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Our Colleges Need to Cultivate Critical Thinking, Scrap Radical Left Conformity
With the rising acceptance of socialism and “social justice” in America, campuses have become ground zero for truly radical socialist indoctrination.
Back-to-school on America’s college campuses can be an exciting time for parents and students alike. But if your college freshman comes home for Thanksgiving Break and you no longer recognize the person you dropped off just three months prior, that excitement may turn to shock, or even anger.
Sure, Tommy might have learned some valuable concepts in chemistry, literature, and history. But he may also have learned identity politics, that most people are racist, and to blame America for most of the world’s problems – from “climate change” to wars to depleting too many natural resources. Perhaps you’ll hear him telling his friends how he now hates capitalism and how we would all fare better under socialism.
It’s no secret that colleges have been bastions of liberalism for years, but with the rising acceptance of socialism and “social justice” in America, campuses have become ground zero for truly radical socialist indoctrination.
Even the best of parents who taught their kids to be critical thinkers can be shocked when those kids come home after months of leftist programming. Some young people are able to resist the pressure to conform, but others can’t. For many students, college can mean that they’re the targets of speech codes, bullying by other students, and intimidation by professors. Many times, campus administrators just stand by silently, or worse, enforce the radicalism.
It’s healthy for students to be challenged at college and be exposed to new ideas. What’s not healthy is to be berated, intimidated, or coerced into adopting an ideology that goes against their very core principles.
Recently, a friend of mine accompanied her son to freshman orientation at a state university. During the orientation, she and other parents grew increasingly uncomfortable as several campus speakers got up and introduced themselves not only by their names and titles but also by the pronouns that they preferred to be called. She noticed that the new students’ nametags also listed their preferred pronouns. This was an effort to accommodate those students who were transgender, undecided about their gender, or “fluid” between genders.
She was so shocked by what she saw that she wrote an article about it to try to warn other parents. She made it clear that she wasn’t casting aspersions on transgendered people and felt compassion for those with gender dysphoria. Rather, she was calling out university officials for pushing what they knew was a highly charged issue on an entire new class of students.
In response, the far-left began assailing her and her son with hateful and violent threats, posted her son’s name and photo on social media, and threatened to bully him on campus.
Recent polling by the Knight Foundation shows that more than two-thirds of college students – including both Democratic- and Republican-leaning students – say the campus climate prevents them from expressing their true opinions for fear of offending their classmates. This polling reinforces what many people already knew: that it’s a minority on campus, enabled by faculty and administrators, who are creating this environment for everyone else.
The polling also shows that, despite the fact that so many students feel they can’t speak up, 46 percent are still inclined to eliminate free speech on campus in favor of promoting an “inclusive and welcoming society.” That’s a frightening statistic. Contrary to the claims of the far-left, that doesn’t promote an open-minded learning environment, but rather conformity to the most radical tenets of leftism.
Going to college has such an incredible impact on our children’s futures that each time I found out I was pregnant, it was one of the things I prayed for on behalf of my children. I prayed that they would attend colleges that could help them open the doors to knowledge, grow as people, and prepare for fulfilling careers.
Even back then, I didn’t understand the degree of influence someone’s choice of college would have in his or her life. Over 40 years later, in today’s society, that influence is even more dramatic. That’s why we can’t just sit on our hands and let this indoctrination and bullying continue.
As parents and taxpayers who are turning our kids over to these schools and paying the lion’s share of college costs, it’s incumbent upon us to contact our legislators and school administrators and demand better of these institutions – not only for the benefit of our students and their education, but for the very future of our civil society.
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Macalester College: Liberal Arts or Monoculture?
Macalester College is a small (2,000-plus students), highly regarded, and very selective liberal arts college in St. Paul, Minnesota. It is proud of its liberal reputation and international outlook, and touts as past faculty vice presidents Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale, as well as undergraduate Kofi Anan, previous head of the United Nations. Macalester boasts a student to faculty ratio of 10:1, an average class size of 17, and ranks 26th-best among liberal arts colleges according to U.S. News and World Report.
Yet on a recent visit to the school, this Macalester alum discovered troubling evidence that should challenge that ranking.
