Archive for 2013
July 31, 2013
Politicians can’t dictate course syllabi or reading lists in higher education. But nor should faculty be allowed to engage in indoctrination and professional irresponsibility without being held to account. And yet, over the past 50 years, that is essentially what has happened. The greatest threat to academic freedom today is not from outside the academy, but from within. Political correctness and “speech codes” that stifle debate are common on America’s campuses. The assumption seems to be that the purpose of education is to induce correct opinion rather than to search for wisdom and to liberate the mind.
If academics want to continue to enjoy the great privilege of academic freedom, they cannot forget the obligations that underline the grant of that privilege. The American Association of University Professors itself recognized those obligations in its seminal statement, the 1915 Declaration of Principles on Academic Freedom, which is today nearly forgotten: “If this profession should prove itself unwilling to purge its ranks of the incompetent and unworthy, or to prevent the freedom which it claims . . . from being used as a shelter for inefficiency, for superficiality, or for uncritical and intemperate partisanship, it is certain that the task will be performed by others.”
It’s time that college and university trustees, presidents and faculty made a concerted effort to ensure and engender a culture of academic freedom—and responsibility. If integrity is not maintained from within, the public will attempt to impose it from without. Mr. Daniels’s emails have sparked a needed debate on this defining value.
You can’t criticize ideas here, gentlemen. This is a university!
DOES BARACK OBAMA REALLY THINK THAT Kanye West and the Kardashians are a bad influence on America? Maybe he does. But that’s kind of . . . ungrateful, isn’t it?
MODIFIED LIMITED HANGOUT: NSA Tries to Assure Congress, Public of Tactics with Document Dump. “But key lawmakers remain unconvinced that surveillance is all benign: ‘What will be next?’ said Leahy. ‘And when is enough, enough?'”
Also, why couldn’t they catch the Tsarnaevs — or, for that matter, Bradley Manning or Edward Snowden? And I still worry about political abuse because, well, especially with this Administration, that seems to be the norm.
FAILING UPWARD: Leader of ATF During ‘Fast and Furious’ Fallout Confirmed as New Director. Sen. John Cornyn: “What could have been an opportunity for the President to bring competent leadership to a department wrought with mismanagement is instead a signal from the top that reckless behavior is not only permissible in his administration, but rewarded.” Yeah, pretty much.
BOB OWENS: A Perfect Neighbor? Considering George Zimmerman, Post-Circus. “How many of you have numerous acts of decency and bravery in your past?”
Hey, I’ve stuck it out in the blogosphere for nearly 12 years now. That ought to get me some sort of medal. . . .
I WAS EXPECTING AN EARTH-SHATTERING KABOOM: Massive solar flare narrowly misses Earth, EMP disaster barely avoided. Well, “narrowly misses” might be a bit overstated, but sooner or later, one of these will hit us. Better to be prepared.
EIGHT HABITS OF INSANELY FIT PEOPLE. Not sure these would be my top 8.
AT AMAZON, 40% or more off on External Hard Drives. 2 Terabytes of storage for under a hundred bucks? That still amazes me. If only everything got better that fast. . . .
THINK OF IT AS MAKING US MORE LIKE THOSE FUN-LOVING ITALIANS: Who Can Deny It? Obamacare Is Accelerating U.S. Towards A Part-Time Nation.
HIGHER EDUCATION UPDATE: Censorship, sex and scandal in Singapore. And corruption among universities elsewhere, wanting access.
MICHAEL WALSH: “No Government” Conservatives And The Meta Narrative.
Forget “No Government.” How about we roll it back to 1912. Was that “No Government?” Okay, how about 1960? “No Government?” 1970?
OH GOOD: Clinton/Lewinsky sex tape emerges. I wonder what else is still out there, waiting to appear at an opportune moment?
REMEMBERING WHEN Mickey Mouse Was A Drug Dealer.
ON THE ROAD TO ROCK EXCESS: Why The ’60s Ended In 1973.
IT WOULD BE LESS “GRITTY” IF IT WERE LEGAL: ‘An American Lowlife’: Photographer Captures The Gritty Reality Of Prostitution. Photos are NSFW.
A WORLD-RECORD SETTING slingshot?
AT AMAZON, Digital Deals galore! Download ’em while they’re hot.
CHIVALRY: A VIRTUE WE SHOULD ALL ASPIRE TO? At the risk of being tiresome, let me repeat: Chivalry was a system, and one that made demands on women every bit as much as on men.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: A Killer Iced-Coffee Recipe.
21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Watch What Happens When A Woman Propositions Men On The Street For Sex.
FIBER-LIKE DATA TRANSFER SPEEDS over old-fashioned phone lines.
READER BOOK PLUG: From reader Randy Beck, an alt-history novel, One Thousand Years. Luftwaffe starships? “Nazis, Time Travel, and a Tuskegee Airman who won’t quit.”