Among the successes of the conservative propaganda machine is the relentless campaign against the so-called liberal elite, particularly America’s colleges and universities. Scarcely a week goes by without encountering a news article or opinion piece complaining about underrepresentation of conservative faculty on college campuses or bemoaning the allegedly hostile environments in which they toil as a beleaguered minority.
The conservative rhetoric further criticizes and ridicules the climate of “political correctness” among the elite, liberal “snowflakes” who collect in the safe spaces carved out on these liberal, intolerant campuses.
Nonsense.
Much of the conservative attack against higher education centers on the very occasional lively protest or disinvitation of conspicuous speakers like the white supremacist Richard Spencer, the bitter and outrageous Ann Coulter, or the disingenuous showman Milo Yiannopoulos. “Censorship!” they scream. Of course colleges and universities have no obligation whatsoever to give airtime to such divisive and opportunistic speakers. All of the “debate” about free speech at colleges and universities is saturated with a fundamental misunderstanding. Academic freedom obligates academic institutions to seek and advance the truth. It does not require them to entertain the crackpot, mean-spirited blathering of every person who seeks to gain credibility and attention by commanding the podium of a college or university.
Rejecting Coulter, Spencer or others is portrayed as denying an important expressive right even though they are free to say whatever offensive thing they wish on any street corner, soapbox or cable channel. It is a common right wing tactic, also used in pressing religion into public life. It is as though a prayer in school is the only way a child can engage in a religious life and prohibiting school prayer is tantamount to the Salem witch trials. Of course, those who wish to pray are utterly free in America to do so anywhere, anytime, to any goddess they wish.
In both these instances, the real issue is not the freedom of expression. No one is denying the right to express either racial hatred or religious piety. (I’m not comparing bigotry and piety, although they are frequent companions.) They just want the unfettered right to impose their views anywhere, anytime, on everyone else.
But all of this complaining about liberal elites in higher education is a distraction. Students who think Black Lives Matter or faculty members who teach courses about social justice should, but do not, wield the real influence of higher education. The real influence rests with the money and power, which are not in the hands of students and teachers.
Given this conventional wisdom portraying universities as liberally elite, it is amusingly ironic to observe events like a conference at Harvard last week titled “The Future of School Choice: Helping Students Succeed.” It was sponsored by a Kennedy School organization called the Program on Education Policy and Governance. PEPG is nothing more than a highfalutin propaganda organization, governed by financial titans and advised by the likes of Michelle Rhee, the largely discredited face of school reform in its most virulent form. Its primary funders read like a who’s who of the conservative oligarchs who are intent on “reforming” education by turning it into another private commodity. Betsy DeVos, who has declared war on public education, was a keynote speaker. There was no representative from those who are trying to preserve public education as a central democratic institution. I serve on the board of Diane Ravitch’s Network for Public Education, and she and other voices of sanity are persona non grata at this “academic” conference.
And so it is that we miss the forest for the trees. Colleges and universities are not bastions of progressive thought or influence. PEPG is enormously influential and anti-progressive. The Hoover Institution at Stanford has similar or greater influence and is conservative in nearly every respect. The University of Chicago Department of Economics has spawned dozens of conservative economists, like Milton Friedman, who have turned free market ideology into a destructive, anti-progressive force.
Men (mostly) and women from financial institutions dominate the boards of trustees at most colleges and universities, often leading to the appointment of relatively moderate, risk-averse leaders.
Attention is focused on political correctness and liberal humanities faculty, while the institutions themselves are increasingly conservative and deeply complicit in the right turn of the American experience. Many universities, including those most often attacked as bastions of liberal elitism, are multibillion dollar corporations, invested in fossil fuels and contributing to big pharma through profitable partnerships.
Heavily funded “think tanks” like PEPG and the Hoover Institution have a far greater influence on policy and politics than any Black Lives Matter campaign or student protest of celebrity rabble-rousers.
The debate over free speech between student activists and conservative propagandists is an entertaining sideshow. The real circus is in the boardrooms and financial dealings. We should be paying closer attention.
Steve Nelson lives in Boulder, Colo., and Sharon. He can be reached at stevehutnelson@gmail.com.