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September 17, 2005

The real issue

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Paul Campos, Professor of Law at the University of Colorado, writes that the really important issue surrounding Ward Churchill is how he got hired, tenured, and made department chairman in the first place. He is absolutely correct.

The very sad answer is that academic standards have collapsed under the weight of politicization and the isolation of academia from the mainstream of American life. The process will be traumatic, but at last America seems about to pay attention to the problem, and maybe even do something about it.

Tenure has long ago ceased to be a useful practice. It does NOT protect free speech. Just try to espouse truly unpopular ideas (as Larry Summers recently did), and see how tolerant American campuses (home of the concept of speech codes) really are, tenure or no tenure.

Hat tip: Lucianne.com

Thomas Lifson  2 6 05