Recently, Columbia University returned to headlines as protesters occupied its Butler Library in the midst of exam season.
Antagonists included Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) who celebrated the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist rampage on Israel, praised the mastermind Yahya Sinwar, even mourned his death.
Acts of campus mayhem were alleged to have been carried out by both students and paid outsiders, just like before.
Only this time the University, reeling from crackdowns by the Trump administration, came down early and decisively.
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) cleared out the building, arresting dozens.
America is proud of its insteitutions of academic excellence, of which Columbia University is a shining example.
It's undeniable that support from a variety of private individuals and various institutions along with support from governments at all levels, is the main reason such notable institutions of higher learning are extant in the United States.
Scientific and technological research has created untold opportunities, established the U.S. as the dominant global superpower, and maintained this land of the free and the brave as a beacon of hope for millions beyond her shores.
Concurrently, the same institutions have spawned ideologies that denigrate human agency, deny our capacity — as well as our obligation — to reinvent and reincarnate tomorrow as a better version of today.
Race-essentialism originated there and devolved into tropes like "Anti Racism," Critical Race Theory (CRT), and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Specifcially, CRT erases aspirational experiences of every color and creed, DEI is nothing short of a hardened bigotry, one of low expectations rooted in the belief that this is because of the circumstances of one’s birth.
The resultant "Anti-Racism" is quite simply racism in reverse.
To spin their hatred of Jews, they came up with a new construct called "Settler-Colonialism.."
This writer's parents were refugees and grew up as orphans.
Arguably, they could be regarded as "Settler-Colonial" by definition.
Frankly, that makes me proud to be a Settler-Colonial.
What amounts to a lack of diversity in thought defines most humanities, arts and social sciences departments where celebration of American exceptionalism founded on equality, liberty and opportunity is frowned upon, as well as derided, as a grievous sin.
Capital offenses in this regard can still, and of course did, ruin careers and livelihoods.
The list of such offenses includes:
- Exposing (Black Lives Matter) BLM race-baiters and grifters
- Failing to bow to the gods of climate alarmism madness, and ribald COVID-19 hysteria,
- Reiterating the biological truth of two sexes.
- Questioning race-essentialism, and so on.
Post Oct. 7, 2023 crass Jew-hatred erupted on American campuses, evoking memories, not of the 1960s, rather of 1930’s Germany.
How could such violence not?
Righteous conservative allies pushed back and they now have the full-throated support of the Trump administration.
As President Trump brings justice to Jews, and sanity overall — on American campuses, and elsewhere — let's please not lose sight of who is paying the price, primarily STEM disciplines and foreign students.
The U.S. Government has stepped in a big way to bankroll research at American universities since the private sector does not have the deep pockets, or a long-enough long horizon, to invest in blue-sky initiatives.
Undeniably, the U.S. has been the big winner.
The same goes for foreign students, once here an overwhelming majority of them become zealous converts to the American way.
To reiterate, American hegemony was built on the backs of excellence in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and driven a large part by our immigrant students in these fields.
Many of them are our best examples of fidelity to our American values, and we need them today more than ever.
The onus is squarely on humanities and social sciences, but some in the STEM camp are sadly just as bad.
Coming here as a graduate student I earned a Ph.D. in Economics at Cornell University.
I have lost count of how many times weekly I hear from voices still inside gulags of academia that activism and so-called resistance have become their raison d'être.
Blind analyses of data which are independently available and verifiable with rigorous quantitative methods stopped being useful since truth often contradicts diktats.
Much of the output of these departments is now called "scholarly work," and not research.
Just when you thought things couldn't get worse, they did: gossip and hearsay supplanted data in humanities and social sciences. And it doesn't stop there.
I call these ant-American ideologues simply as "Arts Quad Mafia."
How did we get here?
My theory on how we did supports the aggressive stance Trump 2.0 now pursues.
Arts Quad Mafia does not care for America, even less for foreign students who are legitimately here for STEM studies.
We do and therefore we need to find ways to defang this mafia without collateral damage.
Defunding Selectively: Humanities, arts and social sciences faculties may bring sanity and American values at the forefront of elite American universities.
Assuming the Trump administration fine-tunes its approach, and brings a scalpel to the operating theater for academia, I say Amen to getting America to back the starting block in the race to maintain our academic excellence.
This writer, for one, is tired of hearing complaints about mandatory paeans to progressive piety of the day. At theend of the day they serve no one well.
All opinions ion the preceding column are those of the author solely, of the author alone, and do not necessarily represent that of any organization he may be part of. The author alone is responsible for any error or omission.
Partha Chakraborty, Ph.D., CFA is an economist, a statistician, and a financial analyst by training. Currently he is an entrepreneur in Water access, AI/ML, and wealth management in the US and India. Dr. Chakraborty lives in Southern California. Read Partha Chakraborty's Reports — More Here.
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