The problem with the 'academic freedom' issue is that it's NOT academic freedom. DEI offices are imposing rules on faculty and staff when they're not trying to bribe them with money. The re-frame for 'academic freedom' is that it is being bought out the same way the tobacco companies bought out some academics decades ago. DEI dollars corrupt academic integrity instead of promoting it.
The irony of all the hand-wringing over shutting down departments is that it's always been about the money. If the dept doesn't generate the student credit hours (or bring in the grants), it's at risk, regardless if that's physics or queer African latinx studies. Humanities in general are supported by "General education" requirements. Everyone has to take a diversity credit (or globalization, or multicultural, or whatever) or two and this keeps many of those departments in business. Cut those requirements and see how long the department remains profitable.
Let's set aside, for now, the serious concerns about such ideologies as DEI, CRT, and LGBTQ. What we have in our universities and colleges is a massive system of rent-seeking, what the Classicist Moses Hadas mocked as "filling a much-needed vacancy." Apart from their poisonous programs, those departments and bureaus serve one purpose: to create unnecessary jobs. Chris is right to point to the legislative duty of fiscal control over all state institutions. The question in any case is "What is the taxpayer getting for the funds we have confiscated from him?"
May 21, 2023·edited May 21, 2023Liked by Christopher F. Rufo
Well-put. "Rent-seeking" and sinecures for the mediocre sons and daughters of the PMC, or aspirants. Were they performing some public service - road-building or perhaps cleaning litter and graffiti or planting trees - they might be sufferable as temporary participants in a jobs-program. It is their enormous pay and "authority" (administrative power, actually) which makes them proper objects of...intense dislike.
I think a simpler (but possibly more difficult) solution would be to stop the flow of easy money to the universities by dismantling the student loan system as it stands now. Student loans should NOT be backed by government guarantees, explicit or not.
Also, employers should stop looking at the university degree as a way of conferring credentialing for most jobs. Instead, perhaps third party testing/certification for knowledge base and skills (or a portfolio of products generated, like IT does) would be the way to weed out candidates. If we can make universities irrelevant to the job market, we can decrease their power.
I read somewhere that jobs that used to be filled by high school grads now require a college degree. Perhaps that's due to the deterioration of education in high schools (what one used to know after graduating now requires an extra few years) but I think the availability of poorly-educated college grads has caused this. It's ridiculous that many jobs require a college degree just because they can. College shouldn't be for everyone (and that is not elitist, just fair).
For many types of employment, the replacement of degrees by skills testing is occurring - in many cases where everyone applying has a degree. Many businesses must make good hiring decisions, and cannot afford/would not benefit from executive/managerial-class "virtue signaling.
This does not apply to those businesses in the "crony-capitalist" sector.
Good economic research establishes that student loans have significantly raised university prices by making purchasers less price sensitive. The used car dealer always wants to talk monthly payment instead of total price for the same reason.
Every time I read one of your essays, I am always impressed with your logic, comprehension and ability to envision solutions. Thank God, you are working for the truth and light. Keep up the great work!!
Yes, Mr. Rufo is intellectually gifted and has the ability to keep the big picture in the forefront while walking us through the relevant details. But perhaps more importantly, he is cool under pressure and knows how to deliver his message without the kind of anger and sarcasm that we mere mortals tend to infect our messages with. It's almost impossible to listen to Mr. Rufo and conclude that he is motivated by any kind of animus, bigotry, or bias; and yes I too am so thankful for people like him, for the brave work they do, and for their courageous ability to endure the inevitable threats and defamation that come with taking on this monstrous abortion of deceit and division. May God bless him and his family.
A harangue I would like to make about using trustees and conservatives ( like a former government official as a college President) to choose the faculty and coursework at public educational institutions: without unbiased journalism the public will be misinformed and no change will be recognized as having occurred. In fact, we might appear as destroying rather than improving conditions. That’s the thrust of New College as presented in national media coverage to date.
I am a very close observer of New College Florida and more than anything in my life want to see a conservative takeover of this particular institution. I never dreamed change possible because for five years I have closely observed egregious outlandish behavior both in academics and the college culture.
Rufo, has been the point of the spear in a state known to be conservative (where the governor won by a wide percentage of votes). Conservative ideals should be considered the voice of the people in Florida already. But nothing is further from the truth. The progress toward a conservative goal is being overwhelmingly ignored! In fact, it’s being reversed and vilified by the strongest lies possible! Both locally and nationally! Media is not telling the truth at all about this change.
Shame on the national media! Shame on the local paper, both controlled by of the most contemptible of outliers!
For example, huge column width ( the life-blood of cash assets at a newspaper) were used in Sarasota to give free access to a New College alternative graduation ceremony led by a public figure who used her oration as rabble rousing propaganda to inspire a New College mob of narcissist, spoiled graduating. They are also led by sympathetic faculty to disrupt their true graduation ceremony. The made it into a mockery.
First, at their pretend ceremony, students dressed like carnival celebrants - as if to mock the age-old graduation exercises that have a thousand year tradition honoring achievements in the best of accomplishments in science, philosophy, culture. ( By the way, New College mockery is NOT new. Every year graduates 🎓 ignore tradition and create instead a costumed, blasphemous misrule AS ceremony). But, of course the nation news channels treated this year’s particular mockery as if it was but a brilliant example of original thinking. Far from it. It’s the norm at New College and students pride in its Misrule. In this venue Swiftean Yahoos throw shit on the silent majority and media praises it a noble cause. Yearly.
I am sick to death and full of rage!
Does anyone see the depth of deprivation ? The journalists have spoken! It’s wonderful, original, happy, justified! These are no spearhead aimed to break atrocity by telling the truth. No. They perpetrate disinformation. They have turned non-conformity into the worst form of conformity: misrule as order; mockery as nobility. Today I read a Rolling Stone article praising as heroics the New College Lords of Misrule as if these miscreants are the Heroes of the French Revolution! Factually, They are poorly educated miscreants treated as intellectual prodigies and it’s disgusting. A fraternity bacchanalia considered a baccalaureate. Or worse - a wolf in sheep’s clothing for a sheepskin diploma.
