Just for clarity (and to be annoying), I want to add: while Leftists do seem to hate America and the West, what they really hate is not being in total control of it.
Since the good ol' days of Karl Marx (of blessed memory), angry "intellectuals" have been concocting radical theories in which they posit themselves as an enlightened priesthood who can midwife an egalitairian utopia, if only given total power.
(Marx was best nailed by his rival Bakunin in "Statism and Anarchy": "The words 'learned socialist' and 'scientific socialism,' which recur constantly in the writings and speeches of the Lassalleans and Marxists, are proof in themselves that the pseudo-popular state will be nothing but the highly despotic government of the masses by a new and very small aristocracy of real or pretended scholars. The people are not learned, so they will be liberated in entirety from the cares of government and included in entirety in the governed herd. A fine liberation!")
This also explains the odd historical episode that seems to have been memory-holed, the multiple generations of free Western scholars who gave their hearts and souls to the Soviet Union, a brutal dictatorship that would have silenced them or worse if they'd actually lived there. But what they admired about the Soviets was the power it gave to theorists and commissars to inflict their plans on a subjugated populace—the Soviets may have killed many many profs, but at least they took them seriously!
And the same goes now with the Western Left's pimping for Islamism: whoever most hates their enemies (the bourgeois Westerners who run our societies and the people who vote for them) is their friend, and whoever can provide the frisson of revolutionary hatred (their real addiction) is their spiritual guide. What Western Leftists most want is to feel righteous and powerful and to be able to punish their perceived enemies—whether in the name of Marxism or Islamism is secondary.
There is nothing like the privileged mob of Hamas wannabes at Columbia locking up the janitors in Hamilton hall. Apparently these janitors were called ‘Jew lovers’ because they washed away swastikas daily.
I love Ben Appel but I don’t give a fuck if that terrorist Mahmoud Khalil was gone last week.
There's nothing inherently bogus about sociology, psychology, anthropology, archaeology, political science, economics and so on. They all provide useful insights about humans, humankind and society. Things only become bogus when a few academics and their acolytes gin up a pernicious new revolutionary hilosophy like so-called postmodernism and decide that it is necessary to capture every discipline.
Thank you for grappling with this knotty set of issues out loud. Your words resonate strongly: I am finding I must remind myself repeatedly that it’s easy to rise to the defense of free speech of which one approves, but devilishly hard when you find it abhorrent.
(As an aside, FIRE has a good primer on the case law about free speech here, which you have likely seen. https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/unprotected-speech-synopsis I am in accord with the approaches laid out: while free speech is not absolute, there exist only very narrow instances when it can be considered unprotected. What the current administration is doing appears to me to go way beyond what the case law would allow, and it is horrifying.)
I live very close to Columbia. As I watched the protests unfold last year, I felt nothing but fury toward the encamped students. I saw them as overprivileged brats who had no idea what they were talking about and said (and in some instances did) a lot of truly heinous things. To add insult to injury, ever since the encampments last year, Columbia has locked all the gates, including the 116th street passageway (in violation of a permanent easement) and also obstructed the sidewalks with their entry points. Here, too, even though I completely disagree with the current administration's approach toward Columbia itself, I am finding it exceedingly hard to sympathize with this institutional behemoth’s plight. And that’s before we even get to what at least some of the professors are teaching students.
I write this as a progressive Democrat who is old enough to have participated in the sit-in taking over the University of Chicago admin building back in 1969. Even though the backdrop was the Vietnam War, most of us back then also had no idea what we intended to accomplish with the sit-in. We females got very adept at making bologna and mayo sandwiches while the BMOC, like Howie Machtinger, gave their speeches. Machtinger, who went on to be part of the Weather Underground, reflected on those days in 2009. His words to the next generation of activists included these:
“For me, the overall lesson is this: Despite the desperation of any given political moment, we can only have a chance at success by deeply understanding that our goal must be to build humane power. We must remain alert to opportunities in current political realities, rather than act out fantasies of revolutionary prowess in frustration.” https://inthesetimes.com/article/you-say-you-want-a-revolution
This, above all, is why I appreciate so much how you write about this. Defending free speech (and related academic funding) cannot be the end of the discussion. Something is very rotten at Columbia that at least some its faculty and students have such a warped perspective about the United States, the world, and the place of each of us within it.
