The Times They Are A-Changin’
It's a truth universally acknowledged that, with the exception of, like, Bob Jones University, institutions of higher education are generally more progressive than the world outside their gates. But all the idealistic hippie students who came of age in the '60s and later became idealistic hippie professors are now retiring. The younger professors replacing them still disproportionately vote Democratic, but they are "less ideologically polarized and more politically moderate": 17.2% of the 50-64 age group define themselves as "liberal activists," versus 1.3% of professors 35 and younger. Sara Goldrick-Rab, a 31-year-old professor, told the New York Times, "My generation is not so ideologically driven" and the article credits the rise of civil discourse over fractious infighting.
But is this civility or apathy? The Times points out that, "When [Professor] Michael Olneck was standing, arms linked with other protesters, singing 'We Shall Not Be Moved' in front of Columbia University’s library in 1968, Sara Goldrick-Rab had not yet been born." The underground tunnels that connect many buildings on Columbia's campus are still shut down to avoid another 1968-esque student takeover. But that seems less likely to happen than, say, scratching through your skull into your brain while you sleep (oh, wait). Last year, when a small group of students staged a hunger strike against a variety of perceived wrongs on the part of the university, they were almost universally mocked, even by people who sort of supported their cause. And the one professor who actively supported them just retired.
Sure, tens of... dozens of students protested Ahmadinejad's visit (during which, remember, we learned that there are no gay people in Iran) and in support of Madonna Constantine, which proved, ahem, misguided in retrospect. In 2006, twenty Harvard Law students rallied against the administration's "torture memo." Oh, and in 2007, fifty Cornell students joined tens of thousands of normal people rallying against the Iraq war.
Maybe that fightin' spirit is not lost after all! To the trenches, folks! Right after this Top Chef marathon.
The ’60s Begin to Fade as Liberal Professors Retire [New York Times]
3 Comments | 
Digg This | 
Share on Facebook | 
Print This Post | 
Email This Post
Read more: ahmadinejad, Columbia, Columbia Spectator, Cornell, Cornell Daily Sun, guest editors, Harvard, hunger strike, Iran, Lee Bollinger, madonna constantine, professors
Email – 
Search
About
Report a bug
Archives
RSS Feed
July 4th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Please don’t use so many links in an article, it’s just annoying to read. Just look at the first entry here:
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=banish
July 4th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
You’re right! I mean, that’s partially the blog format, but I went a little overboard on this post. I think I fixed the worst offenders.
Happy fourth, everyone.
July 4th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Meh, I was dubious about the claims made by that article. For example, you can’t quote a member of a very right-wing organization proclaiming that professors were so liberal, and take that as fact. And two professors in the same department is hardly a representative sample. It’s as if the writer of the story just picked examples to support an already-chosen argument. Also, activism takes a different shape in the 21st century; we all know that. Did the reporter ask Goldrick-Rab whether she is a member of MoveOn.org, or which blogs she reads and comments on? I doubt it. I’d love a resurgence of late-60s sociopolitical fervor, but that’s not likely to happen anytime soon. Things have changed, but not in the way the article seems to think.