The Right Coast

January 23, 2006
 
Academic non-diversity
By Tom Smith

The numbers on conservatives in the academy speak for themselves.

Quite apart from issues of fairness, which leave me rather unmoved (my bad), I think it is bad for the future of the university for them to drift further and further into a leftish orbit. I don't see American society overall going that way, and at some point the people who are paying for all this will ask what exactly is in it for them, other than ever so thoughtful critiques of everything they believe in.

Somewhat relatedly, the left-ization (sorry) of the university may accelerate the process Drucker thought was inevitable, that is, the replacement of the university with more rational and flexible educational institutions. Too bad. I liked universities. They were fun.