Janice Fiamengo on inclusive, decolonised, anti-rational academia:  

This is probably now the top hot-button issue at Canadian universities – the move to replace ‘European-based knowledge’ as exclusionary, inadequate and subjective, and to replace it in some cases with “indigenous knowledge,” and even something called “indigenous science”… what some might say is superstition or magical beliefs… The idea that “indigenous knowledge” is not to be questioned, that it has value equal to supposedly ‘European’ science… is an incredibly worrisome and strange idea.

Do watch in full for the anecdotes about the realities of so-called “affirmative action,” and the faculty lounge response to hearing of the 9/11 atrocities. If you’re new here and unfamiliar with Professor Fiamengo’s observations on campus culture, I recommend watching this

Somewhat related, scenes from Cape Town’s decolonised academia, where “science people” are scolded for “disrespecting progressive space” – specifically, for doubting the claim that Africans can throw lightning at their enemies.

Lia Eustachewich on Harvard’s woke racism: 

A Harvard University dean testified that the school has different SAT score standards for prospective students based on factors such as race and sex — but insisted that the practice isn’t discriminatory… [Dean of admissions, William Fitzsimmons] said Harvard sends recruitment letters to African-American, Native American and Hispanic high schoolers with mid-range SAT scores, around 1100 on math and verbal combined out of a possible 1600… Asian-Americans only receive a recruitment letter if they score at least 250 points higher — 1350 for women, and 1380 for men.

The words that come to mind are systemic and institutional. See also this and this

Further to the recent Clown Quarter hoaxing saga, Peter Boghossian on the game of Nazi-by-association: 

Think about how crazy this is. We have created an environment where a sincere person cannot ask a question about a dominant moral orthodoxy – in a university system.

And via Jonathan, Abigail Shrier reviews Heather Mac Donald’s book The Diversity Delusion

Under the diversity mantle, college administrators have mangled every aspect of universities from hiring processes to disciplinary proceedings to curricula in the humanities and even in the sciences. (An introductory chemistry course at Berkeley has as its stated primary goal “to disrupt ‘the racialised and gendered construct of scientific brilliance,’ which defines ‘good science’ as getting all the right answers. The course maintains instead that ‘all students are scientifically brilliant.’”)

And which, I’ve just noticed, pretty much brings us full circle. Ms Mac Donald’s book can be bought here (US) and here (UK). 

As usual, feel free to share your own links and snippets, on any subject, in the comments.




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