When communities lose any shared sense of norms and values, they fall apart. Surely, we can widen our understanding of the complexities of US history and its place in the world without reviling the country that we have each made our home. We need, badly, to recover a sense of shared humanity and positive purpose, where we can learn from our failures and build on our successes, in mutual good faith. Columbia has not met its obligation toward that end, and we do need to find a way to call it to account. If Howie Machtinger were still with us, perhaps he could help out, who knows?
It is a question of cultural values. Does what being taught maintain the system that allows free speech, or do the new values being taught destroy the culture that allows free speech? We are in a giant boat. At what point should the little man with a drill be stopped drilling holes? There is a point where the boat will sink.
I support free speech too and appreciate your reasoning but you are leaving out the fact that this is not just speech. It’s hate speech and accompanied with actions. They have threatened Jewish Students by painting Swastikas on the walls and preventing Jewish Students from going to class and the library. They also trespassed at Trump Tower.
I remember when Blacks were threatened when trying to enter the University of Alabama. JFK sent in the National Guard to escort them and protect them. I didn’t see any National Guard escorting Jewish students
I agree that it is outrageous what Jewish students have had to deal with. I’ve spoken with some who stopped going to class in person because they were afraid. It needs to stop. But Columbia needs to deal with it. Not just leave it to Trump. And if they’re going to arrest someone or revoke their green card, they need to charge them with something.
Serious question; given the extent to which Columbia would avoid pressing charges against these (politically correct) violations of the law and others rights, and in the environment of Upper Manhattan and the politics of the city, didn’t these students actually have impunity from the law (these particular laws, I mean)? If Khalil was never going to be arrested or charged for breaking these specific laws, isn’t it disingenuous to say that he must have been convicted of a crime before being eligible for deportation? It seems to me very analogous to the KKK in the USA 1900-1960 ish - they weren’t arrested for committing crimes of intimidation or violence because their local society was sympathetic to the “cause”.
Even if what I said above is true, by the way, I’m still against punishing him for speech, which is what this boils down to without evidence and presumably conviction of a crime or relevant violation. I would however be comfortable with a directed prosecution of this individual to find, and charge him with, a violation of his green card conditions. Basically I am comfortable with government efforts to get him deported IF that is legally done, so I’m open to charges of hypocrisy. But I mean Jesus, we have to be able to exclude fucking Hamas supporters from immigrating here, anything else is just bonkers.
This is more than a bit tricky: "It’s hate speech and accompanied with actions." To be clear: hate speech is protected speech. In this column, Appel references FIRE frequently (and with good reason), and this is a point that I remember FIRE clearly commenting on: hate speech is protected by the 1st amendment.
And we should all be very thankful that hate speech is protected. If it were not, the concept of "hate speech" could easily be utilized by those in power to silence dissent and criticism.
But you refer specifically to hate speech that is "accompanied with actions." You would have to specify "illegal actions," otherwise, it's still not actionable. Nor should it be. Not in a free society.
Hate speech is an inevitable byproduct of free speech. We cannot really have one without the other. On the bright side, however, we are always free to use our own free speech in turn. And then we can let the haters know exactly what we think of them ;)
I have observed for many years a growing trend of teaching kids to hate the US. It is profoundly disturbing to me. What took me over the top was to see my own daughter think that wearing black to a 4th of July parade in a small town was a good idea. The parade celebrated all branches of local police/fire fighters, etc. as well as marching bands and horses and fun stuff. If our youth cannot enjoy that wonderful celebration, we are in real trouble.
