THE FIRST RAYS OF SUNLIGHT ON THE DARKENED WORLD OF ACADEME

By Herbert London (Excerpts):

“On October 30 the Senate Committee on Education, Labor and Pensions held a hearing on "intellectual diversity" in higher education with the American Council of Trustees and Alumni president Anne Neal as the lead witness.

The Committee heard testimony on the extent to which "political correctness" - the reflexive intolerance of certain social and political views - creates a campus environment incompatible with the free exchange of ideas and diverse viewpoints. President Neal offered a detailed account of the state of academic freedom on college campuses and outlined the manifold ways dialogue is often stifled, controversial figures disinvited, faculty members with unorthodox views criticized, courses converted into laboratories for ideological conformity and speech codes that limit or restrict open expression.

While I am reluctant to see the government engaged in an examination of practices at universities, it is certainly appropriate that the issue of political correctness is aired. At the moment p.c. has become a contagion on most campuses, at the very least having a chastening effect on debate and at times resulting in tenure denial decisions..... “

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