The national magazine lied through its teeth. They purposely omitted photographs of the actual graduation ceremony at the college. Because that embarrassing ceremony was too close to a riot. It was a travesty of tradition. These same interlopers not only held their own ceremony, they refused the cap and gown provided free of charge, turned their backs on the guest speaker ( who was not smarmy and opportunistically soothing their egos) and yelled “Fuck You” and “Get on with it” during the oratory.
One of the screaming hysterical miscreants crossing the stage for her diploma made a grossly inappropriate hand gesture directly at a conservative undergraduate who sat respectfully on the front row. Let us observe how such “ noble experimenters” in democracy treat others, those outside their cult. Here’s a true detail.
This student is unlike them. He came to college a decade later than most students and chose New College for honors ( it’s name IS The Honors College of Florida) Only locals know of this place as “ weirdo college” and he’s not local. He had been a student for three years and totally ignored while pursuing advanced mathematics. He is conservative and expressed his view immediately after Ruso’s initial speech. An LA Times reporter interviewed him, since she noticed he was not opposed to Rufo. From that instant forward this single individual became the campus pariah and target for hate speech.
Get this straight : the student chosen as object of derision was not the emphasis of the LA Times piece, more the quote used to balance the overriding liberal point of view. However, mere mention of how courses looked to a conservative mathematics student caused several faculty members to question him about the ideas he expressed. Soon, students were calling him Fascist. The rumor mill continued and grew until today he is hinted as an “ old” sexual pervert that frightens students; his appearance is mocked: ugly, going bald, developing breasts; an alumnae suggested parents report him as a danger - why?
Because conservative change-makers noticed him. They spoke with him. He was on board and happy to inspire other intelligent students to matriculate at New College. Parents, activist faculty( I could name them)and more students than anyone can name came after him - one conservative student. They attacked with a vengeance like the mob scene in Frankenstein movies.
Everyone had a scapegoat. “ I hope you die” was thrown towards him, along with suggesting he choice New College for easy access to young women, and too lazy to work a regular job. Meanwhile the mockers are told their anger is justified and they are being treated unfairly. They need to act out and show their condemnation of the changes ahead.
A math major. Someone who put off college to study independently while giving bedridden end of life care. No easy path by any stretch of imagination.
So here we are. The latest aberration of truth hailed as factual in a nation intentionally kept blind to facts. Media keeps the lies consistent on the largest scale as possible. The incident of change at New College is the size of a grain of sand, comparative to the ground covered by national media machinery. It’s a college with 700 students total and when it makes a change in operations toward a return to traditional education, the earth moves ? Suddenly, all the organs of propaganda flip a switch. Lies go out, well formed along a pattern well developed for misinformation. For example, The Rolling Stone’s coverage is the latest abomination. Its point ignores facts and creates sympathy for students as victims of hate and endangered .
NBC news instead of the stately sea of graduating seniors from Villanova should had shown instead the New College debacle. Flip that script, that yearly tale . The whole country might have a clue what’s really happening. Shock would be the National reaction to such a travesty of tradition as actually occurred at New College.
We can make no progress without open and involved media - Unless there’s a Chris Rufo in major newsrooms with an editorial board who has open eyes for democracy, our country will never survive the consequences of misinformation and misrule. Reaching legislative goals cannot even be understood without equally informing the public - the job of independent media lead by courageous reporting.
The indoctrinated hoopleheads graduating today are spoiled, petulant children. They dress as clowns because they are. Non-educated is right. They have been taught only to disrupt and dismantle. Never to build or celebrate anything of beauty or achievement. It's sad that the joke is on them, however, when life is not one to pander at those who destroy. It takes hard work to survive, whether in capitalism or any other system. These brats have zero knowledge of history to appreciate how easy they have it indeed.
And yes, MSM is captured and itself needs to be dismantled.
The next 10 - 15 years will certainly be interesting.
Yes yes yes PoGo78 ! Spot on! I am enraged that faculty will encourage (not merely tolerate) such egregious misbehavior and The Rolling Stone dare to publish a piece as if the total disruption of a university graduation ceremony is appropriate.
I wish the board of trustees and the new president had a way to snatch back diplomas and force each loudmouthed cursing disrespectful graduate to attend an anger management course and earn a certificate that will be attached to their record and their diploma. Then have THEM rent cap and gown for a true ceremony to replace the debacle they made of the original one. Unless they learn that such obvious and public misbehavior as graduates edging toward riot is not tolerated at New College they will also unintentionally provoke thoughtful intelligent citizens to rightly insist that all college degrees awarded there are a sham and its graduates pompous unemployable detriments to any form of society.
It has to start somewhere, Dale. The charter school movement started the same way. So did the school voucher movement. They were tiny and the press hated them. Until they got results. Then they weren't tiny anymore.
As for the students, new administration will hopefully start kicking out the worst offenders and defunding the organizations that support them. Give it some time; it's only been a few months and progressives have 50 years of inertia. Also remember, the disease is often worst right before the medicine starts to work.
Thank you Brian ! I have just suffered through the most stressful vile disrespectful “graduation” any college will ever make public. that the big magazines of National note pretend the impropriety and foolishness of these miscreants is appropriate brings me to the point of rage. It’s so difficult to watch it. The change is the only hope and there’s so much vitriolic blasphemy aimed at the noble and righteous that I merely want to escape back to my little town. I have no hope this will end in a conservative success because these ugly little crafty sniveling cowards will use unions and hire lawyers to hold up progress for decades ahead. I pray you are correct because home schooling and charter schools are necessary and available. If tenure did not exist there could be no law suits and removing tenure could remove the power of these useless cavalier idiots who were not at all concerned when DEI and queer theory robbed the higher education institutions of instruction in all our common heritage values. Nothing’s left but a silent majority unaware of how our culture is threadbare and an evil cabal of immoral powerbrokers functioning under the Woke ideology of nihilism and self immolation about which the participants and leaders are themselves irresponsibly clueless.
The in-your-face hatred and impending threats of violence at New College is real. It’s very difficult to keep any sense of victory in the midst of such hatred and anger ... as have captured this campus. Were I Desantis I would close it for good and let these Woke idiots go elsewhere to perform their mock revolution.
700 total students? Good grief! The small suburban college I taught at had 6,000 students with a room utilization rate from 0700 to 2100 of 96%! WOWl. Amazing!
