Does Tenure Protect Academic Freedom — Or Academic Mediocrity?
Academic freedom has become a red herring to argue for the need for tenure. Here is why tenure is not serving the public good.
Joseph H. Manson, a formerly tenured professor of anthropology at UCLA, has decided to retire early because "of Woke capture" at universities all across the land.
In a blog he posted on July 4, Manson described in great detail his frustrations with the intolerance of woke faculty members and graduate students, as well as the precipitous increase in "critical" studies, which view nearly all academic research — including STEM — through the lens of race, gender, sexual orientation, and other human "identities."
"[T]he Woke takeover of higher education has ruined academic life," Manson wrote.
To illustrate his point, Manson recounted the ostracization of his former colleague, P. Jeffrey Brantingham, a fellow anthropologist who had studied urban crime and developed a "predictive" algorithm which he then pitched to law enforcement. As a result of this research, the Graduate Students Association at UCLA publicly accused Brantingham of “entrench[ing] and naturaliz[ing] the criminalization of Blackness in the United States.” Brantingham was also referred to the vice chancellor for research, ostensibly in hopes that the vice chancellor would censure or otherwise sanction him.
Though Brantingham continues to teach and research in the department, he no longer participates in faculty meetings or events and has even had to reorient the course catalog so that his popular course called "The Ecology of Crime" is not listed too closely to the courses taught by colleagues who condemn his line of research.
In short, Brantingham has been "unpersoned." And Manson believes that other professors from across the country and in every academic discipline are at risk of meeting a similar fate because, Manson predicted, the woke tyranny on campus will only get worse.
"The younger faculty tend to be more Woke than their elders," Manson noted. "Administrators and student 'protesters' perform elaborately choreographed routines that end with the former enacting policies that they wanted to enact anyway, for which the latter’s public temper tantrums serve as a pretext."
Between the demonization of respectable scholars, the sheer number of woke faculty and grad students, and the frightening surge of "anti-Zionism, a.k.a. thinly disguised Jew-hatred," Manson said he's had enough.
"[M]ainstream U.S. higher education is morally and intellectually corrupt, beyond the possibility of self-repair, and therefore no longer a worthwhile setting in which to spend my time and effort," he stated.
In response to the blog post, UCLA spokesman Bill Kisliuk issued a statement, which reads in part, "UCLA is deeply committed to the free and open exchange of ideas and we strongly support the academic freedom of our scholars.
"We actively encourage respectful debate, but we also expect equity and fairness, even when people strongly disagree. We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment and, to that end, UCLA strongly condemns anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred."
Liberty University announced Monday that it has hired a top firm to conduct a "forensic" investigation "into all facets" of its operations during the tenure of its former president, Jerry Falwell Jr., who agreed to step down last week amid a sex scandal involving his wife and former business partner.
Falwell resigned after Reuters published an interview with a former pool boy and business partner, Giancarlo Granda, came forward claiming he had an affair with Falwell's wife, Becki, and that Falwell would watch the two have sex. Both Falwells acknowledged Becki's relationship with Granda but denied Jerry had any involvement.
Falwell was already on leave from his leadership duties at the institution he had run for nearly 13 years following an uproar over a picture he posted to social media showing him with his arm around another woman while both their pants were undone.
In a statement posted to Liberty University's website, the evangelical institution wrote of Falwell:
Some may say that all the signs were there for a long time before last week. It's certainly fair to say that there were questionable comments made, worrying behavior, and inappropriate social media posts, but all the signs were not there until the start of last week. While we still didn't know the full scope of the matter, we have learned enough about the past to know that we had no choice but to take the leadership of Liberty University in a new direction.
The school then announced:
We are also committed to learning the consequences that have flowed from a lack of spiritual stewardship by our former president. One of the leading forensic firms in the world has been retained by Liberty University's Board of Trustees to conduct a thorough investigation into all facets of Liberty University operations during Jerry Falwell, Jr.'s tenure as President, including but not limited to financial, real estate, and legal matters.
Liberty's statement did not mention Mrs. Falwell, who was also accused last week of performing a sex act on a former student in 2008 when she was an employee of the university.
The Associated Press noted that "A number of Falwell's family members have worked for the school, including his son Trey Falwell, who on Monday was still listed on Liberty's website as the vice president of university support services."
In a statement on Sunday, the Falwells told the outlet they "welcome any inquiry as we have nothing to hide."