The academic intelligentsia’s obsession with the term “Latinx” is confusing yet enduring. Although roughly 40 percent of Latino voters find the term, meant as a non-gendered alternative to the masculine “Latino” and the feminine “Latina,” to be offensive, it is part of the everyday lexicon of academics and education journalists. On a purely linguistic level, … Continue reading ““Latinx” Is Failed Academic Activism”
To the editor: Prof. Weissberg seems a bit baffled by the Loyalty Oaths required by the New Red Guard. He asks, “Is there anything that suggests that this latest effort will finally be successful?” Silly wabbit. Lucky for him he’s retired, otherwise I’m afraid he’d be compelled to public confessions followed by some sort of … Continue reading “The Diversity bureaucracy will always be “successful,” despite failures”
The Chronicle of Higher Education has just published the latest assault on academic standards, Jordynn Jack and Viji Sathy’s “It’s Time to Cancel the Word ‘Rigor’.” Jack teaches rhetoric and comparative literature, Sathy psychology and neuroscience; both teach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Their article cloaks a radical ‘equity’ agenda in … Continue reading “Don’t Cancel Rigor”
“I don’t understand how a state as red as Oklahoma can have such an obsessively woke state university with so few repercussions,” law professor and New York Post columnist Glenn Reynolds recently marveled. He’s not alone. I don’t understand it, either. Nor do many Oklahoma taxpayers I’ve talked to. The question is whether OU’s regents will … Continue reading “Oklahoma University Thumbs its Nose at Oklahomans — With ‘So Few Repercussions’”
To the editor: As per Morson & Schapiro, there is, evidently Good Fundamentalism (which soothes their own kicky blankets) and Bad Fundamentalism (which roils them). Unsurprisingly they find the Bad to be Very Very Bad and the Good (as in, or so we would presume, Diversity, CRT, Inclusivity, Racial Equity, and Social Justice) to be … Continue reading “Letter to the Editor: The dangers of a fundamentalist mindset”
Dear President Price: On June 17, you published a 1,400-word “Statement to the Community Regarding Anti-Racism.” The document contains many expressions of concern, fully in tune with the current national mood about the evils of racism and the problems of the African American community. Nevertheless, the measures proposed, and the assumptions made, in this document … Continue reading “An Open Letter to Duke President Price about Anti-Racism”
As political polarization is growing, colleges must figure out how to ensure that political discussions on campus are constructive. For that to happen, schools need to take the lead in promoting a positive climate for political discussion. For campus leaders who would like to do so but don’t know where to start, they can turn … Continue reading “Did You Know? What Colleges Can Do to Defend Free Expression”
The end of the spring semester marks the 20th anniversary of my professorship at Duke, first as an assistant professor and then as an associate professor of the practice at the Sanford School of Public Policy. During this time, I regularly taught the required ethics class for all undergraduate public policy majors. I won multiple … Continue reading “The End of Being a Duke Professor and What It Means for the Future of Higher Education”
The University of Wisconsin’s latest diversity plan calls for “equity” in high-demand majors and the distribution of grades.