Protecting the Clash of Ideas in Higher Education
My first post on the New York Times Magazine's special issue, "Collegeland," explained how the rise of corporate power has shifted the balance in higher education between students getting a good return on their college investments and their opportunities for "building your soul as much as your skills." It drew on Kwame Anthony Appiah's account of competing visions about higher education today - Utility U. and Utopia U. Equal attention should be paid, however, to the way that corporate values have influenced free speech and civil rights conflicts on college campuses.
The first post praised "Collegeland," and the way it began with the foundation laid byAppiah and concludes with Nikole Hannah-Jones's review of the way inequality has worsened for African Americans.
That was mostly true. For instance, Appiah starts us off with the reminder that Utility U. has dramatically reduced the proportion of faculty with tenure. Tenure provides the "intellectual freedom that has helped make our universities the research powerhouses of the world."
But, the magazine actually began with the same type of unfettered debate in the "Letters to the Editor." The issue began with a rousing discussion of the magazine's previous story on Serena Williams. In other worlds, the Times represents the clash of ideas that is essential for journalism, higher education, and democracy, but that has not been properly valued in the quest for Utility U.
The clash of correspondents' ideas was followed by Appiah's account of free speech controversies in Utopia U., warts and all. The "aim is to create a safe space, to check your privilege and suspend the prejudices of the larger world, to promote human development and advance moral progress." Utopia U. stresses civility and it needs to create safe spaces. Appiah explains that when students stridently complain about "microaggressions -- possibly unintentional slights that stem from racial, ethnic or sexual difference ... It's easy to roll your eyes at 'social justice warriors,' but there's a Protecting the Clash of Ideas in Higher Education | John Thompson - Linkis.com:
