Conservative scholars need to work together, counter the ideology of the left

Submitted by Paul R. Huard (United States), Apr 4, 2003 at 22:08

Sadly, Professor De Genova is not alone, and Columbia is far from the only university where the "leftist establishment" is well-represented on various faculties. I am a lecturer at a state university and probably the only social and political conservative within my department. While in graduate school, the bulk of my professors openly espoused Marxist ideology and declared this was the only logical framework for the interpretation of the social sciences. Eric Foner (who sponsored the Columbia "teach in") is the current president of the American Historical Association, my professional organization and the standard-bearer for the academic study of history in the United States.

The academic-left's love of class struggle, utopian idealism that ignores the realities of world threats to American citizens and knee-jerk anti-Americanism can only be countered by creating more scholars who will revise the revisionists (and eventually replace them as the current generation grows older). This means there must be more opportunities for conservative scholars to publish in peer-reviewed journals and broader media. Conservative scholars and opinion-makers must work together to encourage, fund and publish "the alternative point of view."

I applaud Dr. Pipes for his forthright engagement of Islamism and pro-terrorist ideologues in both the scholarly literature and popular press. I am also encouraged by his recent nomination to the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace.

But there needs to be more reasonable voices at America's colleges and universities. The bias can be overcome with the strong, solid scholarship of younger or newer professors willing to speak out.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".