October 6, 2022 - 1:15pm
A century ago, Left-modernist intellectuals like Floyd Dell depicted the small midwestern towns where many of them came from as narrow-minded puritanical hellholes which they escaped for the delights of Greenwich Village, New York and a few other select bohemian urban enclaves. In Sinclair Lewis’s Main Street (1920), which became a runaway bestseller, the main character Carol Kennicott expresses her revulsion at the “flavourless” Americanism of the fictitious town of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota. “I am sick with the Village Virus,” she complains. “Please tell me what people are doing and saying in New York.”
Today, those with inquiring minds may wish to move in the other direction.
Why? Because it is now in the reddest of heartland states that universities with high viewpoint diversity still exist. Here intellectual debate is more likely to flourish, free of pressure from intolerant peers and institutions.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) campus surveys now contain nearly 100,000 individuals, creating a wealth of information on the demographics and politics of American students in the leading 150 research universities in the country. These are the research powerhouses that educate the top 15% of the nation’s undergraduates, the future elite who will be the country’s opinion formers.
A new report for the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology (CSPI), Diverse and Divided: a Political Demography of American Elite Students, contains an online table of Viewpoint Diversity rankings based on aggregated survey data, allowing the user to sort colleges by their ideological and partisan composition.
As the graph above shows, the highest viewpoint diversity — that is, the most even mix of liberal and conservative, Democratic and Republican — students, is in major red state universities like the University of Arkansas or Utah State.
It is curious that the wheel of cultural freedom has turned full circle, from the coasts to the hinterland, from progressive to conservative institutions. This speaks to the spectacular rise of Left-modernism. This ideology began as a counterculture between 1912, when the Young Intellectuals coalesced in Greenwich Village, and the mid 1960s. In the late 60s, identity Leftism replaced cultural modernism as the dominant thrust within Left-modernism. Rising to become an ascendant culture in academia by the late 1980s, Left-modernism crossed the threshold to emerge as the campus orthodoxy in the 2010s.
One example of this censorious new climate is the dramatically higher rate of cancellation campaigns — documented here — targeting academics such as Joshua Katz of Princeton, who was fired after he criticised a black radical student group in the wake of the George Floyd killing. Another is the growing plague of mandatory diversity statements which serve as ideological litmus tests to weed out job or membership applicants who are insufficiently committed to the ideas of the new cultural elite.
The rot is deep: these illiberal political oaths are supported by nearly 6 in 10 elite academics in the humanities and social sciences. Meanwhile, British students strongly prioritise protection from speech over the right to speech and 7 in 10 of their US equivalents think an academic who offends students should be reported to the administration.
If Lewis were to ink Main Street today, Carol Kennicott would be cast as a self-censoring student chafing against the Village Virus of Oberlin and asking ‘what are they saying in Arkansas?’
Eric Kaufmann is Professor of Politics at the University of Buckingham and author of Taboo: How Making Race Sacred Led to a Cultural Revolution (Forum Press, 4 July).
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SubscribeWhy on earth use a quote from Mr James Hawes that you know to be complete nonsense? eg: “conquered the entire country after a single major battle in 1066”?
Surely you haven’t forgotten the Battle of Stamford Bridge where Harald Hardrada and his Norwegian/Viking thugs were completely destroyed by King Harold after an epic approach march covering 185 miles in four days?
Many maintain that had Harold NOT been distracted by the Norwegians he would have triumphed over the William the Bast*rd at Hastings 19 days later.
ps: Stamford Bridge 25th September, Hastings 14th October.
I think that the author clearly means that William had to fight only one major battle before conquering England, which is indeed the case; he is not saying that there was only one in 1066. It is readily accepted that the forced march south from York was a major factor in Harold’s defeat at Battle.
PS: sorry most of England – Cornwall held out a bit longer!
For an essay that has Vikings and Northumbrians in the caption it was a very odd omission was is not?
Incidentally what about the ‘Harrowing of the North’,? A far more brutal and prolonged affair than either Stamford Bridge or Hastings.
Isn’t Cornwall littered with Norman Shell Keeps, Restormel, Trematon, Launceston?
ps. Is Cornwall really England anyway?
Good point re Cornwall but Restormel and Launceston are really border posts, and Trematon a bit later and not very successful. Norman occupation rather more in name down there than heavy.
No true Kernow native would admit to being English above Cornish!
oops – Restormel the later outpost, Trmaton the border post!
oops – Restormel the later outpost, Trmaton the border post!
Good point re Cornwall but Restormel and Launceston are really border posts, and Trematon a bit later and not very successful. Norman occupation rather more in name down there than heavy.
No true Kernow native would admit to being English above Cornish!
PS: sorry most of England – Cornwall held out a bit longer!
For an essay that has Vikings and Northumbrians in the caption it was a very odd omission was is not?
Incidentally what about the ‘Harrowing of the North’,? A far more brutal and prolonged affair than either Stamford Bridge or Hastings.
Isn’t Cornwall littered with Norman Shell Keeps, Restormel, Trematon, Launceston?
ps. Is Cornwall really England anyway?
