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This is a thread about conservatism and higher ed. It's about a development in the town where I live, but I have a feeling it will be representative of a much larger trend - a trend that, I think, threatens the existence of education as a liberatory tool.
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There's also some tidbits of small-town politics for you -- some nepotism, questionable exchange of money and property, privileging of the powerful over the powerless. Pretty standard fare but on a much larger scope than I had seen before.
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And caveat to start: this is just based on my observations, what I've learned from conversations with friends, etc. Some things I don't know for sure about, and I note when that's the case.
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The story starts with a historic square on the side of town that has a higher proportion of lower-income residents. Well when our mayor ran a few years back, he promised to beautify this square. A lot of people were excited about this. I voted for him.
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Earlier this year, the city bought numerous properties on the square. Tenants from several apartment buildings were evicted during a pandemic. Some of these tenants held section 8 vouchers. Perhaps we should've known - beautifying meant displacing lower-income folx.
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They were not offered assistance to relocate. This is a nonmetro county -- there aren't a whole ton of apartments. And did I mention this was during a pandemic?! When many other cities had halted evictions rather than conduct them themselves?!
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Since then, citizens have asked multiple times why the city bought these properties and evicted tenants during a pandemic. No response. That is, until yesterday. We learned that a private board had now acquired the property and was opening a 4-year university.
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VP of the university? The mayor's brother (no experience working in higher ed). Other members of the board? The mayor, the city chief of staff, and the president of a county-city hybrid economic development board - just to name a few.
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I'm guessing that the private board purchased the property from the city. I don't know this part. I hope it wasn't just given to them. A city evicting its citizens to create a university that is run by a private board of city officials and their family is pretty bad.
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BUT, I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt. Because having a local university would be huge. If kids who cannot afford to go away for college could stay here and get a degree, that would be an amazing development. However, I went to the university's website.
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First, the website explains that there actually used to be a university here, and that they're reviving it. They say they are "building on a foundation that reaches back to the Civil War" claiming that this former university was "seeking to set right the wrongs of war."
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That language is dogwhistle #1. Then they get to today: "Our nation is again ensconced in partisan bickering, fueled by polarization of politics and the free and rapid transmission of information through the internet and social media. Positions are staked out around...
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core values, and manifested through vitriol, protest, and even riots that have worsened through the advent of COVID-19." So the Civil War was just some partisan bickering, and here we are again, apparently. We see no concern of racial injustice, just concern of riots.
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That was dogwhistle #2. "A plethora of universities offer educational opportunities at all levels, but seldom do those environments provide genuine balance, free expression, and deliberative reflection that are necessary along the quest for truth and enlightenment.
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College campuses are increasingly accused of bias, and students whose values don’t conform find it difficult to fit in." Assertions that existing universities are alienating conservative students is dogwhistle #3. They continue: "What proportion of university students
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expect to be conservative or liberal? Probably a proportion near that of their home state. What about the proportion of faculty? One might expect a 50/50 split, or at least a balance representative of the state in which the institution is located." Well no, I would not
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expect this at all. Folks with grad degrees vote for Dem candidates at much higher rates than Repub candidates. I would wager that the split would be even larger when looking specifically at PhD holders. Much much larger when looking at hum + soc sci PhD holders.
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They continue by citing a few studies by one researcher
who has looked into the political affiliations of faculty at the top 40 universities. They show some stats that there are many many more registered Dems than Republicans among these faculty. (Actually 50% of the
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who has looked into the political affiliations of faculty at the top 40 universities. They show some stats that there are many many more registered Dems than Republicans among these faculty. (Actually 50% of the
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faculty were independents but they neglect to mention this.) They continue: "A college student in this environment might never encounter a professor who identifies as a conservative or a Republican." Around the country, students are demanding their unis to diversify
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their faculties, as scholars of color have been historically excluded from academia. Are we worried about that here? No. We're worried about providing conservative students with professors who produce research that align with their beliefs.
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And a final dogwhistle: "Research, knowledge and science is best when built on balance, not bias" - the argument that research from these "liberal universities" is not valid. It must be biased because it proves the existence of inequalities they're trying to deny, right?
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So, it seems that the goal is to create a uni that has at least 50-50 Rep to Dem faculty, preferably 66-33 since we're in Kentucky, or maybe 82-18 since that was the split in our county in 2016. Nothing like hiring a faculty to highlight conservative political positions.
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Here we are: a city govt evicting its citizens, transferring this property to a private board controlled by many city officials with family members of city officials in top positions, creating a private institution (that students in need will likely be unable to afford),
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that champions the beliefs of their political party. I highly doubt this is an isolated model. I'm betting there are conservative universities (under the guise of "free speech") backed by Republican donors in the works across the country.
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And I wonder: what will this mean for the future of higher ed? Quotes come from this website: https://universityofsomerset.org/about/
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