Palladium

An account of how Stanford, once a quirky school that combined brainy kids with a Californian free spirit to create a culture of spontaneity, individual difference, community and rule-breaking, has been flattened into controlled, equitable uniformity. “What happened at Stanford is a cultural revolution.”

Princetonians for Free Speech

Princeton alumnus and a professor at the University of Mississippi, Adam Gussow, explains why the firing of Joshua Katz “is the metaphorical hill I’m prepared to die on.” He counts Katz in the elevated company of a number of FAIR advisors for his views and integrity, and wrestles with the choice to destroy any chance of his 16-year-old biracial son becoming a Princetonian.

Wall Street Journal

George Mason Professor Kontorovich explains how Native Land Acknowledgments have become standard at universities. “Most land acknowledgments are only recommended acts of piety, not obligatory devotions. But when a university recommends such statements…all but the bravest…are likely to fall in line…” He also notes that such rituals “can quickly become mandatory.”

Reason

Eugene Volokh, Professor of Law at UCLA, received a copy of the report issued by the Georgetown’s Diversity, Equity and Affirmative Action office on the Illya Shapiro situation— as Volokh explores, the report “gives us a good sense about what all Georgetown professors are, at least ostensibly, forbidden from saying…”

Wall Street Journal

As a follow-up to Ilya Shapiro’s 6/2/22 piece My Cancel Culture Nightmare is Over, he published a piece on 6/6/22 announcing his resignation from Georgetown: “After full consideration of the report I received later that afternoon…and on consultation with counsel and trusted advisers, I concluded that remaining in my job was untenable.”

Stanford Review

“For 35 years, the Review has documented the repression of students’ heterodox ideas. Recently, however, professors who challenge progressive ideology are now being increasingly targeted… Students are not only less willing to accept instruction that does not conform with progressive orthodoxy — they feel psychologically threatened by it.”

FIRE

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education published a statement on the use of DEI criteria for faculty vetting purposes. The statement comes at a time of increased DEI criteria use in faculty hiring, promotion, tenure, and funding, a tactic that may be increasing in anticipation of a SCOTUS ruling against affirmative action.

City Journal

Connor Harris (Harvard AB ‘16) argues that MIT hasn’t gone far enough in reinstating the SAT. “The point is not just that admissions tests are useful, but that very little else is, beyond other academic measures such as high school records… College admissions would be both more efficient and more fair if they were based on academic criteria alone.”

All-In Podcast

Guest Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of University of Austin, talks about the pursuit of truth as essential to a functioning society, intolerance on campuses, the need for intellectual humility, the benefits of being offended, and why the smartest people are dropping out of PhD programs. Panelist Sacks discusses the working vs. professional class as the biggest divide in America, and how the Elite Class must silence and censor to suppress the masses and end debates they can’t win.

Chronicle of Higher Education

A response to the recent article, How to Protect DEI Requirements From Legal Peril. Among other things, Brian Leiter argues that because most DEI requirements are administratively imposed, academic freedom affords universities little protection from the charge of unconstitutionality.

Common Sense

A witty and candid address for the Class of ‘22. Among other pieces of advice, she warns that “divid[ing] the world into the ‘us’ of the victimized and the ‘them’ of the victimizers…doesn’t help members of the groups you think you are supporting—who didn’t ask to be cast as bit parts in these weirdly reversed heroes’ journeys of the privileged.”

Articles covering the story of Joshua Katz, a tenured Princeton Classics professor who wrote a controversial article in July 2020, was accused of being a racist by prominent faculty members, had his name affixed to Princeton’s virtual “wall of shame,” and was fired over an already-adjudicated case around a consensual relationship with a student.

The Good Fight

Yascha Mounk and Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton, Robert P. George, discuss the state of universities today, John Rawls, and why democratic republics can’t function without free speech. As George explains, “I think the situation is rather dire when people are censoring themselves or not saying what they believe or not even asking certain questions. You can't run academic institutions that way. You can't run a democratic republic that way.”

FAIR Substack

In this piece, Shukla and Kalra argue that California state institutions are “deeply misguided in creating a new protected class category that is facially discriminatory and so ill-defined as to make it impossible to adjudicate claims—all while existing laws already effectively cover caste-based discrimination.”

Chronicle of Higher Ed

HGSE’s Gardner (AB ‘65, Phd ‘61) and Fischman (GSE ‘99) explain that students’ lack of engagement and alienation is not due to the pandemic; rather, students lack a sense of belonging and don’t see the purpose of college beyond getting a job. “Colleges need to reflect on and embody their central educational missions; they should use all means possible to help students connect with that mission, believe in it, embody it, and gain from it over the course of a lifetime.”

New Yorker

In this interview, Orby provides an assessment of the upcoming changes to the SAT as it goes digital, including arguments for and against use of the SAT and the real problem behind the “cutthroat win-or-lose, net-zero game” of college admissions.

Common Sense

An excellent piece by former Yale University professor and author— ”Beware of prepackaged rebellions; that protest march that you’re about to join may be a herd…be skeptical of any authority that claims to have your interests at heart… Self-authoring is hard. If it isn’t uncomfortable, it isn’t independence. Childhood is over. Dare to grow up.”

City Journal

Northern Arizona University now requires its students to take four Diversity Perspective courses. “These new requirements follow a concerted effort on NAU’s part to weave diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) ‘into the fabric of the institution.’”

Chronicle of Higher Ed

A law professor and former chair of the University of California’s systemwide academic freedom committee provides a roadmap for how universities can circumvent charges of discrimination and unconstitutionality when using mandatory DEI statements in vetting faculty for jobs, tenure or advancement.

Chronicle of Higher Ed

A new report from the Federal Reserve Board shows that “among adults who had completed at least some college (and were not currently enrolled), nearly half who had studied the arts and humanities said they would now major in something else.”