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University Days
University politics are the most vicious politics of all�because the stakes are so low.-- Anonymous, sometimes falsely attributed to Henry Kissinger
October 11, 00
Im sure some of you have read James Thurbers1 essay University Days, a reminiscence of his years attending Ohio State University in the early part of the twentieth century. Thurber humorously relates the difficulties his extreme myopia caused him when he tried to use a microscope in biology class, how he and his fellow students did everything possible to help the dim-witted star fullback stay academically eligible for the big game against Illinois, and how he accidentally was the only ROTC cadet who performed the correct maneuver during a parade. If Thurber and his classmates never achieved academic superstardom, at least their time in college seemed to have been beneficial. At least a college education back then never seemed to do anyone any lasting damage, given that most professors in those halcyon days adhered to the Hippocratic dictum Do no harm. It all seemed so�how does one put it?�wholesome.As I write this, Im having coffee at my favorite restaurant in Munich, the News Bar on the corner of Schellingstrasse and Amalienstrasse. Its located on the campus of Ludwig Maximilian University, an area full of good cafes, excellent bookstores and very attractive girls. A couple of blocks away on 50 Schellingstrasse is the site of the Nazi Party during the early 10s. Further down the street on 6 Schellingstrasse is the site of Osteria Bavaria (now Osteria Italiana), Adolf Hitlers favorite restaurant.What do these facts have to do with one another? Well, its not discussed much in the historical literature, but Nazism was largely the product of academia. To be sure, virulent anti-Semitism and dreams of world conquest have roots that extend far beyond the hallowed halls of ivy; but the systematic amalgamation of anti-Semitism, theories of the superiority of the German people, and the geopolitical movement to acquire Lebensraum was a product of the university, specifically Ludwig Maximilian University. Adolf Hitler, Hermann Goering and Rudolf Hess all took classes at LMU after World War I. Indeed, Hess was working on a graduate degree under the supervision of Professor Karl Haushofer, the chief architect of the concept of Lebensraum. The LMU student body was overwhelmingly pro-Nazi. LMU Student Body President Baldur von Schirach later became head of the Hitler Youth and subsequently was one of the Nuremberg Trial defendants who received a prison sentence for his crimes. And let us not forget that Joseph Goebbels received his doctorate in literature from the University of Heidelberg.My point is not to single out German academics for any special opprobrium. They were simply doing what their colleagues at Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and any number of universities throughout the English-speaking world were doing at the same time (and in many cases continue to do), namely, using the academic freedom and social prestige of the university to support a totalitarian vision of the future, one that would ultimately eliminate the universitys freedom and prestige if it ever came into power. In Germany the academics worshipped Hitler; in America and Britain they worshipped Stalin; and in America they still worship the ghost of Stalin.The idyll of Thurbers youth is a lost paradise of the imagination, existing today only in the pages of novels by Henry James and R. F. Delderfield. Thurbers parents sent him to college with the assurance that even if he didnt learn all that much, he would probably pick up some knowledge and perhaps a few social skills that would serve him in good stead for the rest of his life. After Thurbers time, parents sent their children off to college in what is essentially an academic crapshoot, hoping against hope that their offspring wouldnt get too damaged along the way as they picked up the sheepskin that statistics told us would ensure 5.7% more lifetime earning power over those poor souls who only managed to matriculate from high school.What went wrong? Why did universities in the 0th century abandon the search for truth in favor of the deliberate ideological distortion of truth? Why did universities reject the noble calling of being the repositories of knowledge in favor of becoming factories for the fabrication of falsehoods? And ultimately, why did universities reject freedom in favor of slavery and oppression?There are a number of reasons why Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Fidel, Che, Ho Chi Minh and Pol Pot have been the darlings of academia instead of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Locke, Montesquieu and Cicero. Freedom, especially the American variety, is rooted in the natural law and in a respect for the lessons of history. Americans believe that humans are endowed with inalienable rights because we are born human, that is, with some of the divine spark of the Creator. And the form of this freedom is governed by centuries of human history that instruct us on the hows and whys of organizing a just and free society.Academics, on the other hand, are consumed with abstract plans that have no relationship to human experience. Undeterred by the failures of all totalitarian systems and regimes, academics continue to adhere to failed systems of tyranny because they are systems, and if the system is duly organized and its implementation is executed correctly, logic tells them that such systems should work. Failure, then, does not represent failure of the idea, only the failure to realize the implementation of the idea. For the academic Left (there is, in reality, no academic Right) will always believe in the essential perfection of communism regardless of how far the economy of Cuba collapses. It will always be America and capitalism, not Cuban Marxism, that the academics will blame for the failure of Castro to create Heaven on Earth in Havana.Another reason for the embracing of totalitarianism by academics is the desire for power. There is a fine line between wanting to instruct and wanting to control. Power is gained in academia by getting students to adhere rigorously to the ideas of their professors. In academia, knowledge is not so much discovered or created as it is cloned.Additionally, academics have embraced totalitarianism because of feelings of inadequacy, irrelevance and jealousy. Imagine the poor academic literary critic. The books he writes are read but by a few fellow academic critics. Yet the books he criticizes may sell in the millions. He feels he has no voice, no status in society next to the truly creative artist. The answer to the critics dilemma is, then, to eliminate the creative artist from the creative product. In such a scenario, only the critics voice breathes life into the work. Lacking the courage of his convictions, the critic decides that its too dangerous to actually engage in revolutionary action. Better to show his students that Moby Dick is a vehicle whereby white male oppressors of European descent (are there any other kind?) subjugate women, people of color and whatever minority constitutes the latest oppressed group du jour. Filled with revolutionary indignation, the students can then go out and remake the world while their academic mentors shuffle off into retirement and senility.And finally, there is another reason for the decline of the university. It is not talked about much, but its impact is profound. The decline of the university�indeed, the collapse of the entire educational system in the Western world�has been aided, abetted and exacerbated by perhaps the most ignorant, anti-intellectual and loathsome collection of individuals in the history of mankind�university administrators.In Thurbers day, university presidents and deans considered themselves to be scholars. And generally they were outstanding scholars who had made some real contribution to the pursuit of knowledge. They had a love and respect for learning. There may have been a bit of the fustiness of the school marm about them, but they viewed their lifes work as something noble, something to be cherished because it was intrinsically good. And they were dedicated to the truth.Todays university administrators are money-grubbing whores, although I must apologize to both grubs and whores for comparing them to university administrators. The university has become a harlot, ready to lie, cheat, steal and spread her legs for whoever has the most money. Truth be damned, lets be trendy because that will generate a lot of publicity and notoriety. What? … Surveys show that incoming freshmen dont like grammar? … Well, then, well just ban the teaching of grammar. For you see, the university is no longer composed of scholars and students. It now has only facilitators and customers. You know, just like a crack house.The solution? There is no solution, and as James Burnham once said so famously, If theres no solution, theres no problem. Reform of the university is no longer possible. We need to start thinking of what will replace the university as it drifts off into meaninglessness like the academic enclave of Castalia in Hermann Hesses Glass Bead Game.But as for me, Im going to go ahead and keep reading the classics of Western literature; Im going to continue listening to Beethoven and Stravinsky; and Im not going to pay any attention to the tenured cretins of academia who say that Western civilization is an oppressive force. But as we continue to prosecute the War on Terror, perhaps a few smart bombs should be saved for those smart folks who make up the academic fifth column of terrorism.1. James Thurber (184-161), 0th Century American humorist and cartoonist.. Lebensraum�noun space sought for occupation by a nation whose population is expanding [syn living space].
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