An interesting read - I know next to nothing about the goings-on at New College, and did not know about New College itself until very recently when the Governor identified it as needing reform.
defund any and all institutions that do not align with constitutional principles and defund (or eliminate their tax exempt status) ALL NGO’s, agencies, organizations, companies, donors etc that do not do the same.
Whoever has the the wisdom that is most aligned with God’s wisdom should be the group that has authority in public universities. I think that used to be school boards and faculty. But they, having professed wisdom, have become fools. The general public has more common sense and wisdom than university boards and faculty on how public universities should be run. As such, Mr. Rufo has the better argument by far.
May 22, 2023·edited May 22, 2023Liked by Christopher F. Rufo
David French and Sohrab Amari all over again.
Paraphrasing Lenin: "the libertarians will build us the departments which we will use to outlaw the teaching of liberal / libertarian ideas". Some people just can't see it. If those people are in positions of power at universities, they are useless and need to be replaced.
Keith Whittington's pleas for vague "Reform" but please not too harsh or not by "political actors" (which boil down to "Academia is our possession and no one else's") remind me of Augustine's famous “Lord, give me chastity and continence, but not yet!”
But the reason we've reached this point (and I know this is hard if not impossible for your average well-meaning professor to admit) is because the American liberal class has failed. Failed in the sacred charge they've been given to help sculpt the citizens (and thinkers and leaders) of the future, failed to live up to their basic duty to impart the culture and tradition of our ancestors, failed to provide the basic level of education that any intelligent adult should have, failed to defend the ideas of the Enlightenment that our country and civilization are built on.
Instead of fulfilling their obligations, the only thing the American liberal class of academia has excelled in is cowardly careerist conformity. They have allowed our universities to create perhaps the most ignorant and entitled generation in recorded history, and worse than that, they have unleashed a tsunami of malevolent pseudoradicalism that combines narcissism and socialism to wash over the country, whose entire philosophy and worldview boil down to: Anything that hurts my feelings is evil and needs to be destroyed.
And the liberal class is responsible because it refused to face down the radicals to their Left, afraid of being smeared as a bigot or (gasp) conservative, and thus even after the Sokal Affair and the Lindsay et al Grievance Studies hoax, they still tried to brush this mess of lies called "Critical Studies" under the rug, and have allowed this ideological gangrene to spread off campus and rot our entire culture and country.
Keith Whittington and his ilk most remind me of a teenager who's flunked out of school, wrecked his new car, yet promises that next time will be different, he swears things will change, and throws a massive tantrum denouncing his parents as evil when at last they take away his credit card.
Well, Chris Rufo is the strict but loving Dad we've been waiting for—"You can denounce America all you like, son, but don't expect us to subsidize it!"—and the credit card that our liberal class has maxed out will hopefully be revoked asap.
Dear CP, looking at your remark again - most definitely. Specifically, what do Mr. Whittington and others propose to do (italicized)? The status-quo is not tenable, and so..?
"just move along nothing to see here" seems to be the main gist.
Professors see academia as their personal fiefdom (really their church), that the State should subsidize but never supervise.
Also, liberals have developed this weird pattern of thought lately where everything they do (including teaching Queer Theory to children and explicitly saying they are training the next generation of activists) is just standard pedagogy, but any opposition (even gentle questioning) is portrayed as a repressive political assault.
Total agreement - well said ! I love the image of Rufo taking away the faculty keys because of the wreck ! I also know that Rufo is an experienced documentary producer. I’ve seen his work and it’s impressive . I agree that his mission now is to use the philosophical gift of clear thought and deep knowledge of various positions to merge with political leaders are retake our educational institutions.
But without media attention the process might take a half century to come to fruition! I hope Rufo will get back to documentary work and expose the NEED for this immediate change . If the public SEES a documentary revealing the vile pompous derangement that is parading itself as valid the tide will turn immediately towards good sense and Reason. Nobody in his right mind would tolerate what’s going on now. We all on his Substack understand that, but constantly assuring Rufo how correct he is doesn’t move the dial fast enough. One of his documentaries could !!!! So he has to be both political organizer within state legislatures AND a documentary film maker because I don’t see anyone else rising to the challenge with that much talent ! And media and its power for change MUST be added to the conservative political action. Where are Rufo’s allies and supporters with gifts and talents ???
I am much more of a reader than a watcher, but I see your point.
It does seem that the world has moved on now to watching docs as their way of learning and thinking (esp in re history and current affairs).
Maybe Chris could get access to some Hollywood loot, but we all know it would have to be some brave producers, because anything coded as "conservative" is put through the media spin cycle (Chris "Don't Say Gay" Rufo is coming to lock gay people back in the closet!), and everyone involved would be denounced, demonized and blackballed.
But Chris has made such great progress, I'm just happy to support him.
I wish that I could agree with Whittington. The classical liberal in me is made queasy by the idea of boards of trustees and state legislatures taking an active role in setting public university curricula, hiring practices, etc. But as in so many other institutions, the Wokesters have moved the universities into a post-liberal, illiberal era, as I have seen from the inside. To expect universities to reform themselves from within, organically, is naive. Only political action of the kind championed by Mr. Rufo can bring about change.
Think of the 'Emperor wearing no clothes' fable. If the faculty is insisting, along with their DEI programs, that objectivity is a myth, a ruse to impose white supremacy - then they are saying that the emperor is wearing fine clothes. (If they disagree but are playing along then they are just as guilty since they allowed the lies to enter and persist). Where is Mr. Whittington standing in this fable? The child who points out the Emperor's nakedness is symbolic of state legislators and public voters. We don't have the supposed expertise of the faculty, but at this point the faculty has either vacated reality or is afraid to do anything about the situation. So the amateurs, so to speak, have more sense than the professionals. It does make one queasy when you live in such a culture; how in the world could this be? And yet, this is where we find ourselves.
"practitioners of postmodernist anthropology, lying about their beliefs during job interviews, came to comprise the department’s most influential clique"
This is one of the things normies for whom life is much larger than politics have such a hard time understanding. Leftists lie. Postmodernists lie. And this is entirely predictable as their entire philosophy begins with "there is no such thing as truth".
