The shift of perspective suggested by the cartoon is interesting. It reminds me of a question I had. Why are there calls for viewpoint diversity among professors but no calls for viewpoint diversity among trustees?
Also, why no calls for viewpoint diversity at Liberty University, Ave Maria University, Wheaton College (IL), Brigham Young University, and other right-leaning schools? "Viewpoint diversity for thee, but not for me"?
Are you kidding? There's tons of viewpoint diversity among trustees. Some like Gulfstreams, some prefer Citations, and some prefer to get around on their pals' jets. Yacht preference? Here, there's some unanimity; all trustees agree that bigger is better. But beyond that, how many heliports? How many submarines? Do the guests have private pools? Which marinas are infested with "riff-raff?" You know, a bunch of mere billionaires running around like they own the place, some of them in yachts they bought used!
As to proper treatment of household help, again we see some unanimity. Everyone treats their help extremely generously. Perhaps even too generously, in order to look good among their peers. For example, one billionaire let it be known that when his housekeeper got cancer, he sent her a get well card, and one of those edible fruit bouquets. (The deluxe package, but not the diamond or platinum package, because that would be ostentatious.) Soon after, one of his friends tried to top him by buying a hundred dollar Bed, Bath and Beyond gift card as a wedding gift for one of his servants. Things escalated from there, and the next thing you know, some guy dropped a hundred bucks on a gift card for a baby shower, and - wait for it - gave his devoted helper who's "almost a member of the family" a whole week off to recuperate before making her return to work. And then put her on "light duty" for another week, if you can believe it.
Thanks for the laugh. Retired academic here, mostly in private institutions, so I read you, loud and clear. I spent the last 10 years of my career in a state school. Throw a board of regents — temporary political appointees who typically don’t have academic work backgrounds — into the mix, and watch the sparks fly. 😉👍🏻
Around the time of The Strike at Columbia ('57-8?) Spectator published an oversize issue with a centerfold picturing a long table with trustees seated. Over their heads were the names of their corporate connections, and remarkable drawing of lines showing the duplicate memberships of each trustee with each others financial connections: the overlap was stunning, and that sort of visual would be excellent propaganda for Americans, students, and the rest of the world:: trustees joined at the hip, as it were.
Great article, thanks! If you’re interested in a humorous articulation of many of your points, a student at Penn hit it on the nose in the university newspaper:
"Many aspects of American universities are, or have been until recently, decentralized ... But the underlying political economy of the university is top-heavy."
I agree, is interesting to think of current events from the point of view of increasing centralization of society.
Yes to decentralization: "crucial aspects of university decision making to the direct political control of an administration that bitterly opposes speech that is not its preferred speech" Excellent visual. I feel like I published this four months too early. https://www.compactmag.com/article/how-business-metrics-broke-the-university/
One small quibble. There is no stigma of getting a degree from a government agency. I used to be a researcher and occasionally taught classes at the Royal Institute of Technology Sweden, KTH. This most prestigious university in Sweden is legally structured as a government agency. The thing apolitical students might not like is the loss of their promised liberal freedoms, which can be protected or withdrawn by either private and public institutions.
Any account of the power dynamics that inform what happened at Columbia is incomplete without a discussion of federal anti-discrimination law and its enforcement by bureaucrats at the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights. Even prior to Donald Trump's return to office, the Biden administration's OCR had adopted a definition of antisemitism that clearly infringed on freedom of speech and signaled its post 10/7 intent to launch Title VI investigations along much the same lines that the Obama and Biden bullied universities into policy changes with Title IX enforcement. A deep in the weeds account of the general dynamic can be found here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5199652
This post has prompted me to take a look at the trustees of my own undergraduate institution, Princeton University, who prove to be more diverse in appearance than they may be in viewpoint. I'm now thinking that forming an alumni movement to change the Trustees to be less Business/Finance and more long-term and ethical thinkers would be a good use of my antifascism time.
The main source of all this is because conservatives have been wrong about everything, both economic and socially, for 200 hundred years now. Everytime they have had the power to implement these wrong policies, years long economic and social injustice have resulted (Jim Crow lasted almost a 100 years). Conservatives don't want this taught in universities and will do anything to prevent it.
