W. Churchill __ A sad look at a sick academic bubble. (this article is great, don't miss it)

National Review Online ^ | 09 February 2005 | Mark Goldblatt

[shezza]

I am amazed how Hamilton and other universities are ready to throw money away.

[money=student fees and tuition paid by parents, or taxpayers' money, if it's a state school]

[FormerACLUmember]

Brilliant, absolutely breath-taking analytic thinking. Thank you for an INCREDIBLE post!

[satchmodog9]

bump

[madprof98]

The suggestion that "studying" is involved in any of these subjects is laughable; they are quasi-religious advocacy groups whose curricula run the gamut from historical wish fulfillment (the ancient Egyptians were black; the U.S. Constitution was derived from the Iroquois Nation) to political axe grinding (the Israelis are committing genocide against the Palestinians; the U.S. is committing genocide against the people of Cuba) to gynocentric self-help (reasoning from verifiable data is a tool of male domination, to which the experiential impressions of women are a necessary antidote) to circumstantial special pleading (Lincoln was gay because, well, he was a nice guy; Hitler, not so nice, therefore not gay). Contesting the status quo is the raison d'etre of these departments. No idea is beyond the pale — except, of course, the suggestion that the status quo might somehow be valid.

Anyone who imagines that this might be an exaggeration hasn't been on a college campus in a good long while. And it's not just a few campuses: victimology is the received orthodoxy in the liberal arts and social sciences nationwide. Nor can students bypass these courses. Many of them fulfill the "diversity" requirement mandatory for all majors.

[HassanBenSobar]

"The fault lies, generally, with the sick academic culture in which he has thrived, and, specifically, with the administrative weasels at the University of Colorado who have repeatedly rewarded his dubious critical achievements."

Such a good article makes such a glaring mistake. Who really determines which professors get what rewards? Not administrators--other faculty! The inmates run the asylum. Lefty tenure committees choose who gets hired and who gets tenured; dept admins are tenured profs who want some extra bucks and less teaching; same with deans; etc., etc., etc. Ward Churchill's peers are just as guilty--they recruited him, hired him, promoted him, provided peer reviews, voted him for awards, etc.

The whole system is sick. I would never waste a nickel on anything academic program in the fields of study they list in this article. It's just plain disgusting.

[John Lenin]

If the broke the ethics code of teaching he should be fired and make sure it's known it's not about free speech it's about telling the truth to academia.

[Duke Nukum]

Him and Moore should do a road movie together, the Road to Tenure, maybe?

But they need a repugant female to play the traditional love interest. Susan Sarandon? Sharon Stone? Who?

Maybe a male of indeterminate sex? Ben Afflick? The guy who plays Apollo on the new Battlestar Galactica?

[FreedomFarmer]

I understand bugmenot.com will provide a login to rate chief runamuck on the site you found.

[Old_Mil]

Two Colleges that are worthy of your consideration:

Hillsdale College (Michigan)
Ave Maria College (Florida)

...other freepers, feel free to add to this list of good colleges for conservatives.

[Unam Sanctam]

But the epistemological nadir of any university is found in the wacky world of ethnic and gender studies: black studies, Africana studies, Chicano studies, Latino studies, Puerto Rican studies, Middle Eastern studies, Native American studies, women's studies, gay and lesbian studies, et al. The suggestion that "studying" is involved in any of these subjects is laughable; they are quasi-religious advocacy groups whose curricula run the gamut from historical wish fulfillment (the ancient Egyptians were black; the U.S. Constitution was derived from the Iroquois Nation) to political axe grinding (the Israelis are committing genocide against the Palestinians; the U.S. is committing genocide against the people of Cuba) to gynocentric self-help (reasoning from verifiable data is a tool of male domination, to which the experiential impressions of women are a necessary antidote) to circumstantial special pleading (Lincoln was gay because, well, he was a nice guy; Hitler, not so nice, therefore not gay).

Well said.

[jwalburg]

If Ward Churchill can be a Native American, Freepers can be CU alumni:

CU-Boulder Alumni Association Koenig Alumni Center Boulder, CO 80309-0459 (303) 492-8484 or (800) 492-7743 General Info Email:ucbalumni@cufund.colorado.edu

cbalumni@cufund.colorado.edu>

Just kidding, of course. We are above that. Still, this might be a good address to send grievance letters.

[jwalburg]

Northern State University, South Dakota

[Billthedrill]

A concise and accurate description of postmodernism, deconstruction, and the rot that invaded the social "sciences" sometime in the 70's. There is a similarity between the worldview of the adherents of this academic fad and the actual structure of their canon - both are composed of obscurantist jargon that fronts for a void.

[Richard Kimball]

L8R

[TASMANIANRED]

Boycott the universities and ridicule Churchill and same university just for fun.

[TASMANIANRED]

Look at the courses. Do not allow her to go to any college that offers a degree in Peace Studies ( Marxism) or ethnic studies (denigrating Western Culture).

[TASMANIANRED]

It's time to start petitioning State Legislatures to defund these institutions.

Going to college should be entirely tuition based. The legislatures may selectively award scholarships based on merit.

[Starboard]

[money=student fees and tuition paid by parents, or taxpayers' money, if it's a state school]

---

It amazes me how our institutions of higher learning get away with ever increasing tuition fees that continually exceed the rate of inflation. They have a voracious appetite for money, a lot of which goes to overpaid kooks like this guy. But there's no outcry against the rising fees because academia promotes liberal causes and preaches its ideology. Too bad we have to subsize this brainwashing.

[jocon307]

You are right, this is a great article. Are you 100% sure quidnunc didn't beat you to the post?

Goldblatt just gets better and better, he even wrote a obit for Sontag that pointed out some good things she'd done/said. I thought that was his best ever, then a read this one, and it was even better!

Thanks for posting this!

[AFreeBird]

This guy teaches Ethics??

What's ethical about claiming a heritage you don't have?

Shouldn't there be (tenured or not) some standards that if you teach ethics, you actually have ethics?