Prof. Daphne Patai of UMass-Amherst has a good post at Minding the Campus. She writes about the thought she encounters among academics, which of course ranges all the way from Marxist to “progressive.” One result, she observes, is that students absorb statist clichés — such as the absurd notion that the Tea Party is rooted in racism — and rarely hear any arguments that challenge them. Of course, when a conservative or libertarian tries to add programs, professors, or speakers to provide the case for liberalism (in its original meaning) and to show how damaging the concentration of government power is, he is sure to be vilified for “undermining academic freedom” and trying to “buy the curriculum.”