This comes very close to where I am on this issue. Because I don't believe we get our rights from the government but are born with them, whatever let the little pissant speak. First, we should stop hiring professors who actively teach students to hate. Hate themselves, their country, others. It is like we are rewarding terrorist sympathizers with the ability to make their own little army on our soil. We should have the right to say we don't want those people. Second, considering he is trying to suppress his disciplinary reports from 2 colleges in court, I believe this may end up being about action. And here's where I get really upset. You and I and any honest broker knows that had he been white, male, straight, asian, or Jewish he would have been disciplined to the fullest extent allowed, kicked out, prosecuted, and either in jail or deported. I have a major problem with the fact that some students can do whatever they want knowing they won't face the same punishment as their peers. Columbia is 55% non-citizen. Why? Obviously, it's cash money at full tuition price. It's not worth it. I want them out. I hope they have something other than speech.
Thanks, Ben, as usual you express my feelings exactly (although I’m much older and was never a Columbia student). I wish we could just deport and silence the people we don’t agree with, but that’s the road to perdition. I’m disgusted by the atmosphere at Columbia and the elevation of terrorists to hero status, but our first obligation is to live by our own principles. I fear the Trumpists ham-fisted tactics in many domains will ultimately backfire against those very principles.
I, too, am gay not queer. I don't feel the least bit left out by not being asked to be in solidarity with Hamas like queers and trans people.
I can't help believing that the pro-Hamas movement at Columbia is the work of students who are profoundly aware of their eliteness and are trying to impress one another with their commitment to the cause. It's 21st century radical chic. More than a few of them must hoping to build up a radical cachet that will serve them well in their future endeavors at the top of the field of their choice. They know that reporters will one day ask them what this now-famous classmate or that one was like during the infamous Columbia protests of the 2020s. They may even be keeping journals or saving text messages for posterity.
There's an element of performative badassery among leftist activists that is absent in their right-wing counterparts. Just look at those damned keffiyehs. They look like they're playing Lawrence of Arabia. Their cosplay has gotten out of hand.
I welcome the federal government's incursion into Columbia's affairs. If the university's leaders feel that the feds are using them to abridge constitutional rights indirectly in ways that would be impermissible if done by the government itself, they're welcome to litigate those points. They're the ones who let things get out of hand. There is no excuse for allowing professors to spew antisemitic vitriol in the classrooms.
I think you are missing a serious point: protesting a foreign government or organisation is posturing, protesting your own government is political action. Also, how does what Hamas did or did not do in any way justify the apparatus of political repression that the Trump regime is putting into place? This whole Hamas thing is deeply manipulative and you should really look beyond it. Maybe it’s even a moment to acknowledge that there is also something deeply wrong with the callous rhetoric from the other side.
Of course the Trump regime are going to kick off their repressive policies by eliminating their least popular opponents. If you do not insist on the full application of your principles when people you dislike are involved, your principles are both morally and practically worthless. You make that point much too hesitantly.
As for fighting wokery, something that I enthusiastically endorse, that’s best done NOT using the type of dirty tricks the woke use, let alone amplifying them a thousandfold.
Yes, I agree that there is a crucial difference between the Columbia protestors and the Trump administration. The protestors are annoying and wrong-headed, but off campus they don't have much power. The Trump administration can arrest and detain and deport people, which to my mind makes them the primary concern.
Yes, the difference is that Columbia’s administration has & will do nothing about this as Jewish students are terrorized. Trump admin can do something. It maybe shouldn’t be exactly this but if they manage to follow the law & get a finding of violation of Green card status - then please deport him.
I agree with you (again). I think that Columbia's decision to bow to pressure by Trump is dangerous. But on the other hand ever since Edward Said its research into the ME has descended into a weird mix of neo-marxist anti-colonialist, queer-whatever apologetics for islamism and turning a blind eye to the utter intellectual collapse of the ME. Dabashi being a classic example. Its ME Studies program should be put into receivership. Sadly, only Trump could do it.
