I should have seen this coming. A couple of months ago, Professor Geoffrey
Stone, chief architect of the Chicago Principles, a fundamental doctrine of
free speech and free inquiry that has been adopted by many universities, caved
to pressure when a number of students demanded that he stop using the “N” word
in one of his examples in his 1st Amendment class. An Iranian student wrote an impassioned
letter about how offensive he found that word and many students demanded that
he be stripped of his position (leaving one to wonder if he would have been
similarly offended if Stone had used a derogatory word for an Irish-American,
Italian-American or Polish-American) .
Stone, of course, has used that word as an example of vile and demeaning
speech but did not direct it at anyone.
Stone agreed to stop using that example.
Of course, it’s a terrible word.
That’s why it is used as an extreme example. But Stone buckled. He failed to realize—as we have seen with
abortion in Illinois, Virginia and New York, the New Left never stops. They will be back for more from Mr. Stone.
About ten years ago, I started the practice of returning to
The University of Chicago for Reunion Weekend each year. Of course, there is always a bit of
nostalgia, but it is also the case that I run into people I know, meet new
interesting people and attend lectures and presentations on a wide variety of
topics.
Two years ago, I sat in on a panel discussion consisting of
three Nobel Prize winning economists, and actually had an opportunity to meet
Lars Peter Hansen. Last year, I heard
Casey Mulligan speak and attended a presentation on the Becker Friedman
Center. Not once did I hear the words
“inclusiveness” or “diversity.” I heard
words of “world class,” “excellence,” and “innovation.”
But the winds of change may be blowing.
Just before Reunion Weekend, The University of Chicago
Magazine published its spring issue with the first article entitled, Toward
A More Diverse and Inclusive UChicago.
I did attend a panel at the Institute of Politics that was moderated
by David Axelrod that was fairly balanced.
But then I trotted off to hear Tom Ginsburg talk about his book, “How to
Save a Constitutional Democracy,” and emphatically declare that, “the U.S. is
definitely not exceptional.” When Ginsburg started using the word “patriarchy,”
the auditory nerve automatically disconnected from my brain and I stopped
listening.
The SJW’s clearly picked the afternoon programming. On Saturday afternoon, alumni had a choice
among “Legal Passing: Navigating Undocumented Life and Local Immigration,”
“Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America,” and a
2 ½ hour tribute to Ed Asner with an Ed Asner speech. Asner’s politics are to the left of Cher’s
and his time at the podium would most assuredly be taken with 60 minutes of
anti-Trump vitriol. So this year,
instead of Eugene Fama or Lars Peter Hansen in economics or Eugene Parker in
astrophysics, we got Ed Asner.
Faced with those choices, I skipped the afternoon and zipped
off to the Printers Row Lit Fest instead.
The University of Chicago has always been the gold standard
of academic excellence. “Diversity”
takes a back seat to actual substantive research and discovery in the pursuit
of new knowledge at the highest level.
Free speech and free inquiry are unchained at that place. Last year, President Zimmer sent incoming
freshmen a letter saying basically that if you think you need a safe space,
Chicago is not the place for you.
None of the little things above are enough to convince me
that the UChicago is making a radical turn.
UChicago is no Oberlin. But these
signs taken together are like seeing a little water seepage into your
basement. It’s something to be watched
and it’s best to start checking for prices of sump pumps.
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