This piece in The Chronicle Review thoughtfully asks how it could be that so many students and professors at Duke, apropos of the late unpleasantness there, could so readily lapse into judging people based on stereotypes. Where was the “critical thinking” that we always hear is at the center of progressive education?
I think the right conclusion to draw is that the “multiculturalist” mindset, fixated on finding every real and imaginary instance of the supposed oppression of victim groups, can’t patiently evaluate evidence in individual cases.
Where I’d take issue with the writer is his characterization of Until Proven Innocent by Taylor and Johnson as having a “harshly anti-left tone.” I’ve read the book and there isn’t anything of the sort in it. The authors only attack those who were so eager to leap to judgment in the Duke case, and only for having done so, not for the beliefs they hold. Nothing in the book attacks the body of leftist philosophy.