"I deeply resent the free pass that anti-Western professors have been given at universities like Columbia. I resent the formation of entire academic departments whose goal is to engineer social change rather than to educate students. Most of all, I resent what all of this has wrought: an illiberal cult of trans/queer/Islamist sympathizers, which until now has marched unabated through our institutions."
In my own case, however, I think I am filled more with mourning than with resentment. I have been through higher ed. It's an old friend of mine. And I am quite sad to see it committing suicide.
Colleges and universities, like all other complex systems, ultimately survive only if they want to. There are no rules that can force someone or something to continue existing against its own wishes. And, to a large extent, I am relatively certain that we have reached the end of higher ed as we have known it. That doesn't mean that it will vanish. But I don't think it will remain entirely intact either.
And the same goes for our country. First Amendment and other constitutional questions are important, but they are not the final arbiters of our fate. There is no constitution or system of government in the world (not the most liberal or the most oppressive) that can survive in the long-term unless its people actually want it to. And the good news for the USA, I believe, is that an overwhelming majority are happy here and want the country to flourish. The haters, however, are still going to do a whole lot of damage as they and their institutions self-destruct.
Except: before pushing to free Mahmoud, push for someone to determine exactly what he did for Algeria in order to obtain citizenship. Dude is not just a "speaker".
Just for clarity (and to be annoying), I want to add: while Leftists do seem to hate America and the West, what they really hate is not being in total control of it.
Since the good ol' days of Karl Marx (of blessed memory), angry "intellectuals" have been concocting radical theories in which they posit themselves as an enlightened priesthood who can midwife an egalitairian utopia, if only given total power.
(Marx was best nailed by his rival Bakunin in "Statism and Anarchy": "The words 'learned socialist' and 'scientific socialism,' which recur constantly in the writings and speeches of the Lassalleans and Marxists, are proof in themselves that the pseudo-popular state will be nothing but the highly despotic government of the masses by a new and very small aristocracy of real or pretended scholars. The people are not learned, so they will be liberated in entirety from the cares of government and included in entirety in the governed herd. A fine liberation!")
This also explains the odd historical episode that seems to have been memory-holed, the multiple generations of free Western scholars who gave their hearts and souls to the Soviet Union, a brutal dictatorship that would have silenced them or worse if they'd actually lived there. But what they admired about the Soviets was the power it gave to theorists and commissars to inflict their plans on a subjugated populace—the Soviets may have killed many many profs, but at least they took them seriously!
And the same goes now with the Western Left's pimping for Islamism: whoever most hates their enemies (the bourgeois Westerners who run our societies and the people who vote for them) is their friend, and whoever can provide the frisson of revolutionary hatred (their real addiction) is their spiritual guide. What Western Leftists most want is to feel righteous and powerful and to be able to punish their perceived enemies—whether in the name of Marxism or Islamism is secondary.
There is nothing like the privileged mob of Hamas wannabes at Columbia locking up the janitors in Hamilton hall. Apparently these janitors were called ‘Jew lovers’ because they washed away swastikas daily.
I love Ben Appel but I don’t give a fuck if that terrorist Mahmoud Khalil was gone last week.
I love FIRE but I'm ok if citizens have more rights than legal residents.
The amount of federal money in colleges seems outlandish--I don't have much sympathy for Columbia.
Most of the federal money is for direct costs for specific legit STEM research projects.
Then there are "indirect costs", whose legitimacy requires a long discussion.
Then a small percentage is for bogus social sciences "studies" than should be DOGEd away.
These comments apply to every R1 university.
There's nothing inherently bogus about sociology, psychology, anthropology, archaeology, political science, economics and so on. They all provide useful insights about humans, humankind and society. Things only become bogus when a few academics and their acolytes gin up a pernicious new revolutionary hilosophy like so-called postmodernism and decide that it is necessary to capture every discipline.