As counter as this runs to conservatives or even old-fashioned liberals, we must stop trusting what people say and start acting on what they appear to be. Don't hire someone who: has pronouns on their resume, lists any progressive nonprofit work, talks about diversity being a strength, etc... ever! They lie. And who wants to work with liars?
In my view, Keith Whittington is little more than a frightened barking dog trying to intimidate others from stepping into what he has falsely declared "his domain". The domain is the academy and it belongs not to Whittington and his fellow ideological authoritarians but to society at large. The academy was long ago captured by radical postmodern totalitarians while society slept. The time has come for society to retake the academy using every political means at its disposal.
I have been away from academia since my retirement from the Arizona Community College system, serving 28 years of full-time teaching in Emergency Medical Services, Human and Equine Anatomy and Physiology, along with my last 3 years as a professional counselor for the East and Desert Vista Campuses at Pima Community College. I watched with mostly bemusement, occasional anger, and tons of prayer. I loved my job, the students, the colleagues, the families of students taking my classes....and I watched the shift in campus culture. While serving on hiring committees, I was introduced to the concept of evaluating professionals by their characteristics rather than their accomplishments, or lack thereof. I noticed a pattern: applicants for administrative and some academic appointments were participating in what I call the “3 years and gone” where they move from position to position, citing their innovation. My discovery was that most were extolling how they “creatively introduced reforms to comply with the Equal Opportunity and the newest educational ideas (most could not survive the scientific method) that “transformed the department into a true DEI ideal. When digging further, I found this to be code foe “I stirred up shit and when it started getting bad I moved to my next position”. I spoke my mind on these changes and the HR representatives reminded me sternly that following the desired outcomes of a “more diverse faculty” meant passing over those whose melanin content was higher than my own “Anglo” category. When I would object that my background was of poor immigrants from Poland who entered a culture dominated, at the time by Irish Bishops, and that I qualified for “minority status” due to my genes. Of course I got nowhere except for my colleagues who loved my sense of humor and passion for student success. Having the respect of all of my colleagues was my desire, but that was secondary to having the trust of my students, whose very careers depended on doing well in my classes. I am starting to ramble on, so suffice it to say that I thank you, Mr Rufo, for your bolds stance toward this whole DEI nonsense. What happened to MLK’s “I Have A Dream” goals? I was so inspired by his leading a movement that originated in and was supported largely by Christian clergy, like myself. I, too, took a stand on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His love toward all people with no concern for categories like immutable traits; to be “blind” to those things and see each colleague, parent, student as a person loved by Jesus Christ. My last administrators indicated that this approach of mine was fine as long as I left God out of things. Smiling most of the time, I went about my business of educating and advising students and faculty and staff colleagues into a “color-blind” approach. Knowing Tucson is a richly multicultural community, including even those of us from Polish ancestry. Isn’t that valuable, even if my melanin content is similar to other students and colleagues of Eastern European descent. I am as proud of that as I am proud of those of different immutable characteristics, knowing that all people are loved by Jesus, and so I shall do the same.
I pray daily for higher education; that career that formed me as I was forming students in excellence in patient care and respecters of all people! That is not a bad thing! God bless your work, sir, and be at peace!
I taught as an adjunct for 18 years and my wife is a tenured professor at a small private liberal-arts college. We both deeply regret our decisions to enter academia and would choose other paths if we had it to do over.
We are both at the point now that we support revoking tax exemptions for at least the top endowed universities. Exemption from taxes is not a permanent entitlement, it is a public favor granted as part of a social contract--a social contract on which the universities have reneged. As much as my wife and I hate big government, we would rather see that tax money go to government than go to unaccountable DEI bureaucracies that corrupt young minds, attack and degrade education.
At the very least, private universities with enormous endowments like the top Ivies, which some are now describing as trust funds with universities attached, need to be revoked.
As a matter of university governance, your opponent makes some good points. At my wife's institution, the administration causes far more problems than faculty. One of the misperceptions common on the right, especially among those with little academic experiences, is that "radical faculty" are the problem rather than woke administrators. Getting rid of tenure will not aid in reforming the university; tenure rules actually slow down processes and make it harder for ANY faction to get its way, including woke administration. That's a good thing!
At some level I agree with you that universities can't play politics and expect to somehow remain above them at the same time. But control of public money is the lever to use, not using political pressure to change internal academic rules and procedures.
Yes, exactly. In particular, more and more power over key academic functions like curriculum and faculty has been transferred by various strategems (the creation and empowerment of DEI bureaucracies), from the professoriate to the central administration and added layers of middle management). Everyone above a professor is essentially a political appointment by higher powers whereas every professor is selected by a semi-democratic process involving advisory votes by search committees and entire faculties and final decisions by, often, a dean. And deans know they better have solid reasons if they are going to reject the advice of the departmental faculty....unless the dean has a chief diversity officer (and associate diversity officer, and assistant diversity officer, and diversity committee....) on his/her back.
Thanks for the well-written and thought provoking article.
I wonder if most universities implement DEI to get federal funding? Doesn't Harvard, for example, receive hundreds of millions annually from taxpayer funding? Hillsdale receives $0 from the fed govt, and they have no DEI. Hillsdale is a conservative school, but so are others in the south that now have DEI offices. Any thoughts?
Professors, deans and heads of universities are just as susceptible to corruption as the general population.
BILLIONS of dollars are given to universities every year, collectively by global corporations, Pharma, Gates, Rockefeller Foundation and leftist billionaires. Money talks just as loudly in universities as any place else on planet earth. This money isn't given as a pure donation, no matter how the PR departments portray it. No, there's always a quid pro quo involved.
And status, tenure, reputation are also granted or withheld in order to force university faculty and staff to adopt the "philosophies" and teachings of their paymasters.
As long as corruption has free reign, universities will operate according to the wishes of the highest bidders.
The problem with the 'academic freedom' issue is that it's NOT academic freedom. DEI offices are imposing rules on faculty and staff when they're not trying to bribe them with money. The re-frame for 'academic freedom' is that it is being bought out the same way the tobacco companies bought out some academics decades ago. DEI dollars corrupt academic integrity instead of promoting it.
The irony of all the hand-wringing over shutting down departments is that it's always been about the money. If the dept doesn't generate the student credit hours (or bring in the grants), it's at risk, regardless if that's physics or queer African latinx studies. Humanities in general are supported by "General education" requirements. Everyone has to take a diversity credit (or globalization, or multicultural, or whatever) or two and this keeps many of those departments in business. Cut those requirements and see how long the department remains profitable.
