HANK REICHMAN writing in Academe Blog: It’s also a pretty transparent form of sneakiness.  That can be seen in how the questions posed in McMahon’s letter are formulated.  Taken in isolation, they can appear to be relatively neutral.  But in context their meaning is clear.  Moreover, each group of questions is preceded by statements guiding how they should be interpreted. Take this, for instance: Some academic disciplines and departments have subordinated the scholarly pursuit to political and social goals, as documented in the recent Report on the State of Scholarship in the Humanities and the Humanistic Social Sciences. When disciplines skew toward one side of the ideological spectrum, the truth-seeking function of the university suffers and public trust declines.  How will your institution encourage intellectual pluralism in all its academic units?  How will your faculty hiring and evaluation practices support academic vitality and ensure that all relevant perspectives are taken seriously?  And how will your school ensure the research enterprise is dedicated to advancing knowledge, deepening understanding, and serving the American people who fund it? Never mind that the cited report has been widely criticized as itself skewing toward one side of the ideological spectrum. Never mind that the same administration encourages the creation of explicitly political centers for civic learning in which scholarship is entirely subordinated to the regime’s own politics. Never mind the assumption that universities must take “all relevant perspectives” seriously when it is in fact precisely the job of universities to distinguish among perspectives in the never-ending search for truth. What is discouraging about this latest effort is that four university presidents—Andrew Martin at Washington University in St. Louis, Michael Crow at Arizona State University, Doug Girod at the University of Kansas, and Ronald Daniels at Johns Hopkins University—along with the Association of American Universities collaborated in its formulation.” Read the entire commentary here.

Cover cartoon courtesy of Ron Leishman.