I didn't say that there is anything "inherently bogus" about social sciences.
But there is way too much of this: https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/the-quackery-of-columbias-racialized
Thank you for grappling with this knotty set of issues out loud. Your words resonate strongly: I am finding I must remind myself repeatedly that it’s easy to rise to the defense of free speech of which one approves, but devilishly hard when you find it abhorrent.
(As an aside, FIRE has a good primer on the case law about free speech here, which you have likely seen. https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/unprotected-speech-synopsis I am in accord with the approaches laid out: while free speech is not absolute, there exist only very narrow instances when it can be considered unprotected. What the current administration is doing appears to me to go way beyond what the case law would allow, and it is horrifying.)
I live very close to Columbia. As I watched the protests unfold last year, I felt nothing but fury toward the encamped students. I saw them as overprivileged brats who had no idea what they were talking about and said (and in some instances did) a lot of truly heinous things. To add insult to injury, ever since the encampments last year, Columbia has locked all the gates, including the 116th street passageway (in violation of a permanent easement) and also obstructed the sidewalks with their entry points. Here, too, even though I completely disagree with the current administration's approach toward Columbia itself, I am finding it exceedingly hard to sympathize with this institutional behemoth’s plight. And that’s before we even get to what at least some of the professors are teaching students.
I write this as a progressive Democrat who is old enough to have participated in the sit-in taking over the University of Chicago admin building back in 1969. Even though the backdrop was the Vietnam War, most of us back then also had no idea what we intended to accomplish with the sit-in. We females got very adept at making bologna and mayo sandwiches while the BMOC, like Howie Machtinger, gave their speeches. Machtinger, who went on to be part of the Weather Underground, reflected on those days in 2009. His words to the next generation of activists included these:
“For me, the overall lesson is this: Despite the desperation of any given political moment, we can only have a chance at success by deeply understanding that our goal must be to build humane power. We must remain alert to opportunities in current political realities, rather than act out fantasies of revolutionary prowess in frustration.” https://inthesetimes.com/article/you-say-you-want-a-revolution
This, above all, is why I appreciate so much how you write about this. Defending free speech (and related academic funding) cannot be the end of the discussion. Something is very rotten at Columbia that at least some its faculty and students have such a warped perspective about the United States, the world, and the place of each of us within it.
When communities lose any shared sense of norms and values, they fall apart. Surely, we can widen our understanding of the complexities of US history and its place in the world without reviling the country that we have each made our home. We need, badly, to recover a sense of shared humanity and positive purpose, where we can learn from our failures and build on our successes, in mutual good faith. Columbia has not met its obligation toward that end, and we do need to find a way to call it to account. If Howie Machtinger were still with us, perhaps he could help out, who knows?
It is a question of cultural values. Does what being taught maintain the system that allows free speech, or do the new values being taught destroy the culture that allows free speech? We are in a giant boat. At what point should the little man with a drill be stopped drilling holes? There is a point where the boat will sink.
I support free speech too and appreciate your reasoning but you are leaving out the fact that this is not just speech. It’s hate speech and accompanied with actions. They have threatened Jewish Students by painting Swastikas on the walls and preventing Jewish Students from going to class and the library. They also trespassed at Trump Tower.
I remember when Blacks were threatened when trying to enter the University of Alabama. JFK sent in the National Guard to escort them and protect them. I didn’t see any National Guard escorting Jewish students
Uncle Bill
I agree that it is outrageous what Jewish students have had to deal with. I’ve spoken with some who stopped going to class in person because they were afraid. It needs to stop. But Columbia needs to deal with it. Not just leave it to Trump. And if they’re going to arrest someone or revoke their green card, they need to charge them with something.
