Academia, Free Speech

The Awakening: Donors Are Finally Seeing The Radicalization of American Higher Education

“How many lives are 1200 Israelis worth?” That chilling question was put forward by a Rhode Island history professor last week in a condemnation of Israel as a “white supremacist nation” that prompted the Hamas massacre.

Many donors and parents have been repulsed in recent weeks by such extremist viewpoints on our campuses over the Israel-Gaza war. For some of us, however, the hostile environment is nothing new on campuses where faculties have been purged of conservative and libertarian voices for years.

Indeed, many of the same figures have previously supported radical, or even violent, efforts directed against conservatives for years. This academic radical chic was long celebrated, not condemned, by the media.

My own campus is not immune from extremist rhetoric. George Washington University has seen flyers of Hamas hostages ripped down and huge images celebrating the Hamas “martyrs” protected on our buildings. Most recently, a panel was held at our medical school accusing Israel of “genocide” and describing Hamas as “resistance” fighters against oppression.

This came as Hamas announced that no hostage would be found alive if Israel did not meet its demands.

The day after Hamas made that declaration, Eric Loomis, a history professor and director of graduate studies at University of Rhode Island, wrote a column on the blog Lawyers, Guns, and Money, a far-left site known for extremist rhetoric.

In his column, Loomis declared that, if Israel is not committing genocide, “it is way too close to comfort” to genocidal murder. While condemning Hamas, he said the massacre was “inevitable” and that “if you put people in an open air prison, you basically deserve the attacks you get.”  He insisted that “ethnonationalist states can have no place in a liberal world” and “if you can’t agree with this when it concerns Israel, you are racist toward the Palestinians and we can move from there.”

Loomis recognizes that some may be critical of his views but ends by calling them “gigantic flaming a**holes.”

Even after weeks of such rhetoric from faculty, including Cornell University Professor Russell Rickford celebrating the massacre, it is still shocking for many. It is not shocking to those of us who are part of the dwindling number of dissenting voices on our campuses.

These very same faculty members have been fostered by the media for years. The Washington Post ran Rickford’s views and the New York Times ran those of Loomis. The latter relationship is particularly ironic after the Times effectively banned Sen. Cotton for raising the possible need to deploy the national guard to stop violent protests (a measure used on Jan. 6th).

I continue to defend the free speech rights of far-left academics despite my deep disagreement with them. The problem is not their exercise of free speech but the absence of balance or opposing voices on our campuses.

Many are celebrating the retention of Harvard President Claudine Gay as a victory of free speech. Yet, Gay oversees a university ranked dead last in protecting the free speech of others. For the many conservatives and dissenters bullied and silenced at Harvard for years, there may be less cause for celebration that the president is protected. Indeed, liberal faculty members have long enjoyed the full protection of free speech denied to the dwindling number of faculty on the right.

Many faculty members have been calling for violent attacks on conservatives and Republicans with little objection from the media or even some universities. Faculty members have freely called for “detonating” people,” calling for Republicans to suffer,  strangling police officers, celebrating the death of conservatives, calling for the killing of Trump supporters, supporting the murder of conservatives and other outrageous statements.

Conversely, for the few remaining conservatives on most faculties, there is little tolerance for controversy. Dr. Mike Adams, a professor of sociology and criminology, committed suicide after losing his academic position after an inflammatory tweet.

In this academic eco chamber, espousing conservative views is a virtual guarantee of rejection. Imagine being a young conservative professor applying to the University of Rhode Island’s history department where the director  of graduate studies has stated that he has no objection to killing conservative protesters.

Other sites like Above the Law have spent years ridiculing objections to the barring of conservative faculty.  Senior Editor Joe Patrice defended “predominantly liberal faculties” by arguing that hiring a conservative professor is akin to allowing a believer in geocentrism to teach at a university.

It is working. A survey conducted by the Harvard Crimson shows that more than three-quarters of Harvard Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences faculty respondents identify as “liberal” or “very liberal.” Only 2.5% identified as “conservative,” and only 0.4% as “very conservative.”

The same is true at other schools. A study found that only nine percent of law school professors identify as conservative at the top 50 law schools. A 2017 study found only 15 percent of faculties overall were conservative. Another survey showed that 33 out of 65 departments lacked a single conservative faculty member.

The last few weeks have awakened donors to the rising intolerance and extremism on our faculties. Some donors have even pulled funding, including $100 million withdrawn from the University of Pennsylvania.

Donors (and state legislatures with state-funded schools) can use their leverage to force greater diversity of thought on our campuses. The problem is not that we have these radical faculty members. The problem is that we have comparably few faculty with opposing views. The diversity of opinion on most faculties runs from the left to the far left. Some faculty members now argue that intellectual diversity is not a core or essential value in academia.

If donors want to open up our campuses, they may need to close their wallets until real reforms are implemented in higher education.