Let's set aside, for now, the serious concerns about such ideologies as DEI, CRT, and LGBTQ. What we have in our universities and colleges is a massive system of rent-seeking, what the Classicist Moses Hadas mocked as "filling a much-needed vacancy." Apart from their poisonous programs, those departments and bureaus serve one purpose: to create unnecessary jobs. Chris is right to point to the legislative duty of fiscal control over all state institutions. The question in any case is "What is the taxpayer getting for the funds we have confiscated from him?"
Well-put. "Rent-seeking" and sinecures for the mediocre sons and daughters of the PMC, or aspirants. Were they performing some public service - road-building or perhaps cleaning litter and graffiti or planting trees - they might be sufferable as temporary participants in a jobs-program. It is their enormous pay and "authority" (administrative power, actually) which makes them proper objects of...intense dislike.
"filling a much-needed vacancy."
LOL!! Thank you for this! I'm sure I will be able to use it soon!
I think a simpler (but possibly more difficult) solution would be to stop the flow of easy money to the universities by dismantling the student loan system as it stands now. Student loans should NOT be backed by government guarantees, explicit or not.
Also, employers should stop looking at the university degree as a way of conferring credentialing for most jobs. Instead, perhaps third party testing/certification for knowledge base and skills (or a portfolio of products generated, like IT does) would be the way to weed out candidates. If we can make universities irrelevant to the job market, we can decrease their power.
Agreed!
Yes, I think guaranteed student loans are the main driver of bureaucracy bloat at universities.
I read somewhere that jobs that used to be filled by high school grads now require a college degree. Perhaps that's due to the deterioration of education in high schools (what one used to know after graduating now requires an extra few years) but I think the availability of poorly-educated college grads has caused this. It's ridiculous that many jobs require a college degree just because they can. College shouldn't be for everyone (and that is not elitist, just fair).
Sort of... the college degree took the place of the IQ test, deemed to be too 'racist' in employment determination.
I concur! Thank you!
"If we can make universities irrelevant to the job market, we can decrease their power."
They're doing well at this on their own, except for jobs in DEI.
For many types of employment, the replacement of degrees by skills testing is occurring - in many cases where everyone applying has a degree. Many businesses must make good hiring decisions, and cannot afford/would not benefit from executive/managerial-class "virtue signaling.
This does not apply to those businesses in the "crony-capitalist" sector.
Good economic research establishes that student loans have significantly raised university prices by making purchasers less price sensitive. The used car dealer always wants to talk monthly payment instead of total price for the same reason.
Great idea!!!
Every time I read one of your essays, I am always impressed with your logic, comprehension and ability to envision solutions. Thank God, you are working for the truth and light. Keep up the great work!!
Yes, Mr. Rufo is intellectually gifted and has the ability to keep the big picture in the forefront while walking us through the relevant details. But perhaps more importantly, he is cool under pressure and knows how to deliver his message without the kind of anger and sarcasm that we mere mortals tend to infect our messages with. It's almost impossible to listen to Mr. Rufo and conclude that he is motivated by any kind of animus, bigotry, or bias; and yes I too am so thankful for people like him, for the brave work they do, and for their courageous ability to endure the inevitable threats and defamation that come with taking on this monstrous abortion of deceit and division. May God bless him and his family.
Indeed, sir...you speak truth. Thank you!
A harangue I would like to make about using trustees and conservatives ( like a former government official as a college President) to choose the faculty and coursework at public educational institutions: without unbiased journalism the public will be misinformed and no change will be recognized as having occurred. In fact, we might appear as destroying rather than improving conditions. That’s the thrust of New College as presented in national media coverage to date.
I am a very close observer of New College Florida and more than anything in my life want to see a conservative takeover of this particular institution. I never dreamed change possible because for five years I have closely observed egregious outlandish behavior both in academics and the college culture.
Rufo, has been the point of the spear in a state known to be conservative (where the governor won by a wide percentage of votes). Conservative ideals should be considered the voice of the people in Florida already. But nothing is further from the truth. The progress toward a conservative goal is being overwhelmingly ignored! In fact, it’s being reversed and vilified by the strongest lies possible! Both locally and nationally! Media is not telling the truth at all about this change.
Shame on the national media! Shame on the local paper, both controlled by of the most contemptible of outliers!
For example, huge column width ( the life-blood of cash assets at a newspaper) were used in Sarasota to give free access to a New College alternative graduation ceremony led by a public figure who used her oration as rabble rousing propaganda to inspire a New College mob of narcissist, spoiled graduating. They are also led by sympathetic faculty to disrupt their true graduation ceremony. The made it into a mockery.
First, at their pretend ceremony, students dressed like carnival celebrants - as if to mock the age-old graduation exercises that have a thousand year tradition honoring achievements in the best of accomplishments in science, philosophy, culture. ( By the way, New College mockery is NOT new. Every year graduates 🎓 ignore tradition and create instead a costumed, blasphemous misrule AS ceremony). But, of course the nation news channels treated this year’s particular mockery as if it was but a brilliant example of original thinking. Far from it. It’s the norm at New College and students pride in its Misrule. In this venue Swiftean Yahoos throw shit on the silent majority and media praises it a noble cause. Yearly.
I am sick to death and full of rage!
Does anyone see the depth of deprivation ? The journalists have spoken! It’s wonderful, original, happy, justified! These are no spearhead aimed to break atrocity by telling the truth. No. They perpetrate disinformation. They have turned non-conformity into the worst form of conformity: misrule as order; mockery as nobility. Today I read a Rolling Stone article praising as heroics the New College Lords of Misrule as if these miscreants are the Heroes of the French Revolution! Factually, They are poorly educated miscreants treated as intellectual prodigies and it’s disgusting. A fraternity bacchanalia considered a baccalaureate. Or worse - a wolf in sheep’s clothing for a sheepskin diploma.
The national magazine lied through its teeth. They purposely omitted photographs of the actual graduation ceremony at the college. Because that embarrassing ceremony was too close to a riot. It was a travesty of tradition. These same interlopers not only held their own ceremony, they refused the cap and gown provided free of charge, turned their backs on the guest speaker ( who was not smarmy and opportunistically soothing their egos) and yelled “Fuck You” and “Get on with it” during the oratory.