Charles, I detect raw emotion in your comment. In your opinion was the Battle of Hastings a victory or a defeat?
It was a defeat, to the worst mercenary scum of Europe.
A defeat.
It was a defeat, to the worst mercenary scum of Europe.
A defeat.
I think that the author clearly means that William had to fight only one major battle before conquering England, which is indeed the case; he is not saying that there was only one in 1066. It is readily accepted that the forced march south from York was a major factor in Harold’s defeat at Battle.
Charles, I detect raw emotion in your comment. In your opinion was the Battle of Hastings a victory or a defeat?
Why on earth use a quote from Mr James Hawes that you know to be complete nonsense? eg: “conquered the entire country after a single major battle in 1066”?
Surely you haven’t forgotten the Battle of Stamford Bridge where Harald Hardrada and his Norwegian/Viking thugs were completely destroyed by King Harold after an epic approach march covering 185 miles in four days?
Many maintain that had Harold NOT been distracted by the Norwegians he would have triumphed over the William the Bast*rd at Hastings 19 days later.
ps: Stamford Bridge 25th September, Hastings 14th October.
Some fascinating insights into the ancient heritage of those parts of the UK generally referred to as “the North” and how the influence of ties with Scandanavia linger to this day, even to the western fringes of our islands. One key point i hadn’t seen put forward before was how the Viking raids may have been made in revenge for attempts to convert them to Christianity. The author might also have made reference to how William of Normandy laid waste to the north after 1066, in order to prevent any resistance from taking hold. It makes one wonder how subconscious folk-memory continues to influence our affairs, perhaps even in terms of support for Brexit. The point is well-made about the relative wealth of the UK being more or less attractive to those living far from the south-eastern metropolis.
As a native of Lancashire, i’ve always felt more “at home” when travelling further north than south, including my time as a student in London which somehow felt more alien. Things (in more than one sense, it appears) really are different “oop North”.
Not sure the author’s comment about Viking raids being in revenge for Christian missionary efforts qualifies as “fascinating insight”. More like complete conjecture. Part of a wide effort (which also includes The Last Kingdom and Vikings) to cast Christianity as the fun-killing villain that kept the Middle Ages Dark.
Not sure the author’s comment about Viking raids being in revenge for Christian missionary efforts qualifies as “fascinating insight”. More like complete conjecture. Part of a wide effort (which also includes The Last Kingdom and Vikings) to cast Christianity as the fun-killing villain that kept the Middle Ages Dark.
Some fascinating insights into the ancient heritage of those parts of the UK generally referred to as “the North” and how the influence of ties with Scandanavia linger to this day, even to the western fringes of our islands. One key point i hadn’t seen put forward before was how the Viking raids may have been made in revenge for attempts to convert them to Christianity. The author might also have made reference to how William of Normandy laid waste to the north after 1066, in order to prevent any resistance from taking hold. It makes one wonder how subconscious folk-memory continues to influence our affairs, perhaps even in terms of support for Brexit. The point is well-made about the relative wealth of the UK being more or less attractive to those living far from the south-eastern metropolis.
As a native of Lancashire, i’ve always felt more “at home” when travelling further north than south, including my time as a student in London which somehow felt more alien. Things (in more than one sense, it appears) really are different “oop North”.
Also the most boring place on the planet. I’d sooner jump in North Sea than live anywhere in Scandinavia again
Wasn’t it Norway that recently produced that lunatic killer who massacred all those children at some Summer Camp?
One of the worst mass killings in Europe for many a year, and far more terrible than anything that has ever happened in dear old ‘Blighty’.
Wasn’t it Norway that recently produced that lunatic killer who massacred all those children at some Summer Camp?
One of the worst mass killings in Europe for many a year, and far more terrible than anything that has ever happened in dear old ‘Blighty’.
Also the most boring place on the planet. I’d sooner jump in North Sea than live anywhere in Scandinavia again
Thanks for an interesting read Sam.
As a Geordie of a certain age I do enjoy any historical articles about my beloved region.
For the record however, ‘I have never ‘longed to be a Viking’.
Also, for the uninitiated readers out there, Northumbrians are not Geordies.
Thanks for an interesting read Sam.
As a Geordie of a certain age I do enjoy any historical articles about my beloved region.
For the record however, ‘I have never ‘longed to be a Viking’.
Also, for the uninitiated readers out there, Northumbrians are not Geordies.
Whitehall is not interested in the UK. MPs have little idea what it is to represent Great Britain. Unless the country is defended and promoted as a unit, not will fall apart.
Whitehall is not interested in the UK. MPs have little idea what it is to represent Great Britain. Unless the country is defended and promoted as a unit, not will fall apart.
And don’t forget the Løgting (Law-Thing)- the Faroese national assembly which still operates.
Lots of them want to be Coldstreamers…
Time to reform the 2nd Battalion or even the 3rd?
Time to reform the 2nd Battalion or even the 3rd?
Lots of them want to be Coldstreamers…
Error.
Yes!
Yes!
Error.