Quote:
Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague
That being said, I think my favourite person talking about the issue from the perspective of faculty, rather than focusing on students, is Alice Dreger.
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Dreger makes some really interesting points. I love the comments about the corporatization of universities, especially that universities no longer have football teams, but football teams have universities. That hits pretty close to home for a lot of major universities.
I also like her comments about universities protecting their brands. This is very true. Universities do have very specific brands and they have every right to protect that brand, or change that brand to appeal to the changes within their markets. Universities are expected to produce, so they must be very careful to make sure they are bringing in people that can produce and can contribute to the overall success of the university. To most people this is common sense. To many in academia, this is heretical to their way of thinking. This is the struggle that exists in academia - the battle between academics and the administration who run the university and keep the doors open.
Not much of what Dreger talks about is academic freedom, nor protected by academic freedom. The vast majority of her discussion are bullying tactics used by the arrogant worms that exist in all schools (field of study, not institution) who believe they know more than their peers, and want to maintain their position and power within their school. This is the same garbage that exists in all bodies which incorporate bureaucracies. Why should people expect academia to be different?
I do find it ironic that Dreger is dug up as evidence of such behaviors, when she has been accused of being front and center to some of these controversies, attacking others for expecting the enforcement of norms. Dreger is a very crass individual, very representative of the stereotypical feminazi which has been the strawman de jour to attack here, but is now a symbol of good. I think this fully supports the proverb, "the enemy of enemy is my friend." I also find, more often than not, that people who cry academic freedom are the ones who least understand what academic freedom is, and most often make transgressions against academic freedom. Before people use a defense, they should make sure they understand the terms and conditions of that defense.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
Many in the sociology field are hostile to sociobiology and the very idea that human social behaviours can derive from our biological impulses the same way the social behaviours of ants and chimpanzees do. They seem to think it's a threat to recognizing that socialization and social structures play a part as well, as though the two influences are mutually exclusive. Edward O Wilson's On Human Nature apparently sparked quite a firestorm of controversy when it was published in 1978.
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/science/15wils.html |
Who are these many?
Any time a new theory is presented, especially one that challenges the foundations of the primary school of thought, there is going to be much scrutiny and push back. This is expected, and there is usually a period of overt and critical discussion about the new theory until full peer review can be completed and further support of the new theory can be established. Yes, politics enter the mix. As I referenced above, when there is bureaucracy there will be hierarchies and there will be people who want to maintain their power. That does not mean that ideas are suppressed, it means that new ideas just require a lot of work to gain acceptance.
It should also be noted that the activism happening in some schools (again field if inquiry, not institution) is being questioned my their main governing bodies. The expectations of complying with the standard practices and ethical behaviors must be reviewed and openly discussed from time-to-time. The
American Sociological Association is actually going through this process, one that will ultimately be a reminder to all in the field of the expectations of the behavioral and ethical standards of the field of study. This is the nature of the beast, and the nature of human beings. Like any organism, these bodies fight to maintain homeostasis.