One of the screaming hysterical miscreants crossing the stage for her diploma made a grossly inappropriate hand gesture directly at a conservative undergraduate who sat respectfully on the front row. Let us observe how such “ noble experimenters” in democracy treat others, those outside their cult. Here’s a true detail.
This student is unlike them. He came to college a decade later than most students and chose New College for honors ( it’s name IS The Honors College of Florida) Only locals know of this place as “ weirdo college” and he’s not local. He had been a student for three years and totally ignored while pursuing advanced mathematics. He is conservative and expressed his view immediately after Ruso’s initial speech. An LA Times reporter interviewed him, since she noticed he was not opposed to Rufo. From that instant forward this single individual became the campus pariah and target for hate speech.
Get this straight : the student chosen as object of derision was not the emphasis of the LA Times piece, more the quote used to balance the overriding liberal point of view. However, mere mention of how courses looked to a conservative mathematics student caused several faculty members to question him about the ideas he expressed. Soon, students were calling him Fascist. The rumor mill continued and grew until today he is hinted as an “ old” sexual pervert that frightens students; his appearance is mocked: ugly, going bald, developing breasts; an alumnae suggested parents report him as a danger - why?
Because conservative change-makers noticed him. They spoke with him. He was on board and happy to inspire other intelligent students to matriculate at New College. Parents, activist faculty( I could name them)and more students than anyone can name came after him - one conservative student. They attacked with a vengeance like the mob scene in Frankenstein movies.
Everyone had a scapegoat. “ I hope you die” was thrown towards him, along with suggesting he choice New College for easy access to young women, and too lazy to work a regular job. Meanwhile the mockers are told their anger is justified and they are being treated unfairly. They need to act out and show their condemnation of the changes ahead.
A math major. Someone who put off college to study independently while giving bedridden end of life care. No easy path by any stretch of imagination.
So here we are. The latest aberration of truth hailed as factual in a nation intentionally kept blind to facts. Media keeps the lies consistent on the largest scale as possible. The incident of change at New College is the size of a grain of sand, comparative to the ground covered by national media machinery. It’s a college with 700 students total and when it makes a change in operations toward a return to traditional education, the earth moves ? Suddenly, all the organs of propaganda flip a switch. Lies go out, well formed along a pattern well developed for misinformation. For example, The Rolling Stone’s coverage is the latest abomination. Its point ignores facts and creates sympathy for students as victims of hate and endangered .
NBC news instead of the stately sea of graduating seniors from Villanova should had shown instead the New College debacle. Flip that script, that yearly tale . The whole country might have a clue what’s really happening. Shock would be the National reaction to such a travesty of tradition as actually occurred at New College.
We can make no progress without open and involved media - Unless there’s a Chris Rufo in major newsrooms with an editorial board who has open eyes for democracy, our country will never survive the consequences of misinformation and misrule. Reaching legislative goals cannot even be understood without equally informing the public - the job of independent media lead by courageous reporting.
The indoctrinated hoopleheads graduating today are spoiled, petulant children. They dress as clowns because they are. Non-educated is right. They have been taught only to disrupt and dismantle. Never to build or celebrate anything of beauty or achievement. It's sad that the joke is on them, however, when life is not one to pander at those who destroy. It takes hard work to survive, whether in capitalism or any other system. These brats have zero knowledge of history to appreciate how easy they have it indeed.
And yes, MSM is captured and itself needs to be dismantled.
The next 10 - 15 years will certainly be interesting.
Yes yes yes PoGo78 ! Spot on! I am enraged that faculty will encourage (not merely tolerate) such egregious misbehavior and The Rolling Stone dare to publish a piece as if the total disruption of a university graduation ceremony is appropriate.
I wish the board of trustees and the new president had a way to snatch back diplomas and force each loudmouthed cursing disrespectful graduate to attend an anger management course and earn a certificate that will be attached to their record and their diploma. Then have THEM rent cap and gown for a true ceremony to replace the debacle they made of the original one. Unless they learn that such obvious and public misbehavior as graduates edging toward riot is not tolerated at New College they will also unintentionally provoke thoughtful intelligent citizens to rightly insist that all college degrees awarded there are a sham and its graduates pompous unemployable detriments to any form of society.
I hate to look - but I must.
It has to start somewhere, Dale. The charter school movement started the same way. So did the school voucher movement. They were tiny and the press hated them. Until they got results. Then they weren't tiny anymore.
As for the students, new administration will hopefully start kicking out the worst offenders and defunding the organizations that support them. Give it some time; it's only been a few months and progressives have 50 years of inertia. Also remember, the disease is often worst right before the medicine starts to work.
Thank you Brian ! I have just suffered through the most stressful vile disrespectful “graduation” any college will ever make public. that the big magazines of National note pretend the impropriety and foolishness of these miscreants is appropriate brings me to the point of rage. It’s so difficult to watch it. The change is the only hope and there’s so much vitriolic blasphemy aimed at the noble and righteous that I merely want to escape back to my little town. I have no hope this will end in a conservative success because these ugly little crafty sniveling cowards will use unions and hire lawyers to hold up progress for decades ahead. I pray you are correct because home schooling and charter schools are necessary and available. If tenure did not exist there could be no law suits and removing tenure could remove the power of these useless cavalier idiots who were not at all concerned when DEI and queer theory robbed the higher education institutions of instruction in all our common heritage values. Nothing’s left but a silent majority unaware of how our culture is threadbare and an evil cabal of immoral powerbrokers functioning under the Woke ideology of nihilism and self immolation about which the participants and leaders are themselves irresponsibly clueless.
The in-your-face hatred and impending threats of violence at New College is real. It’s very difficult to keep any sense of victory in the midst of such hatred and anger ... as have captured this campus. Were I Desantis I would close it for good and let these Woke idiots go elsewhere to perform their mock revolution.
700 total students? Good grief! The small suburban college I taught at had 6,000 students with a room utilization rate from 0700 to 2100 of 96%! WOWl. Amazing!
An interesting read - I know next to nothing about the goings-on at New College, and did not know about New College itself until very recently when the Governor identified it as needing reform.
