This week's episode is a follow up with the authors of an article covered in a previous Dissidents podcast (S4, E15) about grade inflation and university faculty ideology. Mark Horowitz and Anthony Haynor generously offered to share their insights, clarifications, and elaborations based on years of research on this topic. We discuss historical trends toward left wing ideology and the impact on research, censorship, and the quality of education. Mark and Anthony call for the best and brightest to focus their energies on ensuring higher education retains its core purpose and values.
Podcast notes:
The Hyperpoliticization of Higher Ed: Trends in Faculty Political Ideology, 1969–Present
Are Social Scientists Any Less Biased Than the Rest of Us?
Horowitz, M., Haynor, A. L., & Kickham, K. (2023). “Undeserved” Grades or “Underserved” Students? Faculty Anxieties and Eroding Standards in the Corporate University. Higher Education Politics & Economics, 9(1), 43–84
S4 E15 | Grade 'A' Hypocrisy: Faculty Politics and Eroding University Standards:
Michael David Cobb Bowen was raised in Southern California where his father founded the Institute for Black Studies in 1966. Robert T. Bowen was one of the original Watts Poets and advocated for a separate black nation. Michael's uncle also worked for the Peace Corps in West Africa, so Michael learned how to speak French and Swahili as a child. He participated in the first Kwanzaa and was taught that he would be a model for the new Black Man. In our July Liberal Values Lab, Bowen will tell us what it was like to grow up with that mindset and frame of reference and how he evolved his thinking about black identity and American citizenship.
Join us on Circle to be part of the conversation.
In last week’s podcast, ILV Director Jennifer Richmond and co-host Winkfield Twyman, Jr. spoke with Glenn Loury on his newly released book, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative. We discussed authenticity, individualism, enterprise, faith, and end our conversation on the lively question of whether the experience of race can be equated to the encumbrance of a Soviet gulag and if retiring from race is the path to a better future or simply escapism.
Loury enjoyed the conversation so much that he posted it on his own platform.
Making (Up) the Grade: A Call for Educators to Openly Address Eroding Standards