Faculty governance of most American universities died a couple of decades ago, and was never very strong. Boards of trustees have been running the show for centuries... the evolution of composition of these boards at many of what are now the major research universities from religious leaders to captains of industry in the late 19th and early 20th century was the big transition. The conservatives remain, as always, stuck in the Sixties, when at some universities the students were able to disrupt the status quo to a surprising extent. On the heels of the Sixties, universities and their boards took numerous actions to make sure that would never happen again (from the design of university buildings to the raising of out-of-state tuition to keep the rabblerousers out), and it hasn't happened again.
Trump appointed as Secretary of a Soon To Be Demolished Department Of Education a woman, former CEO of her family business, WWE: Five plaintiffs charged Vince McMahon and WWE tolerated “open, rampant abuse” of “ring boys” as young as 12, @ 1980s thru 1990s. $400,000 civil penalty and $1.33M for failing to disclose hush money. Feb 4, 2025 The Supreme Court of Maryland upheld ending the statute of limitations on child sex abuse lawsuits to allow child sex abuse case against World Wrestling Entertainment WWE, Vincent K. McMahon and Linda McMahon, TKO Group Holdings to move forward. We should not be surprised that Donald has some weird ideas of what it takes to nurture our young generation. He has bragged, for the record, that he conducted exams that consisted of strolling through a dressing room filled with half dressed or naked teens. If Columbia had half a wit, it would be Harvard.
The shift of perspective suggested by the cartoon is interesting. It reminds me of a question I had. Why are there calls for viewpoint diversity among professors but no calls for viewpoint diversity among trustees?
Also, why no calls for viewpoint diversity at Liberty University, Ave Maria University, Wheaton College (IL), Brigham Young University, and other right-leaning schools? "Viewpoint diversity for thee, but not for me"?
Oh well that's different. Those schools aren't overrun with "Godless liberal commies".
Are you kidding? There's tons of viewpoint diversity among trustees. Some like Gulfstreams, some prefer Citations, and some prefer to get around on their pals' jets. Yacht preference? Here, there's some unanimity; all trustees agree that bigger is better. But beyond that, how many heliports? How many submarines? Do the guests have private pools? Which marinas are infested with "riff-raff?" You know, a bunch of mere billionaires running around like they own the place, some of them in yachts they bought used!
As to proper treatment of household help, again we see some unanimity. Everyone treats their help extremely generously. Perhaps even too generously, in order to look good among their peers. For example, one billionaire let it be known that when his housekeeper got cancer, he sent her a get well card, and one of those edible fruit bouquets. (The deluxe package, but not the diamond or platinum package, because that would be ostentatious.) Soon after, one of his friends tried to top him by buying a hundred dollar Bed, Bath and Beyond gift card as a wedding gift for one of his servants. Things escalated from there, and the next thing you know, some guy dropped a hundred bucks on a gift card for a baby shower, and - wait for it - gave his devoted helper who's "almost a member of the family" a whole week off to recuperate before making her return to work. And then put her on "light duty" for another week, if you can believe it.
Thanks for the laugh. Retired academic here, mostly in private institutions, so I read you, loud and clear. I spent the last 10 years of my career in a state school. Throw a board of regents — temporary political appointees who typically don’t have academic work backgrounds — into the mix, and watch the sparks fly. 😉👍🏻
Around the time of The Strike at Columbia ('57-8?) Spectator published an oversize issue with a centerfold picturing a long table with trustees seated. Over their heads were the names of their corporate connections, and remarkable drawing of lines showing the duplicate memberships of each trustee with each others financial connections: the overlap was stunning, and that sort of visual would be excellent propaganda for Americans, students, and the rest of the world:: trustees joined at the hip, as it were.
Isn't that what they used to call "the old boy network"?
It's still mostly old boys.
At the state level you see this even more clearly since most are old donors and old politicians.
