The Problem Is Academia

: Laura Hollis on Apr 25, 2024

Tenure also gives arguably undeserved credibility to "theories" that often amount to little more than the authors' worldviews. Those viewpoints make their way into corporate boardrooms, government regulations and K-12 education policies, foisted onto an unsuspecting public that has had little to no opportunity to evaluate their merits.

Even before last year's congressional hearings or the protests about the Israel-Hamas war, the constant drumbeat of academic scandals (Varsity Blues, sexual assault at Michigan State, skyrocketing tuition) had already produced calls for more oversight. Here in Indiana, our governor signed a bill last month designed to promote "intellectual diversity" and "free inquiry," and changing the criteria for tenure at our public universities.

Faculty are concerned that such oversight could be abused. But the universal lesson here is to govern yourself or be governed. Cornell Law School professor William Jacobson opined in an interview earlier this year that higher education "cannot be reformed from within." Whether or not he's right, American colleges and universities have for decades hidden behind "academic freedom" when confronted with the socially destructive behavior that seems to be the aftermath of terrible ideologies. The general public has grown weary of it.

In academia, as elsewhere, a few bad apples create problems for everyone else. Most doctors don't commit malpractice, most teachers don't sleep with their students, most business owners don't commit fraud. Similarly, most faculty are people with deep interest in their subject matter and sincere concern for the education and well-being of the college students they teach. But, unlike the other professions noted above, ours has not been willing to root out the bad actors -- or indeed had any real mechanism for doing so.

If we don't do it ourselves, it will be done for us.

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To find out more about Laura Hollis and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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