Serious question; given the extent to which Columbia would avoid pressing charges against these (politically correct) violations of the law and others rights, and in the environment of Upper Manhattan and the politics of the city, didn’t these students actually have impunity from the law (these particular laws, I mean)? If Khalil was never going to be arrested or charged for breaking these specific laws, isn’t it disingenuous to say that he must have been convicted of a crime before being eligible for deportation? It seems to me very analogous to the KKK in the USA 1900-1960 ish - they weren’t arrested for committing crimes of intimidation or violence because their local society was sympathetic to the “cause”.
Even if what I said above is true, by the way, I’m still against punishing him for speech, which is what this boils down to without evidence and presumably conviction of a crime or relevant violation. I would however be comfortable with a directed prosecution of this individual to find, and charge him with, a violation of his green card conditions. Basically I am comfortable with government efforts to get him deported IF that is legally done, so I’m open to charges of hypocrisy. But I mean Jesus, we have to be able to exclude fucking Hamas supporters from immigrating here, anything else is just bonkers.
^^^100%^^^
This is more than a bit tricky: "It’s hate speech and accompanied with actions." To be clear: hate speech is protected speech. In this column, Appel references FIRE frequently (and with good reason), and this is a point that I remember FIRE clearly commenting on: hate speech is protected by the 1st amendment.
And we should all be very thankful that hate speech is protected. If it were not, the concept of "hate speech" could easily be utilized by those in power to silence dissent and criticism.
But you refer specifically to hate speech that is "accompanied with actions." You would have to specify "illegal actions," otherwise, it's still not actionable. Nor should it be. Not in a free society.
Hate speech is an inevitable byproduct of free speech. We cannot really have one without the other. On the bright side, however, we are always free to use our own free speech in turn. And then we can let the haters know exactly what we think of them ;)
I suspect we will hear more about the legality of this
I have observed for many years a growing trend of teaching kids to hate the US. It is profoundly disturbing to me. What took me over the top was to see my own daughter think that wearing black to a 4th of July parade in a small town was a good idea. The parade celebrated all branches of local police/fire fighters, etc. as well as marching bands and horses and fun stuff. If our youth cannot enjoy that wonderful celebration, we are in real trouble.
This comes very close to where I am on this issue. Because I don't believe we get our rights from the government but are born with them, whatever let the little pissant speak. First, we should stop hiring professors who actively teach students to hate. Hate themselves, their country, others. It is like we are rewarding terrorist sympathizers with the ability to make their own little army on our soil. We should have the right to say we don't want those people. Second, considering he is trying to suppress his disciplinary reports from 2 colleges in court, I believe this may end up being about action. And here's where I get really upset. You and I and any honest broker knows that had he been white, male, straight, asian, or Jewish he would have been disciplined to the fullest extent allowed, kicked out, prosecuted, and either in jail or deported. I have a major problem with the fact that some students can do whatever they want knowing they won't face the same punishment as their peers. Columbia is 55% non-citizen. Why? Obviously, it's cash money at full tuition price. It's not worth it. I want them out. I hope they have something other than speech.
Let him speak from within the borders of the country of his citizenship. Residency is not citizenship.
Thanks, Ben, as usual you express my feelings exactly (although I’m much older and was never a Columbia student). I wish we could just deport and silence the people we don’t agree with, but that’s the road to perdition. I’m disgusted by the atmosphere at Columbia and the elevation of terrorists to hero status, but our first obligation is to live by our own principles. I fear the Trumpists ham-fisted tactics in many domains will ultimately backfire against those very principles.
👆🏻yes this
Who sent Mahmoud to the US? His story is very shady
I, too, am gay not queer. I don't feel the least bit left out by not being asked to be in solidarity with Hamas like queers and trans people.
I can't help believing that the pro-Hamas movement at Columbia is the work of students who are profoundly aware of their eliteness and are trying to impress one another with their commitment to the cause. It's 21st century radical chic. More than a few of them must hoping to build up a radical cachet that will serve them well in their future endeavors at the top of the field of their choice. They know that reporters will one day ask them what this now-famous classmate or that one was like during the infamous Columbia protests of the 2020s. They may even be keeping journals or saving text messages for posterity.
