Cleaning Out The Augean Stables Of Academia: Anti-Semitism And The Sodom And Gomorrah Test – OpEd
President Donald Trump is making an excellent first step at cleaning out the Augean stables of academia: he is insisting that the institutions of higher learning cease and desist from their implicit support of anti-Semitism. Say what? How are they doing any such thing? Simply by not condemning, punishing, suspending, expelling student and professors who insist upon Jewish free zones on campus, who threaten and actually beat up students of the Hebrew faith who simply want to access their classes and the university libraries.
The threat Mr. Trump issued to Columbia University (full disclosure: my alma mater, of which I am ashamed) was to withhold some 400 billion dollars until the administration took steps to protect all students, including Jewish ones. He made similar “offers they cannot refuse” to Brown, Harvard and several other prestigious universities.
But there is a bit of an anomaly here. These funds were disproportionately earmarked for research in physics, chemistry, mathematics, engineering and other hard sciences, professors and students of which were likely radically underrepresented in recent campus protests.
In contrast, those who took a greater role in this anti-Semitic behavior were more highly represented by those involved in Mid-Eastern “studies,” feminist “studies,” black “studies,” queer “studies” (yes, there is such a thing; you simply have not been paying attention), and in social science and humanities disciplines such as literature, philosophy, sociology, etc. (Happily, this applies not so much to economics, my own field). For example, Mahmoud Khalil’s field of study is International and Public Affairs a soft discipline if ever there was one. By the way, he was guilty of far more than engaging in “free speech.” He trespassed on Columbia University real estate with his involvement in tent city and the takeover of Hamilton Hall.
This initiative is necessary, but it is far from sufficient. What else needs to be done in this cleansing of the nation’s colleges? Simple. They must at least be made to pass the Sodom and Gomorrah test. According to the bible, God was about to smite the folks who lived there, when an angel interceded and offered to find ten righteous citizens of these two towns, so that they might be spared. He failed.
How does this apply to academia? Are there ten professors who are associated with either the conservative or libertarian philosophies at any of these schools? Harvard has 2400 professors, Yale, 5499, Princeton, 1315, and Columbia 7200. Not a one of these prestigious places can pass this test. Apart from The University of Chicago, George Mason, Texas Tech, Hillsdale, Grove City and perhaps another dozen colleges in the entire US, none of them can pass muster in this regard. My own school, Loyola University New Orleans, fails this test. Next door Tulane, weighing in at 2000 faculty members, cannot pass. Ditto for NYU, with 5094. This is an astounding, appalling and preposterous situation. The left has made a “long march through the institution” and it must be not only stopped but also reversed.
Getting rid of anti-Semitism in this intellectual industry is all well and good. It is a magnificent first step. But if the present make-up of the professoriate is left intact, the job will not have been done. There is probably not a single professor in any of the “studies” mentioned above who is not an out and out Marxist. Apart from the dismal science, professors who espouse free enterprise and private property rights are exceedingly rare in the humanities and social sciences.
What, then, is to be done? Affirmative action (pardon me for mentioning such a despicable practice in a family periodical such as this) must be implemented. Until and unless at least half of all professors are of the conservative or libertarian persuasion, vote for Republican at least upon occasion, favor private property rights and free enterprise, the very much needed cleansing of these Augean stables will not have been accomplished. It is not enough to insist that visiting speakers such as Charles Murray be allowed to lecture without being brutalized. The entire faculty must “think more like America” if this scourge is to be ended.
Cutting out a DEI (“Didn’t Earn It”) course is not where it’s at either. If a conservative or libertarian professor taught it, that would be fine; both sides would be discussed. If a pinko academic offered a course with a less objectionable title, wokism would still be promulgated (that is, shoved down the throats of students).
Pegs:
Sodom and Gomorrah are two of the five “cities of the plain” referred to in Genesis 13:12 and Genesis 19:29 https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=sodom+and+gomorrah+in+the+bible
What is Mahmoud Khalil’s field of study? International and Public Affairs https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+Mahmoud+Khalil%E2%80%99s+field+of+study%3F&client=firefox-b-1-d&sca_esv=025eae6dfb0282db&ei=wKryZ86vGajykPIP2fvNoAg&ved=0ahUKEwjOj9rv6MOMAxUoOUQIHdl9E4QQ4dUDCBI&uact=5&oq=what+is+Mahmoud+Khalil%E2%80%99s+field+of+study%3F&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiKndoYXQgaXMgTWFobW91ZCBLaGFsaWzigJlzIGZpZWxkIG9mIHN0dWR5PzIFECEYoAEyBRAhGKABMgUQIRigATIFECEYoAFIpRZQoAVY0wlwAngAkAEAmAFgoAFgqgEBMbgBA8gBAPgBAfgBApgCA6ACngGoAgrCAggQABjvBRiwA8ICCxAAGIkFGKIEGLADwgIUEC4YgAQYigUYkQIY6gIYtALYAQHCAhQQABiABBiKBRiRAhjqAhi0AtgBAcICExAuGAMYjwEY1AIY6gIYtALYAQHCAhAQABgDGI8BGOoCGLQC2AEBmAMiiAYBkAYEugYECAEYB5IHAzIuMaAHrASyBwMwLjG4B3Q&sclient=gws-wiz-serp
How many professors are there at Harvard? 2400 https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=How+many+professors+are+there+at+Harvard%3F
How many professors are there at Yale? 5499 https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=How+many+professors+are+there+at+Yale%3F
How many professors are there at Princeton? 1315 https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=How+many+professors+are+there+at+Princeton%3F
How many professors are there at Columbia? 7200 https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=How+many+professors+are+there+at+Columbia%3F
How many professors are there at Loyola University New Orleans? 200 https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=+How+many+professors+are+there+at+Loyola+University+New+Orleans%3F+
How many professors are there at Tulane? 2000 https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=How+many+professors+are+there+at+Tulane%3F
How many professors are there at NYU? 5094 https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=How+many+professors+are+there+at+NYU%3F
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