I had, however, read of others much like it.
defund any and all institutions that do not align with constitutional principles and defund (or eliminate their tax exempt status) ALL NGO’s, agencies, organizations, companies, donors etc that do not do the same.
When Stanford is mentioned I recall the 1987 chant “Hey hey ho ho Western Civ has got to go”.
Bingo.
Whoever has the the wisdom that is most aligned with God’s wisdom should be the group that has authority in public universities. I think that used to be school boards and faculty. But they, having professed wisdom, have become fools. The general public has more common sense and wisdom than university boards and faculty on how public universities should be run. As such, Mr. Rufo has the better argument by far.
David French and Sohrab Amari all over again.
Paraphrasing Lenin: "the libertarians will build us the departments which we will use to outlaw the teaching of liberal / libertarian ideas". Some people just can't see it. If those people are in positions of power at universities, they are useless and need to be replaced.
Yes, the French position has been continually discredited, but, for obvious, remains on life support by the institutions.
Keith Whittington's pleas for vague "Reform" but please not too harsh or not by "political actors" (which boil down to "Academia is our possession and no one else's") remind me of Augustine's famous “Lord, give me chastity and continence, but not yet!”
But the reason we've reached this point (and I know this is hard if not impossible for your average well-meaning professor to admit) is because the American liberal class has failed. Failed in the sacred charge they've been given to help sculpt the citizens (and thinkers and leaders) of the future, failed to live up to their basic duty to impart the culture and tradition of our ancestors, failed to provide the basic level of education that any intelligent adult should have, failed to defend the ideas of the Enlightenment that our country and civilization are built on.
Instead of fulfilling their obligations, the only thing the American liberal class of academia has excelled in is cowardly careerist conformity. They have allowed our universities to create perhaps the most ignorant and entitled generation in recorded history, and worse than that, they have unleashed a tsunami of malevolent pseudoradicalism that combines narcissism and socialism to wash over the country, whose entire philosophy and worldview boil down to: Anything that hurts my feelings is evil and needs to be destroyed.
And the liberal class is responsible because it refused to face down the radicals to their Left, afraid of being smeared as a bigot or (gasp) conservative, and thus even after the Sokal Affair and the Lindsay et al Grievance Studies hoax, they still tried to brush this mess of lies called "Critical Studies" under the rug, and have allowed this ideological gangrene to spread off campus and rot our entire culture and country.
Keith Whittington and his ilk most remind me of a teenager who's flunked out of school, wrecked his new car, yet promises that next time will be different, he swears things will change, and throws a massive tantrum denouncing his parents as evil when at last they take away his credit card.
Well, Chris Rufo is the strict but loving Dad we've been waiting for—"You can denounce America all you like, son, but don't expect us to subsidize it!"—and the credit card that our liberal class has maxed out will hopefully be revoked asap.
Dear CP, looking at your remark again - most definitely. Specifically, what do Mr. Whittington and others propose to do (italicized)? The status-quo is not tenable, and so..?
"just move along nothing to see here" seems to be the main gist.
Professors see academia as their personal fiefdom (really their church), that the State should subsidize but never supervise.
Also, liberals have developed this weird pattern of thought lately where everything they do (including teaching Queer Theory to children and explicitly saying they are training the next generation of activists) is just standard pedagogy, but any opposition (even gentle questioning) is portrayed as a repressive political assault.
It is dishonest, deluded and drives me nuts!
well yeah, where bureaucracy (whittington) fails, democracy (us) must step in and provide solutions. That's the best way to frame it.
Total agreement - well said ! I love the image of Rufo taking away the faculty keys because of the wreck ! I also know that Rufo is an experienced documentary producer. I’ve seen his work and it’s impressive . I agree that his mission now is to use the philosophical gift of clear thought and deep knowledge of various positions to merge with political leaders are retake our educational institutions.
But without media attention the process might take a half century to come to fruition! I hope Rufo will get back to documentary work and expose the NEED for this immediate change . If the public SEES a documentary revealing the vile pompous derangement that is parading itself as valid the tide will turn immediately towards good sense and Reason. Nobody in his right mind would tolerate what’s going on now. We all on his Substack understand that, but constantly assuring Rufo how correct he is doesn’t move the dial fast enough. One of his documentaries could !!!! So he has to be both political organizer within state legislatures AND a documentary film maker because I don’t see anyone else rising to the challenge with that much talent ! And media and its power for change MUST be added to the conservative political action. Where are Rufo’s allies and supporters with gifts and talents ???
I am much more of a reader than a watcher, but I see your point.
It does seem that the world has moved on now to watching docs as their way of learning and thinking (esp in re history and current affairs).
Maybe Chris could get access to some Hollywood loot, but we all know it would have to be some brave producers, because anything coded as "conservative" is put through the media spin cycle (Chris "Don't Say Gay" Rufo is coming to lock gay people back in the closet!), and everyone involved would be denounced, demonized and blackballed.
But Chris has made such great progress, I'm just happy to support him.
(This is to Clever Pseudonym )
I wish that I could agree with Whittington. The classical liberal in me is made queasy by the idea of boards of trustees and state legislatures taking an active role in setting public university curricula, hiring practices, etc. But as in so many other institutions, the Wokesters have moved the universities into a post-liberal, illiberal era, as I have seen from the inside. To expect universities to reform themselves from within, organically, is naive. Only political action of the kind championed by Mr. Rufo can bring about change.
Think of the 'Emperor wearing no clothes' fable. If the faculty is insisting, along with their DEI programs, that objectivity is a myth, a ruse to impose white supremacy - then they are saying that the emperor is wearing fine clothes. (If they disagree but are playing along then they are just as guilty since they allowed the lies to enter and persist). Where is Mr. Whittington standing in this fable? The child who points out the Emperor's nakedness is symbolic of state legislators and public voters. We don't have the supposed expertise of the faculty, but at this point the faculty has either vacated reality or is afraid to do anything about the situation. So the amateurs, so to speak, have more sense than the professionals. It does make one queasy when you live in such a culture; how in the world could this be? And yet, this is where we find ourselves.
I would be interested to hear more about what you have witnessed, Mr. Manson.
Certainly:
https://www.mindingthecampus.org/2022/07/11/why-im-leaving-the-university/
Great article. Thanks.
