I totally agree with Bill about rejecting the mob, always and everywhere. In the specific instance of the current right-wing attacks on the campus unrest in New York, however, I think caution is important. Academic institutions are a special case. One of the first things authoritarians do when they come to power is seize control of the universities and purge their faculties and students. As Jonathan Last has been saying frequently (most recently yesterday), our country is in the midst of an authoritarian attempt. As we've seen most clearly in Florida, academic freedom is in the MAGA cross-hairs. This is what the extremist school-board takeovers and book bans are about nationwide.
Make no mistake: academic institutions have a major responsibility to ensure that they themselves respect and protect the liberty they claim as their right. If the university has a mob within, it must give the mob no quarter.
One additional comment, if I may. RE: The mob.
I totally agree with Bill about rejecting the mob, always and everywhere. In the specific instance of the current right-wing attacks on the campus unrest in New York, however, I think caution is important. Academic institutions are a special case. One of the first things authoritarians do when they come to power is seize control of the universities and purge their faculties and students. As Jonathan Last has been saying frequently (most recently yesterday), our country is in the midst of an authoritarian attempt. As we've seen most clearly in Florida, academic freedom is in the MAGA cross-hairs. This is what the extremist school-board takeovers and book bans are about nationwide.
Make no mistake: academic institutions have a major responsibility to ensure that they themselves respect and protect the liberty they claim as their right. If the university has a mob within, it must give the mob no quarter.