It has become increasingly common for universities to take political positions in support of everything from Black Lives Matter to D.C. Statehood. As such positions increase, there is more and more pressure for official positions to be taken on other subjects. Now, the University of Chicago is being asked to affirm its support of Ukraine after controversial statements from Professor John Mearsheimer. (For full disclosure, I am a graduate of UChicago and Mearsheimer was one of faculty when I was doing strategic studies research at the department).While I knew Mearsheimer as a new young professor, he was already a rising star in academia. He became famous for his realist approach to international studies and now holds the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Chair at the school.Mearsheimer has long been a critic of policies on Ukraine and denounced the removal of President Viktor Yanukovych as a “coup.” He also believes that the fighting in the Donbas region is a “civil war” between Ukrainians. He has given speeches on those views and wrote a widely read article in 2014 in Foreign Affairs. He has criticized the United States policies as destabilizing and endangering Ukraine, a view shared by others.Even if one disagrees, Mearsheimer’s views are is well-researched and well-reasoned. They are precisely the type of profoundly engaging viewpoints that are the very embodiment of our academic discourse.Nevertheless, as reported on the site College Fix, students have objected and called upon President Paul Alivasatos to publicly “identify and condemn those who are actively engaged in the spread of Putinism.”
Mearsheimer has objected to the overthrow of what he viewed as a democratically elected president in Ukraine and American policies that were pushing that country toward an inevitable conflict with Russia. He has been largely supported in his predictions of how those tensions would explode with Russia. That does not make him a Putin apologist.
However, even if Mearsheimer did espouse pro-Russian or even pro-Putin views, he has every right to do so as an individual and as an academic. The question is whether UChicago should take an official position on this debate or remain neutral as a forum for research and debate. Despite my support for Ukraine in this war, I am concerned about universities taking such official positions.
The students, Daryna Safarian, Edita Kuberka, Iryna Irkliyenko, Darya Kolesnichenko and Sergiy Kuchko, wrote that they were “pained” by Mearsheimer’s references to a “civil war” and his calling the 2014 removal of Yanukovych a “coup.” What was most notable is the assertion that his views are “not substantiated by any meaningful historical or scholarly evidence.”
One can certainly disagree with his conclusions but it is bizarre to claim that it is without meaningful scholarly or historical basis. It is a common attack on those with dissenting views to declare their views as devoid of intellectual value. We have discussed a crackdown on academics who offered opposing views on World War II, Black Lives Matter, reparations, indigenous land, diversity programs, and other subjects.
We have also seen Russian artists and athletes blackballed for failing to publicly denounce the invasion or Putin.
The students are demanding disclosures of the funding sources of Mearsheimer and a university statement to denounce “anti-Ukrainian ideology on campus.”
UChicago has long been a global leader in protecting free speech and academic freedom, even as peer schools yield to the pressure of conformity and orthodoxy. It should publicly decline such invitations to stand against what some views as “anti-Ukrainian ideology.”
The Mearsheimer controversy should not be difficult for the university. A more difficult question is how universities should address Ukraine. There is a difference between labeling viewpoints and research as unacceptable “ideology” and labeling this attack on Ukraine as a violation of international law.
The problem for the university is that it is a global institution that has a myriad contacts with both Russia and Ukraine. Some of those contacts could be assisting Russia in its attack on Ukraine, particularly in access to research and resources at UChicago. As companies from Mastercard to McDonald’s have suspended dealings with Russia, universities face the same dilemma. I believe that it is appropriate to sever some of those ties.
Universities took such a stand against South Africa during apartheid, though calls to boycott Israel has led to deep and ongoing divisions on our campuses.
There is a distinction that can be drawn between intellectual discourse and institutional support vis-a-vis Russia. Students and faculty should feel entirely protected in espousing views supportive of the Russian position. However, universities should suspend programs in Russia and limit some research collaborations that may support this invasion. That includes grants and programs funded by the Russian government or its proxies.
Where to draw that line is obviously difficult. For example, there is a call from some like Rep. Eric Swalwell to expel Russian students and academics. That, however, would reduce exposure of students and their families to opposing viewpoints and unregulated news. They are the least likely to support this war. Moreover, American academics need to support our colleagues in Russia who oppose the invasion. Putin has long had problems with students and academics who oppose his blood-soaked rule. There is a reason why Putin has shutdown media and closed social media access. He is afraid of interactions with the outside world and access to alternative viewpoints.
