On the Ivory Tower

Submitted by Robert (United States), Jun 17, 2021 at 11:22

I too graduated in 1971 - but from CUNY (City University of New York). At the time, our student hangout was at the West End, on Broadway (New York City). And that was essentially across the street from Columbia University.

At the time the University was conceived as isolated from the rest of society. Something like the (peaceful) Eye of the Storm of a Tornado But it was also the time of Racism and the Vietnam War. And idealistic students refused to accept the "escape" into that "island," the College Campus. The claim was that the Colleges and Universities were in filtrated with Racism (racist notions and racist professors) and complicit and implicit participants in the war effort (ROTC, military funding, etc.).

That was very true back then. Unfortunately, that reaction evolved into something else: the complete Polarization of the College and University Campus and establishment. And the institutionalization of Reverse Racism - as in Black Lives Matter and Critical Race Theory.

How to make the University/College Politically more Neutral is an Open Question. The same is true regarding Reverse and Internalized Racism (by people of "Color" as Victims, "Outsiders," or "have-not's"). Before 1971 it was Communist which had to be stamped out even on Campus under McCarthyism and Black-Lists against higher. But subsequently a more infectious malady was allegedly discovered under a Social Theory dubbed INTER-SECTIONALISM. The BDS Movement, also on Campus, is one of it's manifestations, as well as "Free-Palestine," as well as "From the River to the Sea." I am not going to explain these "Campus Virus" here.

There are obvious - but difficult - solutions to this matter. (1) All Students are still Learning and have no business educating their Teachers and Professors - until they Graduate. (2) Political disputes and Politics should not infiltrate the Ivory Tower (the University or College). (3) Advocating Promoting particular Social Theories as "the Truth" also do not belong on Campus. Just 3 Examples of "distinguished" Professors who influenced the opposite are (1) Noam Chomsky, (2) Edward Said, (3) Cornell West.

You, Dr. Pipes, are known to have published a "list" of such Professors. But you were attacked for alleged compiling an "effective" "Black Book" reminiscent of McCarthyism, and it seems you abandoned that project when a cohort of professors published a letter seeking to be added to your "wicked" list (in defense of the their "colleges" on your list.

Here is a suggestion, compile a Companion list of Distinguished Professors. Just as we effectively have 2 Parties in our country, we can have you list Excellent Professors in contrast to those deemed Mediocre. Unfortunately, our social understanding of Racism prohibits us from citing instances of Excellence. "White Privilege" and "White Supremacy" are now the Racist Notions on the "other side."

It is perhaps the simple fact of the Geographic Uniqueness of the Mediterranean Sea and the accidents Skin Color which centered such phenomena as the Semitic Alphabet and Industrial Revolution around the "Great Lake." One reaction to this was the popularity "political" book, "Black Athena."

So you really have a lot of scholarly work ahead if you choose to write a set of volume explaining the severe decline of the American (and Western) University in the Humanities. Fortunately, however, you are extremely well versed in the subject matter. A good place to begin for you would be with the works of Bernard Lewis (whom you knew personally) and Edward Said of Columbia University, Literature Depart (I don't know if you ever attended any of his classes). But I know that you know very well how Said's work, ORIENTALISM influenced the decline of "Western" research into Islam and the Middle East.

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