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DCU sparks varied reactions
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| Contributor | Eddie |
| Last Edited | Eddie Feb 11, 2004 03:07pm |
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| Category | News |
| News Date | Wednesday, February 11, 2004 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Administrators had mixed reactions to a Duke Conservative Union advertisement in Monday's edition of The Chronicle that claimed the University lacks intellectual diversity. While most said DCU's interpretation of an imbalance in political affiliations among University deans and faculty members in certain departments was misleading, others said the data they uncovered could, in fact, hint at an underlying need for change.
In the advertisement, formatted as an open letter to President Nan Keohane, DCU alleged that a number of humanities departments "have become increasingly politicized over the past few decades" and, furthermore, that this politicization has had "a significant impact on the daily workings of their faculty members."
"I don't know the political affiliation of all of my colleagues in philosophy, nor do I care," said Robert Brandon, chair of the philosophy department. "Our last hire was in the history of modern philosophy. We hired an expert in Kant and Newton. Politics never came up in the interview."
Some argued that the political imbalance within the humanities departments is to be expected, and in no way reflects the University's lack of commitment to true intellectual diversity.
"We try to hire the best, smartest people available," Brandon said of his philosophy hires. "If, as John Stuart Mill said, stupid people are generally conservative, then there are lots of conservatives we will never hire.
"Mill's analysis may go some way towards explaining the power of the Republican party in our society and the relative scarcity of Republicans in academia. Players in the NBA tend to be taller than average. There is a good reason for this. Members of academia tend to be a bit smarter than average. There is a good reason for this too." |
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