269 thoughts on “The Awakening: Donors Are Finally Seeing The Radicalization of American Higher Education”

  1. Q: Mr Archer, was hunter selling the Biden Brand
    A: yes

    Q: was the brand Hunter Biden?
    A: No

    Q:was the brand Jim Biden?
    A: No

    Q: was Joe Biden the Biden brand?
    A: Yes

    1. Why won’t 60 Minutes run a report on Clinton’s responsibility for the Rwandan Holocaust? Why don’t Trump and his groupies demand that Clinton answer questions about his failure to respond to the Rwandan Massacre? Why doesn’t America apologize to the 1 million slain and their surviving loved ones? How is America, under Clinton, different than the Germans who looked away as their neighbors disappeared en mass?

  3. A question for any lefty here with half a brain, if one exists.

    Where does the Gaza conflict end, on its current trajectory? Do you really think anything will stop that train? The Israelis are not going to stop. That is reality.

    Laying down on a busy highway or parading around on campus and calling for a ceasefire is not “supporting Palestinians”. It is supporting Hamas.

    Calling for Hamas to lay down their weapons and come out is support for Palestinians because that is the ONLY thing that will save Palestinian lives. The ONLY thing. That is reality.

    Calling for anything else is support for Hamas and shameless disregard for Palestinian life. Hamas hears your dumb a$$es.

    Stop calling for something that is never going to happen.

    You say Palestinians are not Hamas? Prove it. Call for Hamas to surrender and face the music.

  4. Latest poll regarding mail in ballots in 2020 election

    Did you cast a mail-in ballot in a state where you were no longer a permanent resident?
    17% YES

    Did you fill out a ballot on behalf of a family member?
    21% YES

    Did someone offer to pay or reward you for voting?
    8% YES

    No evidence of widespread voter fraud. Of course now, a confession is not evidence.

    1. Not questioning you, just looking for a source.

      Further while if correct what you describe is massive voter fraud and more than sufficient to tip the election and a part of why you can not have a secure election with mailin voting. This STILL is NOT the actual ORGANIZED election fraud that was the huge problem in 2020 – and continues to be a problem.

      Much of what you cite is election fraud by people acting on their own.

      Paying for votes is organized election fraud – and we know that occured, we just do not know the scale.
      Ballot harvesting – filling out and/or delivering ballots that are not your own – especially when you are NOT a family member of the voter is illegal in 49 states, and we know that occured large scale.
      Democrats OPENLY admit to doing so. Just read the post election time magazine article describing how they won the election.
      What the article describes is FRAUD. It is illegal ballot harvesting.

      And this is getting WORSE. Biden has used an executive order to DIRECT members of the government to engage in election fraud.

      The Federal govenrment has ZERO role in the administration of US elections.
      Congress is allowed to make laws controlling the procedures that states use. It can provide funding for counting the vote.

      No Government – federal, state or local, can encourage or discourage people from voting. That is election fraud.

      The role of govenrment in elections MUST be limited to the narrowest scope of administering the election and counting the vote – and even that must be done under the public eye.

      Any further role on the part of government is an effort to tip the scales.

      Government can not influence the outcome of an election – that is election fraud.

      Biden has the federal government finding NGO’s to engage in GOTV efforts – focusing on Democratic districts.

      That is election Fraud.

  5. “Their lies have become false facts”
    ——Hunter Biden in a statement today, supposedly prepared by that brilliant attorney, Abbe Lowell.

    Its all False Facts!!

  6. While this is slightly off topic..
    Here’s a link to a company that does DEI consulting.

    DEI is one of the problems w Universities…
    But what makes this story interesting is that this is a NY company and they lied about having worked for government agencies. (DOE and NASA)

    Remember L Jame’s lawsuit against Trump?
    This company actually broke the law James is accusing Trump of breaking.
    Yet do we see her going after them?

    Nope.

    -G

  7. I’m sorry I missed it. Can Svelaz or Dennis, those smug, condescending, small minded prognosticators, please let us all know how the Impeachment Inquiry Vote went today?

    2. Man, why are you trying to rub it in their face?

      It would have been more interesting if one of the Dems crossed party lines.
      But they are all good trained little puppies.

      -G

      1. Because i promised these glue sniffers that i would, over the coming months, rub their upturned noses in every single steaming turd they have deposited here.

          1. I will not, because no other metaphor describes it better. In fact I don’t even consider it metaphoric. If you sniffed their keyboards, I bet you’d see.

      2. One did. Ken Buck is a republican in name only.

        Apparently, he was persuaded by Hunter himself, today.

  8. Dear Prospective Harvard Student:

    If you sympathize with Middle East terrorists, come to Harvard. You will find aid and comfort. If you’re a bit squeamish about calling for the genocide of Jews, come to Harvard. We will buck up your courage. If you wish to commit plagiarism, yet still become the leader of an important institution where you can peddle your noxious ideas, then definitely come to Harvard. Our President will be your role model.

    Dissenters are welcome, too. But you won’t survive.

    Yours,

    The Harvard Corporation

    P.S. Donors: Don’t worry your pretty little heads about the ideas we’re teaching. Or the products we’re graduating. Just send us your cash.

