The New McCarthyism: Academic Freedom After 9/11 (Neve Gordon)

[laststeamtrain]

The New McCarthyism
Academic Freedom After 9/11

By NEVE GORDON

Immediately after September 11, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), founded by Lynn Cheney and Senator Joseph Lieberman, published a report accusing universities of being the weak link in the war against terror and a potential fifth column. As if the general hint at treason was not enough, an appendix to the report listed the names of 117 "un-American" professors, staff members, and students, and the offending statements they had made.

A few months after ACTA's study was disseminated, Daniel Pipes, the director of a think tank called Middle East Forum, launched a blacklisting internet site called Campus Watch, which publishes dossiers on scholars who criticize US policy in the Middle East or Israel's treatment of Palestinians. On the website one finds a "Keep Us Informed" section, where Pipes encourages students to inform on any professor who deviates from "correct conduct." Some have obediently complied.

These initiatives marked the beginning of a well-orchestrated attack against academic freedom in the US. In mid-January of this year, the Bruin Alumni association offered students $100 to tape leftwing professors at the University of California Los Angeles. The idea was to expose radical professors who " their extreme views in the classroom." 24-year-old Andrew Jones did not wait long and created a website featuring a hit list of 30 professors he considers the top extremist, leftwing offenders.

As Beshara Doumani, a history professor at the University of California Berkeley, points out in his compelling introduction to Academic Freedom after September 11, Pipes and friends have cynically appropriated the liberal terminology of the New Deal and civil rights eras, employing code words such as balance, fairness, diversity, accountability, tolerance, and not least, academic freedom in order to justify the enforcement of a political orthodoxy that undermines these very values.

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http://www.counterpunch.org/gordon08052006.html

"founded by Lynn Cheney and Senator Joseph Lieberman"

As if one needed more reason to dislike & distrust (& despise?) 'holy' Joe.

[rodeodance]

1. so Joe linked up with Lynn C. --not good at all.

[Hissyspit]

2. Thank you for posting this - excellent.

One of the great disappointments for me personally (among the many) of the past five-six years has been the failure of the academic community to counteract in an effective way the lies and propaganda of the Bush administration and the disfunctional national zeitgeist.

[xchrom]

3. one of the founding principals of straussian conservatism

is getting control of education -- i mean you want to create generations of well behaved consrvatives -- STEEPED in the history of the country AS YOU WANT THEM TO UNDERSTAND IT.

this is part and parcel of the reagan revolution -- and has been one of my major concerns since then.

we -- as liberals and progressive -- win or lose -- right at that battle line.

[Phredicles]

6. I've figured all along that this is what all the hoopla about

"politically correct thought police" was all about. Too bad main-stream journalists are too obtuse to pick up on something like that.

[Tom Joad]

4. Joe will have more time to devote himself to that, soon.

[yardwork]

5. This is a serious problem and goes way beyond Lieberman

This is happening at college and university campuses throughout the nation.