There's an element of performative badassery among leftist activists that is absent in their right-wing counterparts. Just look at those damned keffiyehs. They look like they're playing Lawrence of Arabia. Their cosplay has gotten out of hand.
I welcome the federal government's incursion into Columbia's affairs. If the university's leaders feel that the feds are using them to abridge constitutional rights indirectly in ways that would be impermissible if done by the government itself, they're welcome to litigate those points. They're the ones who let things get out of hand. There is no excuse for allowing professors to spew antisemitic vitriol in the classrooms.
I think you are missing a serious point: protesting a foreign government or organisation is posturing, protesting your own government is political action. Also, how does what Hamas did or did not do in any way justify the apparatus of political repression that the Trump regime is putting into place? This whole Hamas thing is deeply manipulative and you should really look beyond it. Maybe it’s even a moment to acknowledge that there is also something deeply wrong with the callous rhetoric from the other side.
Of course the Trump regime are going to kick off their repressive policies by eliminating their least popular opponents. If you do not insist on the full application of your principles when people you dislike are involved, your principles are both morally and practically worthless. You make that point much too hesitantly.
As for fighting wokery, something that I enthusiastically endorse, that’s best done NOT using the type of dirty tricks the woke use, let alone amplifying them a thousandfold.
Yes, I agree that there is a crucial difference between the Columbia protestors and the Trump administration. The protestors are annoying and wrong-headed, but off campus they don't have much power. The Trump administration can arrest and detain and deport people, which to my mind makes them the primary concern.
Yes, the difference is that Columbia’s administration has & will do nothing about this as Jewish students are terrorized. Trump admin can do something. It maybe shouldn’t be exactly this but if they manage to follow the law & get a finding of violation of Green card status - then please deport him.
I agree with you (again). I think that Columbia's decision to bow to pressure by Trump is dangerous. But on the other hand ever since Edward Said its research into the ME has descended into a weird mix of neo-marxist anti-colonialist, queer-whatever apologetics for islamism and turning a blind eye to the utter intellectual collapse of the ME. Dabashi being a classic example. Its ME Studies program should be put into receivership. Sadly, only Trump could do it.
Love this:
"I deeply resent the free pass that anti-Western professors have been given at universities like Columbia. I resent the formation of entire academic departments whose goal is to engineer social change rather than to educate students. Most of all, I resent what all of this has wrought: an illiberal cult of trans/queer/Islamist sympathizers, which until now has marched unabated through our institutions."
In my own case, however, I think I am filled more with mourning than with resentment. I have been through higher ed. It's an old friend of mine. And I am quite sad to see it committing suicide.
Colleges and universities, like all other complex systems, ultimately survive only if they want to. There are no rules that can force someone or something to continue existing against its own wishes. And, to a large extent, I am relatively certain that we have reached the end of higher ed as we have known it. That doesn't mean that it will vanish. But I don't think it will remain entirely intact either.
And the same goes for our country. First Amendment and other constitutional questions are important, but they are not the final arbiters of our fate. There is no constitution or system of government in the world (not the most liberal or the most oppressive) that can survive in the long-term unless its people actually want it to. And the good news for the USA, I believe, is that an overwhelming majority are happy here and want the country to flourish. The haters, however, are still going to do a whole lot of damage as they and their institutions self-destruct.
Activism is NOT worship. Activism is NOT scholarship. Activism is mindless rage against the system stoked by leftists to break down society.
Great essay.
Except: before pushing to free Mahmoud, push for someone to determine exactly what he did for Algeria in order to obtain citizenship. Dude is not just a "speaker".
https://substack.com/home/post/p-159360563
Skinwalking the Holocaust ---> Queers for Palestine