The Shadow University: The Betrayal of Liberty on America's Campuses - Hardcover

Kors, Alan; Silverglate, Harvey

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684853213 ISBN 13: 9780684853215

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1998

Synopsis

Universities once believed themselves to be sacred enclaves, where students and professors could debate the issues of the day and arrive at a better understanding of the human condition. Today, sadly, this ideal of the university is being quietly betrayed from within. Universities still set themselves apart from American society, but now they do so by enforcing their own politically correct worldview through censorship, double standards, and a judicial system without due process. Faculty and students who threaten the prevailing norms may be forced to undergo "thought reform". In a surreptitious aboutface, universities have become the enemy of a free society, and the time has come to hold these institutions to account. "The Shadow University" is a stinging indictment of the covert system of justice on college campuses, exposing the widespread reliance on kangaroo courts and arbitrary punishment to coerce students and faculty into conformity. Alan Charles Kors and Harvey A. Silverglate, staunch civil libertarians and active defenders of free inquiry on campus, lay bare the totalitarian mindset that undergirds speech codes, conduct codes, and "campus life" bureaucracies, through which a cadre of deans and counselors indoctrinate students and faculty in an ideology that favors group rights over individual rights, sacrificing free speech and academic freedom to spare the sensitivities of currently favored groups. From Maine to California, at public and private universities alike, liberty and fairness are the first casualties as teachers and students find themselves in the dock, presumed guilty until proven innocent and often forbidden to cross-examine their accusers. Kors and Silverglate introduce us to many of those who have firsthand experience of the shadow university, including: The student at the center of the 1993 "Water Buffalo" case at the University of Pennsylvania, who was brought up on charges of racial harassment after calling a group of rowdy students "water buffalo"-- even though the term has no racial connotations. The Catholic residence adviser who was fired for refusing, on grounds of religious conscience, to wear a symbol of gay and lesbian causes. The professor who was investigated for sexual harassment when he disagreed with campus feminists about curriculum issues. The student who was punished for laughing at a statement deemed offensive to others and who was ordered to undergo "sensitivity training" as a result. "The Shadow University" unmasks a chilling reality for parents who entrust their sons and daughters to the authority of such institutions, for thinking people who recognize that vigorous debate is the only sure path to truth, and for all Americans who realize that when even one citizen is deprived of liberty, we are all diminished.

About this title

Review:

"If parents value college not just as a degree mill but as a chance to improve their children's minds, they should pay heed to this disturbing book."-- "The Wall Street Journal""Kors and Silvergate.deliver the unexpected. Refreshingly, they seem to believe then even if professors teach what they wish, Western civilization will survive.The abuses they describe need fixing, and this cogent book should help."-- "The New York Times""Besides shaking readers out of their complacency, the tales of abuse lend urgency to their call for renewed openness on college campuses. "-- "Booklist""No longer do universities prize the unihibited clash of ideas and opinions. On campuses from sea to shining sea, political correctness is the ruling orthodoxy and The Right Not To Be Offended trumps every consideration..."The Shadow University" sends up an unignorable flare."-- "The Boston Globe""An eye-opening and well-documented expose....a wake-up call for parents, students, and professors alike."-- Alan M. Dershowitz, Harvard Law School

From the Author:

The subject matter covered by this book.
At the end of the 20th century, something profoundlydisturbing is happening to higher education in America. Universities now enforce a politically correct agenda through censorship, double standards, and kanagroo courts. Faculty and students who dissent from the new orthodoxy are stripped of their civil liberties, some even forced to undergo intrusive and partisan "sensitivity training." Universities have become the enemy of a free society. This book is a stinging indictment and exposure of injustices and coerced conformity on college campuses. The book explains the utopian and totalitarian ideology underlying the new speech and behavioral codes, a worldview that favors group over individual rights and that would sacrifice freedom and equality before the law on behalf of its political goals. The book also offers a legal, strategic, and moral blueprint for restoring liberty at our colleges and universities. The book exposes a state of affairs that will shock anyone who considers free speech, equal justice under law, respect for conscience, and fairness to be at once the foundations and bulwark of American liberty.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0684853213
• ISBN 13: 9780684853215
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320