AFSA's Week in Review
The week's top news, views and other higher-ed reform highlights
AFSA HIGHLIGHTS
Hat’s Off to This UVA Student for Keeping His Hat On Byline James A. Bacon. Simon Goldstein, a fourth-year computer science major at the University of Virginia, experienced anti-Christian bias on campus firsthand when he wore a "Make American Christian Again” hat to class.
MIT Free Speech Alliance Debate: Is Decarbonization Worth the Cost? Couldn’t be in Cambridge on Thursday for the MIT Free Speech Alliance’s fascinating, civil, highly-informed climate policy debate? Not a problem. You can catch a replay on YouTube thanks to the miracle of modern technology.
Veterans Day Controversies Erupt at Columbia and Harvard Sean Paige writing for Alma Matters. Veterans Day would seem like the most anodyne, widely-embraced, noncontroversial of federal holidays, even in these contentious times. But that’s just not so on certain college campuses, where disdain for everything American now apparently extends to any Americans who served in uniform.
UVA Dissenters Test Limits of the Permissible James A. Bacon writing for Jeffersoncouncil.org. Student Activists have the right to free speech like everyone else. What they don’t have a right to do is disrupt the activity of students looking for employment opportunities.
Furman Student Newspaper Election Survey Shows Social Impact of Political Divisions Furman Free Speech Alliance writing on www.furman-free-speech.com. Furman’s student newspaper, The Paladin, conducted a “Presidential Election Sentiments Survey” prior to the 2024 Election. The survey revealed that while the majority of Republican students reported a degree of willingness to be friends with people who voted differently than them this election, “almost half” of Democrats showed unwillingness to be friends across party lines.
The Decline and Fall of the University Garrett Sheldon writing for Jeffersoncouncil.org A combination of formal education in classrooms and labs with informed mentoring and society became the model for Jefferson’s “academical village” at the University of Virginia, and for academic freedom in America. Both effectively have been destroyed by the Liberal “political correctness” of the last 30 years, especially during the Obama Administration.
NEWS
Columbia University student-vets turn out to face down anti-veterans’ ‘Martyrs Day’ protest Alex Oliveira and Reuven Fenton writing for The New York Post. A vile Columbia University student demonstration seeking to “reclaim” Veterans Day in the name of Palestinians killed in Gaza turned out to be a far cry from the protests that raged on campus last year — as student-vets showed up to face down the agitators and demonstrate their pride. More on this story can be found here, here, and here.
Students Criticize Harvard’s Decision to Hold Classes on Veterans Day Katie B. Tian and Samantha D. Wu writing for The Harvard Crimson Though the University observes Veterans Day as a paid holiday for its employees, some Harvard students and veterans criticized the decision to hold classes on Monday. In particular, some pointed to the fact that — unlike many peer institutions, including Yale and Princeton, that held official Veterans Day ceremonies — Harvard did not offer spaces to celebrate and commemorate veterans on and off campus. More on this story can be found here.
Many Faculty Say Academic Freedom Is Deteriorating. They’re Self-Censoring Ryan Quin writing for Inside Higher-Ed. In an Inside Higher Ed/Hanover Research survey conducted shortly before the election, over 90 percent of faculty strongly or somewhat agreed that academic freedom is under threat.
Amid Tensions, Sensible Students Push for Civil Discourse Samuel J. Abrams writing for Minding the Campus. Many students reacted with despair and alarm to the recent election results, having been convinced that Donald Trump’s win will mean the end of the world as they know it. But there are hopeful signs on campus that Gen Zers are fed up with polarization, eager to foster dialogue, and willing to more fully embrace intellectual diversity.
The Renaissance of Civic Education Michael Poliakoff and Jack Miller writing in The National Review. Thousands of public university students now have a chance to get a world-class education in citizen leadership.
VIEWS
Parents can vote with their pocketbooks for higher-ed reform Zachary Marschall writing in The Washington Times. Parents of high schoolers are now the most powerful force in higher education. As they take their teens to visit colleges and guide them through the application process, they must have the courage to reject the elite schools that failed to protect students from the violent protests and disruptive activism we saw this past spring. Parents must take the bold step of refusing to continue to feed the beast.
Pro-Hamas Foolishness Hurt Colleges Grace Hall writing on the James G. Martin Center website. New studies reveal the extent to which pandering to radicals has damaged universities’ reputations.
Responding to Critics: A Defense of Institutional Statement Neutrality Raheem Williams writing for Free The Inquiry. Despite an uptick in support for Institutional Statement Neutrality, the movement isn't without critics. But these critics misinterpret the essence of institutional statement neutrality.
How Academic Elites Are Undoing Centuries of Progress George Leef writing for the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. Campus leftists are laying the foundation for a return to tribalism.
How the Ivy League Broke America David Brooks writing in The Atlantic. The meritocracy isn’t working. We need something new.
Harvard Must Defend Its Libraries Steven McGuire writing in Minding the Campus. The question of whether Harvard should enforce its campus protest rules has an obvious answer in a time of anomie. This generation of students needs to learn old wisdom; as Cicero wrote: “We are the slaves of the law so that we may be free.”
Trump supporters don’t bite: Princeton progressives must burst the Orange Bubble Julianna Lee writing in The Daily Princetonian. We shouldn’t dismiss Trump voters as hateful, uneducated, or misinformed; we should engage with them about where they are coming from and why they made the choice they did.
Penn Carey Law professor Amy Wax accuses Penn of ‘private censorship’ at free speech discussion William Grantland and Phoebe Anagnos writing for The Daily Pennsylvanian. University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School professor Amy Wax criticized Penn for engaging in “private censorship” at a Nov. 6 talk by former American Civil Liberties Union President Nadine Strossen.
RESOURCES
Report of Harvard University’s Open Inquiry and Constructive Dialogue Working Group This report describes the climate for teaching and learning at Harvard University and highlights tools and techniques to reinforce the free exchange of ideas, rigorous discourse, and empathy for all members of our learning communities.
Harvard: Buy, Sell, or Hold? A report by the Pershing Square Foundation. A deep dive look into what’s going right, and wrong, at Harvard.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
Civil Conversations About Hate Crimes and Hoaxes: How UVA Can be an Intellectual Diversity Leader
The Jefferson Council looks forward to having Wilfred Reilly on Grounds this December 5 for “Civil Conversations About Hate Crimes and Hoaxes: How UVA Can be an Intellectual Diversity Leader.” Reilly is a distinguished author, speaker, and advocate for true intellectual diversity on US college campuses, including at Kentucky State, where he serves as associate professor of political science. We look forward to hearing his insights on the compelling need for a return to civil discourse, followed by a time of Q&A from UVA students, faculty, administration, and TJC members. The event will be co-hosted in partnership with Young Americans for Freedom. Find more details and registration information here.
Firing Line Debate: Is Merit a Valid Measure?
On December 3, the Buckley Institute is hosting a Firing Line debate on merit in hiring and college admissions with Yale Professor Daniel Markovits and the Center for Equal Opportunity's Devon Westhill. Get more details and register here.
