I have a column today at Real Clear Politics, Higher Ed Approaches the Antiracism Training Abyss addressing how Critical Race training, misleadingly called “antiracist” training, is damaging higher education.
I use the example of proposals pursuant to a Cornell presidential initiative launched in July 2020 that should be coming to a Faculty Senate vote soon, followed by presidential review and possible approval. If implemented, these proposals will make the existing free expression problem at Cornell substantially worse, in addition to injecting racial conflict into every aspect of campus.
Head over to RCP and read the whole thing, and share it. Here is an excerpt:
Rather than lessening racism, these approaches adopt discriminatory racial practices and verbiage that in any other context would be rightfully deemed racist. Instead of focusing on inherent human worth without regard to skin color, race becomes the obsessive focus and measure.The ubiquitous term “antiracist” thus is one of the greatest linguistic sleights of hand and deceptions of our time, yet it is unmistakably transforming education in America today….This corrosive ideology has swept American culture, especially on college campuses, where it threatens irreversible damage to academic freedom. Cornell University, where I have taught law since 2007, is approaching this abyss under an “antiracist” initiative launched after George Floyd’s death. Unfortunately, Cornell may become an example of how a desire to address racism can go horribly wrong….The cumulative effect of these initiatives is coercive not educational, tying academic and professional performance to a deceptive concept of “antiracism” that in reality is neo-racist and endangers free expression. Dissent will be silenced when grades, evaluations, continued employment and professional advancement are tied to meeting top-down mandates, creating an environment of compelled activism and compliance in which opposition is defined as inherently racist.Cornell already ranks low in protecting student free expression. Like so many institutions of higher education, it is also now putting at risk its ability to protect academic freedom for its students and faculty. Hopefully, the Cornell senior administration will pull the campus back from this brink.Racial struggle and conflict are not the answer in higher education or elsewhere in our society. As universities across America push neo-racist “antiracism” ideology, they are damaging themselves and our nation.
For more details on what is happening at Cornell, see my posts from several months ago:
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