Gnawing away at the Academy

To hear the right-wingers tell it, you'd think that it was impossible to get a college degree in this country without spitting on the cross, burning the Constitution, and memorizing Chairman Mao's Little Red Book. Supposedly, academia is a liberal lovefest.

David Horowitz buys into this idea. He the right-wing founder of one of my least favorite organizations, the poorly named Students for Academic Freedom (SAF). One of his projects appears to be scaring up academic witch hunts. For example, throughout 2004 and early 2005, Horowitz peddled the frightening tale of the Colorado student who was required by his college instructor to write an essay arguing that George W. Bush is a war criminal. The student patriotically refused and the professor failed him--in Horowitz's version. According to the March 15, 2005 issue of Inside Higher Education, however, the student was not asked this bizarre question and did not receive an F. Also, her instructor was a registered Republican.

Horowitz has also done a lot to publicize the case of Foothill College student Ahmad al-Qloushi, who claims to have received an F for writing a term paper which was too "pro-American." For the facts on this preposterous story, check out the February 22, 2005 story on MediaMatters.org.

If the Academy really is controlled by leftists, then why is all this misinformation necessary in order to prove the point? And if the Academy is not controlled by leftists, why spend such so much time and trouble claiming that it is? The simple answer is that the Academy is one of our culture's most important means of obtaining and updating knowledge. When that knowledge contradicts extreme right-wing views, the SAF provides a way to rein in the academy and prevent the proper dissemination of that knowledge.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I really must get back to my Mao.