"practitioners of postmodernist anthropology, lying about their beliefs during job interviews, came to comprise the department’s most influential clique"
This is one of the things normies for whom life is much larger than politics have such a hard time understanding. Leftists lie. Postmodernists lie. And this is entirely predictable as their entire philosophy begins with "there is no such thing as truth".
As counter as this runs to conservatives or even old-fashioned liberals, we must stop trusting what people say and start acting on what they appear to be. Don't hire someone who: has pronouns on their resume, lists any progressive nonprofit work, talks about diversity being a strength, etc... ever! They lie. And who wants to work with liars?
Thank you.
In my view, Keith Whittington is little more than a frightened barking dog trying to intimidate others from stepping into what he has falsely declared "his domain". The domain is the academy and it belongs not to Whittington and his fellow ideological authoritarians but to society at large. The academy was long ago captured by radical postmodern totalitarians while society slept. The time has come for society to retake the academy using every political means at its disposal.
I have been away from academia since my retirement from the Arizona Community College system, serving 28 years of full-time teaching in Emergency Medical Services, Human and Equine Anatomy and Physiology, along with my last 3 years as a professional counselor for the East and Desert Vista Campuses at Pima Community College. I watched with mostly bemusement, occasional anger, and tons of prayer. I loved my job, the students, the colleagues, the families of students taking my classes....and I watched the shift in campus culture. While serving on hiring committees, I was introduced to the concept of evaluating professionals by their characteristics rather than their accomplishments, or lack thereof. I noticed a pattern: applicants for administrative and some academic appointments were participating in what I call the “3 years and gone” where they move from position to position, citing their innovation. My discovery was that most were extolling how they “creatively introduced reforms to comply with the Equal Opportunity and the newest educational ideas (most could not survive the scientific method) that “transformed the department into a true DEI ideal. When digging further, I found this to be code foe “I stirred up shit and when it started getting bad I moved to my next position”. I spoke my mind on these changes and the HR representatives reminded me sternly that following the desired outcomes of a “more diverse faculty” meant passing over those whose melanin content was higher than my own “Anglo” category. When I would object that my background was of poor immigrants from Poland who entered a culture dominated, at the time by Irish Bishops, and that I qualified for “minority status” due to my genes. Of course I got nowhere except for my colleagues who loved my sense of humor and passion for student success. Having the respect of all of my colleagues was my desire, but that was secondary to having the trust of my students, whose very careers depended on doing well in my classes. I am starting to ramble on, so suffice it to say that I thank you, Mr Rufo, for your bolds stance toward this whole DEI nonsense. What happened to MLK’s “I Have A Dream” goals? I was so inspired by his leading a movement that originated in and was supported largely by Christian clergy, like myself. I, too, took a stand on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His love toward all people with no concern for categories like immutable traits; to be “blind” to those things and see each colleague, parent, student as a person loved by Jesus Christ. My last administrators indicated that this approach of mine was fine as long as I left God out of things. Smiling most of the time, I went about my business of educating and advising students and faculty and staff colleagues into a “color-blind” approach. Knowing Tucson is a richly multicultural community, including even those of us from Polish ancestry. Isn’t that valuable, even if my melanin content is similar to other students and colleagues of Eastern European descent. I am as proud of that as I am proud of those of different immutable characteristics, knowing that all people are loved by Jesus, and so I shall do the same.
I pray daily for higher education; that career that formed me as I was forming students in excellence in patient care and respecters of all people! That is not a bad thing! God bless your work, sir, and be at peace!
Chris:
I taught as an adjunct for 18 years and my wife is a tenured professor at a small private liberal-arts college. We both deeply regret our decisions to enter academia and would choose other paths if we had it to do over.
We are both at the point now that we support revoking tax exemptions for at least the top endowed universities. Exemption from taxes is not a permanent entitlement, it is a public favor granted as part of a social contract--a social contract on which the universities have reneged. As much as my wife and I hate big government, we would rather see that tax money go to government than go to unaccountable DEI bureaucracies that corrupt young minds, attack and degrade education.
At the very least, private universities with enormous endowments like the top Ivies, which some are now describing as trust funds with universities attached, need to be revoked.
As a matter of university governance, your opponent makes some good points. At my wife's institution, the administration causes far more problems than faculty. One of the misperceptions common on the right, especially among those with little academic experiences, is that "radical faculty" are the problem rather than woke administrators. Getting rid of tenure will not aid in reforming the university; tenure rules actually slow down processes and make it harder for ANY faction to get its way, including woke administration. That's a good thing!
At some level I agree with you that universities can't play politics and expect to somehow remain above them at the same time. But control of public money is the lever to use, not using political pressure to change internal academic rules and procedures.
Yes, I don't think tenure is the core problem. Administration/governance is the core problem.
Yes, exactly. In particular, more and more power over key academic functions like curriculum and faculty has been transferred by various strategems (the creation and empowerment of DEI bureaucracies), from the professoriate to the central administration and added layers of middle management). Everyone above a professor is essentially a political appointment by higher powers whereas every professor is selected by a semi-democratic process involving advisory votes by search committees and entire faculties and final decisions by, often, a dean. And deans know they better have solid reasons if they are going to reject the advice of the departmental faculty....unless the dean has a chief diversity officer (and associate diversity officer, and assistant diversity officer, and diversity committee....) on his/her back.
Thanks for the well-written and thought provoking article.
I wonder if most universities implement DEI to get federal funding? Doesn't Harvard, for example, receive hundreds of millions annually from taxpayer funding? Hillsdale receives $0 from the fed govt, and they have no DEI. Hillsdale is a conservative school, but so are others in the south that now have DEI offices. Any thoughts?
Professors, deans and heads of universities are just as susceptible to corruption as the general population.
BILLIONS of dollars are given to universities every year, collectively by global corporations, Pharma, Gates, Rockefeller Foundation and leftist billionaires. Money talks just as loudly in universities as any place else on planet earth. This money isn't given as a pure donation, no matter how the PR departments portray it. No, there's always a quid pro quo involved.
And status, tenure, reputation are also granted or withheld in order to force university faculty and staff to adopt the "philosophies" and teachings of their paymasters.
As long as corruption has free reign, universities will operate according to the wishes of the highest bidders.
Amen!