Remedying Ideological Capture

What to do if Universities betray the public trust?

For all my (occasional) frustrations with my fellow philosophers, I think our discipline is generally in pretty good shape. But I worry about other humanities disciplines. I’m sure they’re subject to a lot of unfair attacks, so I don’t meant to imply blanket endorsement of whatever criticisms you might hear elsewhere. But let me share two anecdotes from my own experience, consonant with concerns that the general culture of some of the (non-philosophy) humanities seems ideologically dogmatic in a way that is an impediment to our academic mission. I don’t think these anecdotes suffice to draw any sweeping conclusions. But I am interested in the conditional question of how it would be reasonable for outsiders (e.g. politicians) to respond if academic “insiders” ever were to abandon their academic mission for something more narrowly ideological.

(Note that to ask this question is not to endorse right-wing attacks on higher education. I think it’s important to engage with questions that come from perspectives that we disagree with! For one thing, it can help us to better elucidate our disagreement. And it’s not like sticking our collective heads in the sand will make the question—or the right-wing attacks—go away. It’s a real question, and an important one. Defenders of academia should have something plausible to say in response.)

Is Academia just another political battleground?