https://www.vox.com/policy/23762357/republican-attack-higher-education
"Republican lawmakers around the country are moving quickly to remake higher
education in their conservative vision.
Bills in states including Florida, Texas, and Ohio have alarmed proponents of
academic freedom, who say that the efforts to limit or mandate certain courses
or the teaching of certain topics, restrict or end faculty tenure, and defund
and ban diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs will damage higher
education.
In Florida, a state that’s received a lot of attention for Gov. Ron DeSantis’s
takeover of the New College of Florida or laws that ban the teaching of
concepts like critical race theory or intersectionality, the laws have already
been signed and take effect in July. In other states, such as Montana and North
Dakota, efforts have stalled due to pushback from students and faculty.
According to the
Chronicle of Higher Education, legislators in 20 states have
introduced more than 30 bills targeting DEI programs.
Public opinion on the matter has become divided. A 2022 Pew Research survey
found that 76 percent of Democrats believe colleges and universities have a
positive effect on the country, while less than a third of Republicans did.
About 76 percent of conservative Republicans said colleges affect the country
negatively.
Ultimately, these bills threaten democracy, said Irene Mulvey, president of the
American Association of University Professors (AAUP), the organization that has
long promoted the benefits of faculty tenure and intellectual freedom. By the
AAUP’s count, there have been more than 50 such bills in 23 states.
“The bills have produced a chilling effect on academic freedom,” Mulvey said."
Via Muse, who wrote:
Australia’s government, like much of the Anglosphere, has been caught in the
ideology of “run it like a business”. Somehow big business has convinced us
that business structures are the best way to run everything. Even when those
structures bear little relationship to a particular social endeavour. Big
business isn’t a democracy. If you aren’t a CEO or investor, you don’t have
any say in how your life is being affected.
Universities when run as academic institutions provide a space where a
diversity of ideas can be discussed and tested. They provide checks to
unfettered speculation and propaganda. These are among a number of services
they provide to our nations and to humanity. They cannot provide these
things if they are shut-down due to not supporting some corporate or
political agenda.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