As a general matter, I prefer that universities focus on maintaining a fair and open forum for the discussion and research of such contemporary controversies. The invasion forces the hand of universities since they cannot support the violation of international law and the devastation of this sovereign nation. However, we should strive to protect not just access to our universities but the freedom to express dissenting viewpoints.
This position was laid out in the famous Kalven Committee Report at the University of Chicago. I have included it below. It stated in part that the university must protect its core intellectual mission and resist pressure to take political positions on contemporary controversies:
Since the university is a community only for these limited and distinctive purposes, it is a community which cannot take collective action on the issues of the day without endangering the conditions for its existence and effectiveness. There is no mechanism by which it can reach a collective position without inhibiting that full freedom of dissent on which it thrives. It cannot insist that all of its members favor a given view of social policy; if it takes collective action, therefore, it does so at the price of censuring any minority who do not agree with the view adopted. In brief, it is a community which cannot resort to majority vote to reach positions on public issues.
The neutrality of the university as an institution arises then not from a lack of courage nor out of indifference and insensitivity. It arises out of respect for free inquiry and the obligation to cherish a diversity of viewpoints. And this neutrality as an institution has its complement in the fullest freedom for its faculty and students as individuals to participate in political action and social protest. It finds its complement, too, in the obligation of the university to provide a forum for the most searching and candid discussion of public issues.
I understand the passion and sense of offense of these students. Indeed, I share their views on the invasion. They have every right to denounce Professor Mearsheimer, who I expect would be the first to defend that right. However, he also has a right to hold opposing views without being singled out by the university or officially denounced for what some view to be unacceptable “ideology.”
Combatants only want diplomacy when things are going badly for them, but not when things are going great.
Would you support a University statement that the University supports free speech and that condemns Russia’s banning of independent media or reports of truth about the war? That would seem to be compatible with a University’s values.
I would have no problem with Professor Mearsheimer airing his views at any University. The fact that he is totally wrong is beside the point, and just makes him look even more ridiculous. The Russians seem to have a more romantic view in many cases of their Ukrainian cousins than the Ukrainians have of Russia. The Ukrainian culture and language predates Russia and survived despite obliteration by various polities over the centuries. Just as Lithuania and Poland also did despite being removed from the map at different times. Ukraine was so enamored with the Communist takeover that they declared an independent state in the 1917-1921 era but were crushed and returned to Russia. Then they lost between 3-7 million more to the Holodomor of 1932-1933 and the enlightened collectivism of farming. Ethnic Russians were brought in to settle significant areas of Ukraine after the losses of the famine. Sort of like Saddam Hussein replacing Kurds with Arabs in Iraq. Large segments of Ukraine welcomed the Germans in 1941 because they thought they were liberators but returned to supporting Russia because the Nazi’s of Germany were even worse. It was Putin’s own interference and outright bribery that resulted in Yanukovych fleeing Ukraine in 2014. A self fulfilling prophecy. And of course there are right wing neo-Nazi’s in Ukraine (their party got 2 % of the most recent vote) just as there are in virtually every other western democracy. Just like there are Marxists, communists and socialists here who continue to swear “we will get it right this time”. I would really like to see and hear Professor Mearsheimer’s mental gymnastics in dealing with all of that history. It’s a show he should take on the road. I’m sure tickets could be easily found since the audience would be so small.
“They have every right to denounce Professor Mearsheimer, who I expect would be the first to defend that right.”
I don’t know about that. Would he defend the right of Ukrainians to denounce Putin? If they get taken over by Russia, they will lose rights to denounce Putin. As it is today, you can get 15 years in jail for telling the truth in Russia about Putin and the invasion. I do not think support of Russia is compatible with support of free speech.
So, should all of the Americans who wanted to see Germany and Japan defeated, including women, children, the disabled, and the elderly, have fought in Europe and the Pacific, too? No. Of course not. There was a trained military to do that so that they wouldn’t have to. Now, would you please stop making the same not-so-clever point as if it were oh-so-clever? You make me feel like my thumb is in a dike, holding back the stupidity. Thank you.
If your minds are so great, why do you keep making the same fallacious arguments over and over and over again. ?
War is a good thing if the good guys are winning it. It should keep on going when the good guys are winning. This is how Good destroys Evil.
Will the keyboard warriors calling for war fly to the front lines? Of course not because they are cowards.
If I want Xi Jinping’s opinion, I will ask him for it. Sanctions are illegal? Wanna know what’s illegal? Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
They want to end the conflict.
If Putin wanted the conflict to end, he wouldn’t have started it. Conflict is what he wants.
