There’s been a burst of debate around viewpoint diversity (an always controversial topic) in our pages and elsewhere. Will thread and describe the key arguments below…
First, writing for the @AAUP's magazine, Lisa Siraganian at Johns Hopkins outlined seven theses against viewpoint diversity.
She argues it's incoherent, a partisan Trojan horse, and antithetical to academia's truth-seeking mission.
aaup.org/academe/issues…
@AAUP Siraganian's essay was met with lots of criticism - from @TheFIREorg, @AEI, and Michael Clune in @chronicle, among others.
Their critiques varied. But essentially, they argued that Siraganian had lost the plot: Public trust in college has cratered. Entire disciplines have ...
@AAUP @TheFIREorg @AEI @chronicle Strayed far from their fact-finding mission. Expanding the Overton Window of acceptable views is necessary to take higher ed off life support, they argue. A few links:
aei.org/op-eds/seven-t…
eternallyradicalidea.com/p/is-higher-ed…
chronicle.com/article/viewpo…
@AAUP @TheFIREorg @AEI @chronicle Siraganian responded, arguing that her critics were dismissing the broader political project at play:
"Contriving a smashup between 'viewpoint diversity' and academic freedom has been part of the right’s political project for a very long time."
chronicle.com/article/viewpo…
@AAUP @TheFIREorg @AEI @chronicle But @asymmetricinfo isn't buying it. She highlights the fundamental agreement between higher ed and the public that many professors arguably ignore:
The public gives them money. They expect something in return - something other than ideological siloing.
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/…
@AAUP @TheFIREorg @AEI @chronicle @asymmetricinfo My 2 cents, as someone who covers academic culture, is that I've made this point (less bluntly) to professors I interview, who are sometimes surprised they have this reputation. Or they insist higher ed isn't actually that left-leaning. (To which I say...let's look at the data.)
@AAUP @TheFIREorg @AEI @chronicle @asymmetricinfo When you work in any industry dominated by certain political assumptions and convictions, it can lead to a fishbowl effect. You stop seeing how others see you, and you start seeing the outside world through specific distortions. (Journalism is no different, of course.)
...
@AAUP @TheFIREorg @AEI @chronicle @asymmetricinfo But anecdotally, since the election, I've certainly heard more people I interview express the opinion that viewpoint diversity is needed in the academy.
It seems - again, anecdotally - that at least some profs are rethinking where and how higher ed went off-track...
@AAUP @TheFIREorg @AEI @chronicle @asymmetricinfo So, will viewpoint diversity's champions gain some ground? Or will Siraganian and other profs who think it's an argument made in bad faith win the day?
And how much does any of this matter, anyway, when the spate of federal reform is so intense right now?
Who's to say!
@AAUP @TheFIREorg @AEI @chronicle @asymmetricinfo Threading this post from @AAUP as a coda:
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