Like many colleges, Macalester holds an “Alumni Weekend” in the first few days of June, where alumni are welcomed back to campus to renew friendships, hear inspirational news of their alma mater, and perhaps step up their donations. Among the many speeches, seminars, and discussions was one on political correctness, in which I was scheduled to participate. But first I had to examine the “PC” culture at the college so I would have a sound basis for my remarks.
I have long suspected Macalester had abandoned the “western civ” ideals we were taught in favor of multiculturalism, identity politics, and social justice, however defined. But I needed proof. Although we often witness leftist abuses at colleges similar to Macalester, I needed empirical evidence specific to Macalester.
How does one discover the intellectual climate at a college from a distant state—Arizona in my case—without spending a whole week on campus interviewing students, faculty, and administrators?
I found that it can be done, and I invite the reader to examine his own alma mater in the four areas I investigated at Macalester.
First, course offerings, course descriptions, and faculty bios are all available online by entering the college name. At Macalester, it quickly became apparent that social justice issues have a toehold in many departments, and it appears that learning objectives have been pushed aside by viewpoint objectives.
For example, American Studies students are required to partake in a “civic engagement component, (which) creates a place to engage with…racial and ethnic differences, inequality and social justice.” To do that, “students will discuss books, articles, and films on schools, prisons, and racial inequality by such authors as Angela Davis, Leonard Peltier, Joy James, and Jonathan Kozol.” Angela Davis is an avowed communist, Leonard Peltier is an American Indian activist, Joy James is a black feminist, and Jonathan Kozol is a public education radical who fiercely opposes school vouchers which are favored by 72 percent of inner-city black parents. Completely missing is any hint that students grapple with ideas that dissent from the leftist party line.
Second, look online at the student newspaper for a view of student thinking and writing. Editorials, letters to the editor, even news items in The Mac Weekly revealed a clear left-leaning bias. That is not surprising. But what’s alarming is that not once in four months of reading the paper did I see any expression of conservative or libertarian dissent from the dominant orthodoxy. One wonders if conservatives at Macalester are similarly cowed into silence in the classroom.
Third, outside speakers invited to a campus can introduce new ideas and insights to students. The list of paid, recent speakers at Macalester for the past two years totaled 14. Excluding five who were non-ideological, nine of the speakers leaned left, including Angela Davis, former official of the Communist Party, and not one leaned right. Interestingly, nine of the 14 were black, and none were white males. For a college that prides itself on diversity and inclusion, the list of speakers shows the opposite.
Fourth, what kind of clubs and organizations exist for students to join? Macalester has approximately 100, and they range from sports to politics to clubs related to each major. Of those that can be classified ideologically, 12 clearly lean left. The single one leaning right is the GOP club.
One club is titled “Feminists in Action/Students Together Against Rape and Sexual Assault.” Footnote: The entering class of 2023 was 63 percent female, and Macalester is ranked 18th in the nation for “Best LGBT Colleges by College Choice.”
The discussion group that I led, with alumni attendees of widely varying political leanings, were in general agreement that yes, Macalester students, faculty, and administrators are, and always have been, “progressive.” The evidence I presented of a leftist monoculture was not challenged, but its insidious impact was eloquently articulated by one person in particular.
Jed graduated in May and studied economics/political science. He grew up on a farm, played sports at Macalester, and graduated with honors. He said many students are afraid to speak freely in class to express conservative views and the few who do have experienced “put downs” by the majority in class discussions. Some are afraid their grades will be affected by revealing such views. As a result, free and open debate is stifled. He also stated some acquaintances “defriended” him once they learned he voted Republican.
As a Macalester graduate who treasures the classical liberal arts education I received, I despair at this lack of free and open inquiry. In my 23 years of teaching college economics, including controversial issues, teaching without bias was the assumed norm. My favorite compliment came when a student said, upon turning in his final exam, “I still can’t figure out whether you are liberal or conservative.”
College should be a time of intellectual exploration where alternative and diverse ideologies are sought out and welcomed, leading to a lifetime of open-minded learning. Instead, the elite students at Macalester seem to be encased for four years in a bubble of like-minded social justice advocacy that does not tolerate dissent. They will emerge untested, fragile, and unable to confront a post-college world of intellectual diversity.