  9. Suddenly Free Speech Is Subject To Abuse!

    For years Professor Turley has been telling us that free speech must be absolute, no matter how objectionable it might be. ‘Even if Fox News broadcasts false election claims, we all have an interest is supporting their freedom to do so’, Turley has Icontended.

    Turley never acknowledged false election claims. But when the Dominion Briefs was a major news story (in mainstream media), Turley’s ‘free speech’ columns developed an almost hysterical sense of urgency.

    Yet now we’ve come to the point where idiot Bernie Bros are shooting their mouths off in support of Hamas. And it is here that Turley lays rubber, spinning a U-turn on ‘free speech’. Now Turley acknowledges that absolute ‘free speech’ can degenerate into hate speech which isn’t real desirable.

    By now it is obvious that Republicans were never that serious about ‘free speech’. Though when it comes to Donald Trump, or even Alex Jones, we’ll probably still here how important ‘free speech’ is. But the whole concept of ‘free speech’ is null and void with regards to the far-left.

    1. Most of the National Debt is due to the Republican tax cuts.

      The US ranks 32 out of 36 OECD countries in terms of Tax Burdens.

      If you want a first world country, you got to pay taxes.

      2. Bob – Of course, all of the national debt is due to Congress spending money it does not have. Otherwise, there would be no need to borrow. As to the comment about high taxes being a necessary part of being a “first class country”, I would suggest that you consider the history of the USA in the second half of the 19th century. During that period of time, we achieved levels of economic and technological growth that were unprecedented in world history. Throughout that period, there was no income tax.

      3. Most of the National Debt is due to the Republican tax cuts.

        You are aware that after a reduction of tax rates, Tax revenue increases?
        .

  13. We can now begin to Publicly call this a transparent ‘Cover-Up’ in progress.
    [Covering the: President, The White House Cabinet & Staff, DOJ, FBI, …, etc.]

  15. Hunter Biden’s highly choreographed performance staged directly on the Capitol grounds with Capitol Dome set clearly as the backdrop to give the impression that He is an “Official”, along with arriving and departing in Secret Service vehicles to “His” press conference. It’s so subliminal it’s scary!

    No doubt, Biden’s Public Relations Producer will be up for a National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) News and Documentary Emmy Award.

    2. Apparently ‘diversity’ isn’t so important when they can exclude whites. In fact segregation is now the in thing–black dorms, black graduation, black classes, black speech, black math. The same people who tell us that race is a fiction make everything about race. I wonder how they will react when they convince everyone that segregation is a pretty good idea after all?

    3. @Oldman…

      Not sure if there’s a real story or if its a hypersensitivity at work.

      The way it was explained… there is a group of non-white council members… sort of akin to the black caucus members in Congress.
      They asked the mayor to host the party.

      Like its one of many parties.

      Now I personally think that having a small group (6 people) making a ‘caucus’ (for lack of a better word) is weird.

      But if you put it in that context… was it really so bad?
      I mean its not the mayor’s holiday bash, now is it?

      1. The Whites only Klan rally is the other party. It has been outlawed, and they are all in prison already.
        Wake up you idiot.

  17. Thank you, Professor Turley!
    Your demonstration to the world what FREE SPEECH looks like. Sometimes brilliant, sometimes brutally ignorant, sometimes sincere and thoughtful.
    Sometimes flat out lies, and sometimes just plain sewage. But it is FREE SPEECH!
    Again, thanks

  18. OT

    All I want for Christmas is a full-combat-load, pre-dawn FBI raid on Hunter Biden’s house…

    Fox News, having been previously notified.

    If not…

    All I want for the New Year is an impeachment of Merrick Garland by the House and a conviction of Merrick Garland by the Senate.

    1. I’d like people with mental illness, including you, to become mentally healthy.

      Dream big.

  19. Donors have gotten what they paid for. They’re fine with cancelling conservatives and people who have the audacity to say men can’t get pregnant. Now they want to claim the moral high ground from the intellectual swamp they’ve been so happily residing in. Doesn’t work that way.

  20. OT

    DEMOCRATS DON’T CRIMINALLY “FIX” OR “RIG” ELECTIONS – OH, HECK NO!
    ___________________________________________________________________________________

    “I’ll have those n*****s voting Democratic for the next 200 years”

    – Lyndon Baines Johnson
    ____________________________

    $25 trillion spent on LBJ’s “Great Society” and “War on Poverty” since 1963.

    Obviously, poverty won and blacks vote 90% democrat.
    ____________________________________________________________

    How long are actual conservative constitutional Americans bound to ignore reality?

    Oh, and “Crazy Abe” “fixed” elections by eschewing the legal method of abrogating slavery through the legislative branch, seizing power, forcibly imposing unconstitutional martial law and war, and forcing the country to bend to his unconstitutional whimsy with a gun to America’s head.

    1. But he did tell the banks to go eff themselves, postponing the Fed for years. Little did he realize the banksters were fully behind the Civil War, egging it on…just as they are doing now. These are one trick ponies and that is their one trick.

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