In an interview with Philadelphia's Bulletin, MPI fellow and Indoctrinate U director Evan Coyne Maloney explains why the one-sidedness of our colleges and universities has implications for much more than the quality of higher ed:
"The repressive nature of many universities today is having a coercive effect on the country," Maloney told The Bulletin. "One of the reasons political discourse has deteriorated and is in the gutter is that you have people graduating from college without any idea how to engage in political debate."
Students haven't quieted down though, at least not the ones who are saying what administrators and professors want to hear. The problem, Maloney says, is that certain ideas are simply not stood for on many campuses.[...]
Maloney stresses that there is absolutely no problem with students saying capitalism is bad. They have a constitutional right to speak freely and loudly. The problem, he says, is that many students who want to say capitalism is bad don't think anybody has a right to say it is good. In fact, they are trying to silence those who disagree with them, and they are succeeding.
While many have pegged Maloney "the conservative Michael Moore," he says his aims are not to play politics, even though academia's extreme politicization makes it hard not to.
"I am not calling for the university to be a place where everyone thinks like me," said Maloney, a self-described libertarian. "I don't think people need to change their opinions; they just need to respect people that don't share their ideas."
Since he worries college students might miss the lesson on political discourse, Maloney has some advice of his own.
"Don't assume that someone is stupid or evil just because they don't agree with you," he advises. "Start with the assumption that they came to their conclusions in good faith and argue with them from that point. Just respect that people have a right to think differently and think freely."
If everyone took his advice, Maloney wouldn't have much material for his documentary. But he would probably be glad for it.
This is a point Maloney has consistently stressed in interviews: Far from arguing that the problem with campuses is that they don't reflect his opinions, he is arguing that campuses are intolerant of a multiplicity of opinions, and are, as a consequence, losing their hold on the precious art of debate. Defenders of the academic status quo argue that critics of higher ed simply want to switch around the power dynamics, installing their own views as the dominant ones and marginalizing those who disagree with them. But that's not a proper or fair characterization of critics such as Maloney, who is not at all interested in establishing a new campus monoculture featuring his politics, but who is deeply invested in the benefits to all students--and all Americans--that will come from a revitalized campus climate that is genuinely open to free inquiry, open debate, and diversity of thought. That's a big part of what makes his film so special and so important.
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