The turmoil that has happened at UVA, UT, FSU, etc. is not about who is president of any particular university. Its not about who is governor, even. Cutting off the head of a university is only one tactic within a coordinated campaign by an organization called the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA). ACTA has people in every state working to defund and crush higher education. They want to to make faculty term employees full of anxiety rather than partners in governance who are charged with exploring the universe and creating knowledge. They want to turn universities into customer-service firms. They are not secretive. They are not conspiratorial. They are not mysterious. They have no hidden agenda. Everything they want they have written and said. The best way to fight ACTA is by constantly and consistently promoting the beautiful and valuable work that universities do for their communities, states, nation, and the world. Most of that cant be quantified. Most if it is quiet and subtle. None of it gets into The New York Times. I know that most of my friends here have joined me in that campaign. So thanks. Please trust that no matter who runs the University of Texas a year from now it will still have one of the most impressive faculties in the world. It will still have an energetic and passionate alumni base that will stand up against further attacks. It will most likely have a very bad president. But presidents dont last. Knowledge does. We cant get jaded. We cant get cynical. We have to keep fighting or we have no chance as a species. After all, someone is going to have to figure out this climate thing. And its not going to be Google.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 15:04:56 +0000
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