purloined “Free Speech” placard.
The University of California at Berkeley seems uninterested in controlling the mobs. Berkeley City Police have poorly defended non-leftist protestors. It’s open season on freedom of speech and the right to peaceably assemble.
Unless something is done, officially, mobbing will be the new normal. And our basic rights? A memory.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
* His colleague Professor Allison Stranger was seriously injured in the riotous shoving and grabbing. Murray tweeted yesterday, “Everybody in the mob could be criminally prosecuted, but those who injured Prof. Stranger must be.”
** It is worth noting that his recent Coming Apart was entirely devoted to the economic performance and culture of white Americans.
------------------
Paul Jacobs is author of Common Sense which provides daily commentary about the issues impacting America and about the citizens who are doing something about them. He is also President of the Liberty Initiative Fund (LIFe) as well as Citizens in Charge Foundation. Jacobs is a contributing author on the ARRA News Service.
Tags: Paul Jacob, Common Sense, Campus Freedom, in Peril To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
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