1/ So, Gilley, advocate of re-colonisation of the Global South, spoke on 'academic freedom' (no statement of irony on this contradiction prefaced his talk) here are the take home points:
First, he notes his infamous piece is his “most highly cited work ever, so it’s awesome!”
First, he notes his infamous piece is his “most highly cited work ever, so it’s awesome!”
2/ The rest of the talk is dedicated to how a more dominant presence of "conservatives" can be *enforced* in the Academy. On calls for “a culture of tolerance” he says “I would reverse that.. formal policy change is what we need…change comes about through the use of power”
3/ he says “market failures [in this case, lack of RW academics] are corrected through government action" and praises Trump’s executive order on campus freedom but calls this “baby steps” and “modesty incarnate” saying it doesn’t help us to “change faculty composition”
4/ Gilley goes on to say that Diversity Offices should be abolished. And conservative academics should “have lawyers.. you need to raise a credible threat to the University that if it seeks to undermine your academic freedom it will have a cost on its hands”
5/ Gilley: “There needs to be a hiring ombudsman on campus whose job is to oversee these committees… frankly I don’t think the faculty should have control over faculty hiring anymore. I think they’ve surrendered their right to be in charge of faculty hiring”
6/ Gilley further advocates closing down (“abolishing”) departments specialising in Black, Indigenous, feminist (etc) thought.
And says conservative academics need to organise – "like NATO" he says – to push through this agenda.
And says conservative academics need to organise – "like NATO" he says – to push through this agenda.
7/ This is in a room of selectively invited figures (by Biggar's opening admission), most of whom use controversy for attention & call variously for re-colonisation, attention to superior white IQ & white replacement conspiracies- these are not representative 'conservatives' imho
8/ Evidently, no mention is made of real repression of scholars by fascist figures Orban & Bolsonaro or the real evidenced exclusions from scholarly life along lines of race, class, and gender (most of these guys will work in majority white male depts and they know it)
9/ Finally, there is a deeply authoritarian base to Gilley's remedies (unsurprising for someone so open about their personal preference for colonial rule).The solutions are guaranteed & enforced faculty positions for people with his views (which are,in reality,19th century views)
10/ Much as I'd rather not engage with these ppl, we do need to reclaim the 'academic freedom' ground back from those who simply want to force racist views on the academy and shut down anti-racism by authoritarian & litigious means.
Here's a clip in case you don't want to sit through the whole thing..
