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Thanks to everyone who engaged with this, I'm pretty overwhelmed and very grateful.
Colleagues have raised important points/challenges in discussion, so I'll just clarify one or two things: https://twitter.com/tmbejan/status/1379788706685550597
Colleagues have raised important points/challenges in discussion, so I'll just clarify one or two things: https://twitter.com/tmbejan/status/1379788706685550597
1) I wasn't defending any of the particular policies being put forward under the rubric of 'viewpoint diversity,' I'm simply enjoining colleagues to consider that there might be (and I'm sure, at least, there is) a genuine problem here that they're (dis-)missing.
2) The major take-away may indeed simply be don't be an assh*le and remember that the people we impact most when we mouth off on here or elsewhere are our students and junior colleagues.
I'v see some more really sad examples in the thread and via DMs
I'v see some more really sad examples in the thread and via DMs
3) As I said in the thread, there are huge differences between different departments and different countries on this issue. A specific example:
UK universities are cripplingly over-regulated AND underfunded already--proposals for a 'free speech tsar' are frankly dystopian
UK universities are cripplingly over-regulated AND underfunded already--proposals for a 'free speech tsar' are frankly dystopian
4) Public universities in the US are coming under similar pressure from Republican legislatures all over. This is Really Bad News.
But I might suggest--gently--that if you're worried about this scorning "conservatives" is not really strategic under the circumstances.
But I might suggest--gently--that if you're worried about this scorning "conservatives" is not really strategic under the circumstances.
5) For concrete proposals, @conor64, I'm pessimistic. I'm of the view that private universities in the US with endowments or property holdings over a certain threshold should not be state tax-exempt.
But I don't know if that's actually going to fix THIS problem.
But I don't know if that's actually going to fix THIS problem.
6) I've learned from @Musa_alGharbi @asymmetricinfo @JeffreyASachs @DissentientOne @AsheeshKSi and @WestLondonMan and @JonHaidt on this issue and I agree that the precarity of academic employment makes it difficult to address anything else at the moment
6a) But I would also observe that when there are No Jobs, ideologically homophily in hiring becomes more and more of an issue.
As I pointed out in Mere Civility: there is a reason "agreeable" is a synonym for pleasant.
As I pointed out in Mere Civility: there is a reason "agreeable" is a synonym for pleasant.
7) I also agree with @ashwinivasantha that the labels "conservative," "right," "left," and especially "L/liberal" are basically unfit for purpose and the framing unhelpful.
"liberal" esp. because American conservatives are (used to be?) ideologically liberal (h/t: Hartz)
"liberal" esp. because American conservatives are (used to be?) ideologically liberal (h/t: Hartz)
7 cont.) ...and the academic establishment in our field has been for decades Liberal, not Left (also thanks @lea_ypi), which I should have been clearer on
BUT like any categories, one cannot think or communicate without them, so we do our best!
BUT like any categories, one cannot think or communicate without them, so we do our best!
8) And that's it I guess. We're all just doing our best. But we can also do better.
Here, I should clarify that I don't actually see the issues I described as ones of "civility" at all, but of decorum, kindness, and professional ethics.
Here, I should clarify that I don't actually see the issues I described as ones of "civility" at all, but of decorum, kindness, and professional ethics.
9) But if you want to hear more about what I think about "civility" proper (it may surprise you), join me @sullydish and @CornelWest via Zoom at noon EST tomorrow!
Register here: https://www.baylor.edu/washington/index.php?id=965521
Register here: https://www.baylor.edu/washington/index.php?id=965521
P.S. I also learned that not everyone on Twitter is engaging in good faith. My innocence!
But I also have wonderful colleagues, so thank you all.
But I also have wonderful colleagues, so thank you all.