Start the Draft and all this BS on University Campuses will go away.
Soldiers are supposed to fight wars for civilians so that the civilians don’t have to. That’s the point.
Good, then climate morons can pay for $6/gal gas and the inflated indirect costs of their war on science.
The Russian people should chop off Putin’s head and use it as a soccer ball.
Mespo would like to take a whiz on Ukraine.
It has been stated that Mespo has a great mind but I am still waiting to see some evidence of that.
Such a small mind cannot see what is in front of its eyes.
Turley says:
“They have every right to denounce Professor Mearsheimer…”
As well as shame those who remain silent about the invasion, condemn those who are Putin apologists, and ostracize those who are indifferent to the shelling of innocent civilians. Those who welcome the invasion should be boycotted.
What is the point of and how, exactly, does one denounce the Professor? Please give us your opinion of what the Prof said that is sooo controversial.
Now that oil is at $140/gal Burisma must be swimming in it.
You know that when the silvermans of the world are siding with the lindsey grahams, you are on the side of good. LOL. Tools.
“As well as shame those who remain
silentNeutral about the invasion,I clarified your stupidity.
Neutrality is now support?
Archbishop Desmond Tutu: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”
MLK Jr: “He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”
Elie Wiesel: “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.”
Yes, silence is support.
And yet the world supports China.
I can remain silent. To force me to speak is a violation of my rights.
None of those quotes are about forcing you to speak. They are all about your choice not to speak.
Truly bizarre that you believe that “the world supports China,” when plenty of people — including government representatives — condemn actions by China.
None of those appeals for alms is an American interest.
What actual Americans must be doing is endeavoring mightily to regain possession of their restricted-vote republic.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
“[We gave you] a [restricted-vote] republic, if you can keep it.”
– Ben Franklin
Iowan,
Those Germans who knew about the Holocaust but kept their heads bowed in silence were immoral just like you Trumpists who ignore Putin’s war crimes and have nothing to say but blame America first.
You know who fought for the Nazis??? The parents of many of the Ukrainians. You know where the Nazis are today…literally in Ukraine,. and their Jewish Pres. knows about it and capitulates. Eat me silverberg
MEYER!
Second one, Correctness is not one of the qualities you are known for. Not everything is MEYER!
Given that it’s just virtue signaling, and none of them actually care about what happens in Ukraine, does it matter? How do you think those kids would feel about it if they knew Ukraine is a formerly fascist country that is still home to a smattering of real live Nazis? Would they twist that fact as they do everything else? Forgive and forget? Then why not their own countrymen? It is impossible to take our greed-social-media-credit-destroyed society and by extension, the ruination of our minds seriously.
The shame is, ‘What is the right thing to do?’, is actually a very good question. Ill-informed temper tantrums and marketing campaigns should not be the answer.
Heaven help these people if they ever actually encounter a real crisis in their cushy lives.
How can you look at the photos and videos, see the human tragedy being perpetrated by Putin and his Military upon the People of Ukraine and not take a stand?
It is incomprehensible to me for a person not be moved by the evil being done so many….by an evil Thug.
There is absolutely no mitigation for what Russian Forces are doing in Ukraine.
We stood by and watched it happen in Chechznia, Georgia, and Syria……when do we put an end to our apathy and actually do something.
Talk is easy…..and is that too much to ask of others….to at least take a stand and verbally denounce evil?
My question is what is NATO and the rest of Western Powers are going to do….what direct actions are they going to take….that shall put an end to Putin’s tryanny and waging of War on others.
Appeasement is not a winning strategy….that is only delaying what shall have to be done at some point and be far worse than had it been done early.
Sending the Vice President to Romania and Poland certainly is not something that shall make Putin shiver in his Sea Boots.
All good points, but to whit: gas guzzling SUV snd Hummer driving liberals of the 90s’ (which seemed to be the only kind, then): Tibet sends its regards to your bumper stickers, everything is fine now.
“when do we put an end to our apathy and actually do something.”
We are already doing several things: providing weaponry, providing intel, initiating widespread sanctions, banning Russian oil/LNG/coal imports, …
Those are all “direct actions.” You may want additional actions, though you don’t say what else you want. But at least be truthful about what actions are already being taken.
Turley says:
“It is a common attack on those with dissenting views to declare their views as devoid of intellectual value.”
He’s talking to you Trumpists who label inconvenient facts as “fake news.”
You are projecting again.