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Academia Today ‘Not for Faint-Hearted,’ Says Professor Who Lost His Job for Talking About Gender
Academia today “is not for the faint-hearted,” says a veteran professor who was head of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Louisville School of Medicine until he was demoted and then let go for making public comments on gender identity.
“You know, I really was an academic physician, not a politician. I wasn’t there with an agenda or an activist position,” Dr. Allan Josephson, who also was a professor of psychiatry, told The Daily Signal in a recent phone interview.
“And what I want to do is what I started to do years ago, [which] is practice child and adolescent psychiatry [and] do it as well as I could. And universities who have people like myself there must respect my free speech rights, regardless of what I would say.”
That’s not how it turned out for Josephson, a medical doctor in his mid-60s who previously was on the faculties of schools of medicine at the Medical College of Georgia and the University of Minnesota.
While still a division chief at the University of Louisville, he spoke in October 2017 at The Heritage Foundation as part of a panel discussion on “Gender Dysphoria in Children: Understanding the Science and Medicine.”
After hearing about his remarks, four or five fellow University of Louisville faculty members who worked with Josephson asked the university to discipline or punish him.
Seven weeks after his appearance at Heritage, university officials demoted Josephson from division chief to faculty member in the division he had headed for nearly 15 years.
Ultimately, the public university in Kentucky let him go as of June 30, after announcing in February that it would not renew his contract.
“I experienced a lot of hostility [in] my work environment, and that continued for well over a year and my contract wasn’t renewed,” Josephson told The Daily Signal, which is Heritage’s multimedia news organization. “And this was in spite of the fact that I’d had perfect marks on the two most recent performance evaluations, and my perspective was asking probing questions as part of an academic job description.”
Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal nonprofit that works to protect religious liberty, notes that Josephson “had earned perfect marks on his 2014, 2015, and 2016 annual reviews.”
The organization filed a federal lawsuit in May against University of Louisville administrators on behalf of Josephson.
“Doing those kind of things shouldn’t disqualify me for academic service,” Josephson said of the speaking engagement at Heritage. “We were allowed to do that in a university appointment. We’re encouraged to do that, to be out teaching, if you will, to the community.”
Travis Barham, legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, said:
When Dr. Josephson spoke at The Heritage Foundation, he simply noted, based on his research and clinical experience, that when treating children with gender dysphoria, medical professionals should first seek to understand and treat the psychological issues that often cause this confusion before pursuing more radical, aggressive treatments.
That is how other psychological issues in children are treated, let alone ones where the more radical treatments pose such grave and permanent consequences. The university made it clear that it was these views that precipitated everything that happened later.
“The university typically does not comment on pending litigation,” John R. Karman III, the school’s director of media relations, said in an email to The Daily Signal.
The case likely will be heard in court, although the University of Louisville filed a motion to dismiss a portion of it, said Tyson Langhofer, director of Alliance Defending Freedom’s Center for Academic Freedom.
Josephson, who lives in the Louisville area with his wife Jeri, said it’s important for academics who are younger than himself to have the courage to speak up.
“I had the backdrop of a successful career,” Josephson told The Daily Signal. “The challenge for many academics right now, particularly those who are younger, is that their careers could be on the line.”
“They have not been able to do all they wanted to do. And so it really is challenging, and each case is different,” he said.
Josephson maintains that those with conservative views on gender dysphoria should be able to express those views without fear of retribution.
“I can’t make any general statements,” Josephson said of the challenge, but added: “I do think, though, it is important if you feel something within you not to be silent. Find a way to express yourself, as best you can find people who might be academically open to discuss this. But this is not for the faint-hearted.”
Many universities no longer are marketplaces of ideas, he said, but instead vacuums where only one point of view is recognized and accepted.
“Universities are supposed to be places where you can exchange ideas and vigorous discussion, go back and forth,” Josephson said. “This marketplace of ideas as a metaphor is great, and that’s how science proceeds. That’s how we make progress. Unfortunately, many academic settings, including my own, are becoming more of an activist setting—meaning you’re not testing ideas, promoting the results of research; you’re asking for someone to agree with you, essentially.”
Josephson cautioned that universities need to stop being about groupthink and instead embrace debate and differences of opinion.
“Tolerance is a two-way street; you’ve got to go back and forth,” he said. “That’s what universities are.”
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