That anyone would be surprised by this Rufo-inspired statement, as his culminating form of activism against academic freedom in American higher education, may have missed the time Rufo has spent in Hungary at the Danube Institute and learning about Orban's way of controlling the universities there. "Illiberal democracy," indeed.
Walt and I come from different starting points insofar as I see maybe 1 or 2 people on there I'd expect better from. The untangling of "fusionism" came far too late, but now remains the second best time for it.
I generally agree with the criticisms here, but I’d like to see more meaningful engagement on what we can do to unfuck the academy. The mass majority of commentary is polarized between “nothing to see here” and “crushing the wokes trumps free speech”.
🤔… I wonder how the signers of the MS will react when they find themselves in that common predicament that arises when Dear Leader’s whims become incompatible with his enablers’ exulted ideological principles… I would argue that such an outcome is nearly as inevitable as death & taxes.
Excellent article about MI's statement. What I find really interesting is that students pick the school they want to attend and pick the classes they take. Don't go to a school that you think is too radical. I teach at Berkeley and we offer more than 2,000 classes per semester and here is a lot of information about the classes available to the students.
The Manhattan Institute also states that the American People provide ~150 billion dollars to the universities. This is true but the money is for research which is separate from undergraduate teaching. And just at Berkeley, the research has resulted in new immune-system based cancer treatments (recent Nobel Prize), an ultra small, efficient transistor used in all high performance computer chips, MEMS devices that let your cell phone know which way is up, etc.
More than a bit ironic that the Statement is authored by the architect of Florida's anti-woke legislation, which a federal judge struck down as violating faculty members' and students' first amendment rights.
“The universities must provide transparency about their operations and, at the end of each year, publish complete data on race, admissions, and class rank; employment and financial returns by major; and campus attitudes on ideology, free speech, and civil discourse.”
So get rid of all vestiges of the DEI bureaucracy to make way for an alternative bureaucracy that is virtually guaranteed to become at least as sprawling ani intrusive as the one that the signers claim they want to replace.
What happens when the presidency is occupied by someone who isn’t authoritarian? That the statement’s signers can’t, or refuse to, recognize this tells us how fundamentally unserious this project is.
I wouldn't like being told what to think even if the President was someone I voted for. I'm not looking for a president to provide that service for me. And my guess is that the people in my political tribe who do want a president who'll tell people what to think would disagree very strenuously on what the content of that thought should be. I'm kinda surprised that the Manhattan folks are willing to roll the dice and accept thought control from a Democratic president, but I guess they know what they're doing.
Yes. Limited government was always a ploy to restrain the left when it was in power. WHen the right has the levers of power, it wants to use them robustly and not even to advance a policy agenda but just to launch war on the left.
As opposed to many who ignored Project 2025, thanks for sharing and exposing. Is there a way to post this as a column in every university and college paper? I do not agree with some of Walter's conclusions, but the explanation of the control to be exerted by Trump is now in front of us..
Anyone can reprint it for free so long as they credit it to us. If you have a way of putting it in the hands of all univ papers that would be great. Is there a central clearing house for that kind of thing?
Good analysis that I mostly agree with. I would be thrilled to see what a Walter Olson manifesto would look like. Complete separation of state and higher education (financing and regulation)?
That anyone would be surprised by this Rufo-inspired statement, as his culminating form of activism against academic freedom in American higher education, may have missed the time Rufo has spent in Hungary at the Danube Institute and learning about Orban's way of controlling the universities there. "Illiberal democracy," indeed.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-hungary-inspired-trumps-vision-for-higher-ed?sra=true
Relatedly, MIchael Ignatieff's article about his experience as Rector of Central European University in Hungary is informative.
https://michaelignatieff518703.substack.com/p/first-they-come-for-the-universities
Walt and I come from different starting points insofar as I see maybe 1 or 2 people on there I'd expect better from. The untangling of "fusionism" came far too late, but now remains the second best time for it.
I generally agree with the criticisms here, but I’d like to see more meaningful engagement on what we can do to unfuck the academy. The mass majority of commentary is polarized between “nothing to see here” and “crushing the wokes trumps free speech”.
🤔… I wonder how the signers of the MS will react when they find themselves in that common predicament that arises when Dear Leader’s whims become incompatible with his enablers’ exulted ideological principles… I would argue that such an outcome is nearly as inevitable as death & taxes.
I live in a college town. . I am retired. Others want to remain anonymous because of fear of impact of loss of job, etc. I get that.
I am hoping one of your readers might have a connect with one of the national univ./college org.
Christy Rufo is in the middle of it? Because, of course he always is.
Excellent article about MI's statement. What I find really interesting is that students pick the school they want to attend and pick the classes they take. Don't go to a school that you think is too radical. I teach at Berkeley and we offer more than 2,000 classes per semester and here is a lot of information about the classes available to the students.
The Manhattan Institute also states that the American People provide ~150 billion dollars to the universities. This is true but the money is for research which is separate from undergraduate teaching. And just at Berkeley, the research has resulted in new immune-system based cancer treatments (recent Nobel Prize), an ultra small, efficient transistor used in all high performance computer chips, MEMS devices that let your cell phone know which way is up, etc.
Or do. Challenge yourself and promote the change (ideological dialogue) you want to see in the world.
More than a bit ironic that the Statement is authored by the architect of Florida's anti-woke legislation, which a federal judge struck down as violating faculty members' and students' first amendment rights.
Notably, the following demands are pure Rufo-ism:
“The universities must provide transparency about their operations and, at the end of each year, publish complete data on race, admissions, and class rank; employment and financial returns by major; and campus attitudes on ideology, free speech, and civil discourse.”
So get rid of all vestiges of the DEI bureaucracy to make way for an alternative bureaucracy that is virtually guaranteed to become at least as sprawling ani intrusive as the one that the signers claim they want to replace.
What happens when the presidency is occupied by someone who isn’t authoritarian? That the statement’s signers can’t, or refuse to, recognize this tells us how fundamentally unserious this project is.
I wouldn't like being told what to think even if the President was someone I voted for. I'm not looking for a president to provide that service for me. And my guess is that the people in my political tribe who do want a president who'll tell people what to think would disagree very strenuously on what the content of that thought should be. I'm kinda surprised that the Manhattan folks are willing to roll the dice and accept thought control from a Democratic president, but I guess they know what they're doing.
Limited government for me, but not for thee.
Very much so, but let's be honest. Did anyone ever really think these were bold free-speech/academic freedom champions?
Yes. Limited government was always a ploy to restrain the left when it was in power. WHen the right has the levers of power, it wants to use them robustly and not even to advance a policy agenda but just to launch war on the left.
Wait, you mean like Gary North explicitly said? Hmm.
As opposed to many who ignored Project 2025, thanks for sharing and exposing. Is there a way to post this as a column in every university and college paper? I do not agree with some of Walter's conclusions, but the explanation of the control to be exerted by Trump is now in front of us..
Anyone can reprint it for free so long as they credit it to us. If you have a way of putting it in the hands of all univ papers that would be great. Is there a central clearing house for that kind of thing?
Walter,
Good analysis that I mostly agree with. I would be thrilled to see what a Walter Olson manifesto would look like. Complete separation of state and higher education (financing and regulation)?