Great article, thanks! If you’re interested in a humorous articulation of many of your points, a student at Penn hit it on the nose in the university newspaper:
https://www.thedp.com/article/2025/04/satire-address-penn-budget-concerns
That was hilarious. Dripping with sarcasm. I love it.
"Many aspects of American universities are, or have been until recently, decentralized ... But the underlying political economy of the university is top-heavy."
I agree, is interesting to think of current events from the point of view of increasing centralization of society.
Yes to decentralization: "crucial aspects of university decision making to the direct political control of an administration that bitterly opposes speech that is not its preferred speech" Excellent visual. I feel like I published this four months too early. https://www.compactmag.com/article/how-business-metrics-broke-the-university/
I love that essay! I assume you've read Engines of Anxiety by Wendy Nelson Espeland and Michael Sauder?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/11/28/law-school-administrators-would-like-al-qaeda-to-go-after-u-s-news-world-report-this-is-why/
Poor Beaker
One small quibble. There is no stigma of getting a degree from a government agency. I used to be a researcher and occasionally taught classes at the Royal Institute of Technology Sweden, KTH. This most prestigious university in Sweden is legally structured as a government agency. The thing apolitical students might not like is the loss of their promised liberal freedoms, which can be protected or withdrawn by either private and public institutions.
Any account of the power dynamics that inform what happened at Columbia is incomplete without a discussion of federal anti-discrimination law and its enforcement by bureaucrats at the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights. Even prior to Donald Trump's return to office, the Biden administration's OCR had adopted a definition of antisemitism that clearly infringed on freedom of speech and signaled its post 10/7 intent to launch Title VI investigations along much the same lines that the Obama and Biden bullied universities into policy changes with Title IX enforcement. A deep in the weeds account of the general dynamic can be found here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5199652
This post has prompted me to take a look at the trustees of my own undergraduate institution, Princeton University, who prove to be more diverse in appearance than they may be in viewpoint. I'm now thinking that forming an alumni movement to change the Trustees to be less Business/Finance and more long-term and ethical thinkers would be a good use of my antifascism time.
"Viewpoint diversity" oh so that is what tolerating bad faith is being called nowadays, and isn't that just wonderful.
The main source of all this is because conservatives have been wrong about everything, both economic and socially, for 200 hundred years now. Everytime they have had the power to implement these wrong policies, years long economic and social injustice have resulted (Jim Crow lasted almost a 100 years). Conservatives don't want this taught in universities and will do anything to prevent it.
As usual, it's all about profit.
Faculty governance of most American universities died a couple of decades ago, and was never very strong. Boards of trustees have been running the show for centuries... the evolution of composition of these boards at many of what are now the major research universities from religious leaders to captains of industry in the late 19th and early 20th century was the big transition. The conservatives remain, as always, stuck in the Sixties, when at some universities the students were able to disrupt the status quo to a surprising extent. On the heels of the Sixties, universities and their boards took numerous actions to make sure that would never happen again (from the design of university buildings to the raising of out-of-state tuition to keep the rabblerousers out), and it hasn't happened again.
Trump appointed as Secretary of a Soon To Be Demolished Department Of Education a woman, former CEO of her family business, WWE: Five plaintiffs charged Vince McMahon and WWE tolerated “open, rampant abuse” of “ring boys” as young as 12, @ 1980s thru 1990s. $400,000 civil penalty and $1.33M for failing to disclose hush money. Feb 4, 2025 The Supreme Court of Maryland upheld ending the statute of limitations on child sex abuse lawsuits to allow child sex abuse case against World Wrestling Entertainment WWE, Vincent K. McMahon and Linda McMahon, TKO Group Holdings to move forward. We should not be surprised that Donald has some weird ideas of what it takes to nurture our young generation. He has bragged, for the record, that he conducted exams that consisted of strolling through a dressing room filled with half dressed or naked teens. If Columbia had half a wit, it would be Harvard.
See also: The Autocratic Academy: Re-envisioning Rule Within America's Universities (DUP, 2023) by Timothy V. Kaufman-Osborn.
I just can't get over the fact that Jonathan Haidt and Jonathan Chait are two different people.