As the academy grows more stridently left wing, conservatives respond with calls for ideological affirmative action — for schools to hire more right-thinking faculty so students encounter intellectual diversity. This is a seductively alluring scheme, and thanks to wealthy donors, it is proliferating.
It is an ill-advised and ultimately anti-intellectual strategy, even in the unlikely event that it succeeds. The academy can not be, nor should it be, an intellectual version of Noah’s Ark. Sadly, this conservative version of “inclusion” mimics the Left’s subordination of truth to ideology.
The quest should be about insisting that whatever professors teach, content should be truthful, whether this truth is liberal, conservative, reactionary, or Marxist, whether the subject in English or sociology. After all, who wants conservative falsehoods to “balance” radical dishonesty? It is fantasy to insist that if students learn at 9 a.m. that 2+2=3 and at 11 a.m., 2+2=5, they will eat lunch knowing that 2+2=4.
The hunt to hire truth-seekers changes everything. Out with the ideological litmus tests; in with character and temperament. If a Marxist job candidate argues that Africa is poor owing to colonial exploitation, the sharp rejoinder should be, “Can you prove this?” Ditto for the conservative job seeker who insists that only capitalist free markets can solve Africa’s poverty.
Admittedly, abandoning ideological labels complicates life, and may even discourage donors from funding pet projects, but this is what the life of the mind is about.
While I'm all in favor of hiring truth-seekers, I know of few serious conservatives who want academic departments to engage in intellectual affirmative action on behalf of conservatives. Most of us would gladly settle for a halt to creating a hostile learning environment for conservative students, which doubtless dissuades many of them for pursuing a career in academia; ceasing to discriminate against conservative applicants to graduate school, and dropping their discriminatory practices against conservatie candidates for professorships.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf you try to advocate for truth I believe you would be met with either snickers and giggles or blank stares as so much of what passes for academia today depends on the rejection of the concept of objective truth. As far as most academics are concerned the current status quo is just beginning to reverse the damage done by centuries of "wrong thinking" that there is such a thing as truth.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI beg to differ with the high-minded stance of the article. The expectation that hiring should be done under the auspices of intellectual excellence is sadly outdated in our postmodern mileau.
Legal and political protection of academics - particularly those dedicated to intellectual excellence - is sadly but utterly necessary.
Otherwise, those dedicated to the pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty will simply be denied a place by the current academic majority dedicated not to intellectual excellence, but to power politics.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe idea that the academy has become more left-wing is delusional. The corporate structure of the academy in both financing and mission renders any sense of "left-wing" a hazy idea. The fact is that the academy is not ideological its corporatist, and any ideological thinking, research, or teaching gets sublimated into this corporate structure. It would be nice if conservatives could recognize and admit that the academy has changed structurally and philosophically since the days of Alan Bloom. Otherwise, this blog post is nothing more than a rehashing a 30 year old conservative talking points about higher education.
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