Will Claudine Gay Keep Her Job? The assault on the beleaguered president of Harvard continues.

[Sympthsical]

21. I recommend reading McWhorter's op-ed in the NYT

It lays out the entire problem with the situation very neatly, IMO.

And if we're being a little honest, what other institution would we accept, "We've investigated ourselves and found no wrongdoing?" I mean, they're clearly trying to shrug and paper it over and declare no big deal when their own policies and past actions against students make it very clear they did think it was a big deal right on up until it involved the university president. Additionally, some of the problems uncovered have come after Harvard made that statement.

We can't have two systems of rules and accountability. Either what has been done is bad enough that violation can result in severe sanction - as has happened to others at Harvard - or the standards have always been erroneous, aren't that important, and should have their consequences scrapped or diminished.

It can't be both, and it can't be special for those with power or status. Otherwise, what are we really arguing for here?

Universities are a total mess. I've been shouting about the antisemitism problem in the social sciences for years. One can do a search on my DU history and find posts where BehindtheAegis and I were discussing it long before October 7th. So, I'm definitely going to take this opportunity and public consciousness of the problem to argue for reform in the social sciences and campus policies.

What I really hate about the situation, however, is how a push to finally - finally - address campus antisemitism is getting obscured with, "Republicans hate education, too!" as if a disdain for bigotry is the exact same motive as right-wingers.

Reflexive defense is how institutions can become corrupt, decadent, and insular, because a mindset settles in that the institution must always be protected against outsiders. I see that happening here, where antisemitism and poor policy are getting a defense because Republicans smell blood in the water. But opponents will often exploit weaknesses. The solution isn't to hide the weakness. The solution is to fix it.