And yet “the 80’s called and want their foreign policy back”, giving uranium rights to a Russian owned Canadian subsidiary, the Crimea, and now the Ukraine all happened on Democrat’s watch. As we now are also about to buy dirtier gas from despots in Venezuela & Iran after becoming energy dependent on Russia on Biden’s watch. Of course I’m sure buying gas poroduced elsewhere in the world is better for the environment as a whole, lol.
We imported more Russian oil on Trump’s watch than on Obama’s or Biden’s, so drop the BS.
“We imported more Russian oil on Trump’s watch than on . . . Biden’s, so drop the BS.”
That is false. And you know it’s false.
I didn’t know that it’s false. I’d read something that led me to believe it’s true, but I’ve now checked, and what I read was wrong. That said, Russian oil imports had already been dropping since last summer and are now banned under Biden, something that never occurred under Trump, and only time will tell how the totals under Trump vs. Biden compare.
It is also a common attack on those with dissenting views devoid of intellectual value to declare them of being devoid of intellectual value.
Potato potato.
“Pained by Mearsheimer“? That’s rich. Get on the next flight to Kyiv girls and see what pain is. While there you can shed your bias for your own skins and get it in the game. Mindlessness hostility and hypocrisy while often paired aren’t a good look even at 20 something.
Oops, make that “mindless.”
Turley says:
“Mearsheimer has long been a critic of policies on Ukraine and denounced the removal of President Viktor Yanukovych as a “coup.” He also believes that the fighting in the Donbas region is a “civil war” between Ukrainians. He has given speeches on those views and wrote as widely read article in 2014 in Foreign Affairs. He has criticized the United States policies as destabilizing and endangering Ukraine, a view shared by others.”
Most notably Turley’s Fox colleagues Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham. The “Blame America First” crowd.
Universities exist to educate and do research. Unless an existential threat exists against America, there is no reason for significant involvement. However, American universities should act American.
Amazing, Jeff must have been one of those to change positions with the wind when America was involved in Vietnam. I’ll bet he was for it until his draft number came up, and then suddenly, when his life was on the line, he cried the war was a mistake.
Most notably, this war would not have occurred but for Biden’s policies and failures. Biden causes war and death.
I was too young for ‘Nam. You are Putin apologist just like Carlson and Ingraham. The “Blame America First” crowd.
Your age makes no difference. It’s your attitude that counts.
Sometimes people have to take responsibility for their actions. Biden never does. Everything he did was to hurt America and at the same time aid Russia and its military. Russia’s cash export is oil. Raise the price, and Russia becomes flush with cash.
That you are ignorant of world politics and can only say things like “Blame America First” demonstrates your ignorance because bad leadership by anyone can cause wars. We have bad leadership, though you don’t seem to recognize it.
As far as Putin is concerned, he is a thug and needs to be restrained. You wish to do it with the lives of 18-year-olds and potentially with the lives of everyone should Biden be stupid enough to cause a world war. I prefer to use economics while letting the opposition know we are militarily stronger than them.
Get your cowardly behind to the front lines.
I enlisted and failed the physical and later got drafted for Vietnam. I was ready to go. I had a carton of cigs and a double-edged razor. Failed again. You do what your country needs, if you can.
Paul,
I was too young to go to war. I fight for my country by standing against lying Trumpists. I am a proud NeverTrumper like Turley.
Jeff – I fight people with TDS, it is a noble cause. Welcome to the battlefield.
Paul,
I fight people with Biden Derangement Syndrome. I feel your pain.
You fight for restriction of speech and for the fascists of the world. Congrats. I think you need to get your a$$ to Ukraine and learn what you are talking about.
I have been to Moldova many times. I’ve even been to Transnistria. I’ve visited to Odessa. I know of what I speak.
You haven’t been anywhere, whether or not your passport was stamped. One can recognize that by listening to you and noting how ill-informed you are.
MEYER!
Anonymous – which ever one you are, I have to agree with you about Silberman. Assuming he is actually a he, HE is ill-informed and should be generous enough to share his credit card numbers.
Paul, maybe you shouldn’t complain that Silberman “is ill-informed” to an anonymous commenter who claims “You know where the Nazis are today…literally in Ukraine,. and their Jewish Pres. knows about it and capitulates.” Zelensky isn’t capitulating, and Ukraine isn’t full of Nazis, though there are probably some neoNazis there, just as there are some in the US.
Maybe you should call out the ill-informed anonymous commenter and recognize that “Eat me silverberg” indicates that that particular anonymous commenter is a troll.
Anonymous – I am hoping that Silberman will offer to eat Anonymous as well as give us his credit card numbers.