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International News

LETTER FROM AMERICA UNITED STATES
Promising revelation Academic crucifixion

s I wrote in my last des- BY SURRENDERING TO A POLITICAL MOB de-
patch, at Hillsdale College, spite the apparent protection of the world’s most
Awe are working to become powerful university, Claudine Gay has set a prec-
involved with education in India. edent that has left academics wondering who can possibly
We are excited by this prospect survive the rising ideological crusades of America.
because we love to teach, because
India is important, and because On January 2, Prof. Gay stepped down as president of
there are profound commonalities Harvard University after six months of stifling pressure
between our countries. DR. LARRY ARNN from an alignment of conservative forces, navigating the
As I wrote last time, India and the United States have a howls of pro-Israel activists, only to succumb to borderline
kinship in at least two important respects: our practice of complaints about poor editing in her past scholarly writings.
representative government, and the common roots of our It amounts to a politically based toppling of the leader of the
languages. The importance of this second factor cannot nation’s most prestigious and well-endowed university, say
be overestimated. Human capability to speak is the out-
come of human reasoning capability, the unique capacity several academics, with ominous implications for anyone
distinguishing us from all other earthly creatures. The else in academia who dares to persistently challenge the
western classics teach us that this gift is synonymous with interests of US political and economic wealth.
speech. If you reflect for a minute, you will discern that The ultimate success of the plagiarism complaints as the
you are thinking in words. And if you can think in words, apparently determinative weapon against Prof. Gay, aca-
you can utter and therefore share them. This draws us demics warn, is especially worrying, since it is an allegation
closer together than any other species. that is becoming very easy to raise with the help of advanced
This is why education is important to humanity. We
can do so much more with our minds than other crea- computer tools and often very difficult to adjudicate in a
tures. It is true that we have bodies, like all animals, and it fair and consistent manner. “Very few of us can probably
is true that these bodies have needs. We must feed them, withstand that kind of scrutiny,” says Jennifer Ruth, profes-
rest them, grow them. We must reproduce them, which sor of film studies at Portland State University who writes
means we must care for the young. All of this is com- on issues of academic freedom
mon across the animal kingdom. What is different is that through the American Associa-
homo sapiens have choices about how we do these things. tion of University Professors.
This gives us a larger responsibility than other creatures.
Our gift of reason is constantly interacting with our physi- “By giving in, Harvard has set
cal needs. This makes education of young humans much the stage for continuing the
more important than other creatures. It takes much lon- expansion of this kind of scare
ger. It achieves much more. and chilling of academic free-
What then is education? The term comes from a Latin dom and targeting of higher
word meaning “to lead forth”. This raises the question, ed.” Claudine Gay
which way is forth? The endgame for Prof. Gay
Aristotle writes that if one can identify a good horse,
one ought to be able to tell who is a good human being. began last December, when she and the heads of two other
Horses are strong and fast. Racehorses in particular are elite US universities — all women relatively new to their
beautiful when they perform. They are made to run. What presidencies — agreed to appear before Congress to answer
are we made to do? We all have examples of excellent hu- Republican allegations that student protests against Israeli
man beings whom we look up to. We admire people for military attacks on Palestinian civilians amounted to cam-
their physical traits. When they are strong, fast, or physi- pus tolerance of anti-semitism. That moment of political
cally beautiful, they are attractive to us. They represent a theatre — combined with sustained criticism from wealthy
kind of perfection to which we all aspire.
But in humans, physical traits never operate separately individual donors — soon led one of the presidents, Eliza-
from our moral and mental traits. We can ruin our bodies beth Magill of the University of Pennsylvania, to step down.
by bad habits. We can build them by good habits, and we Prof. Gay appeared to have survived the moment, backed
can choose what type of habits we will develop. The way by hundreds of faculty demanding that she stay. But she
“forth” for human beings is to grow towards excellence in then became consumed by a parallel campaign by conserva-
body and soul. Good education cultivates this excellence tive activists compiling a list of more than 40 instances —
through development of character and intellect. typically brief excerpts of a few sentences or less — that they
In the next letter, I will discuss how good schools de-
velop character. In the following one, I will dwell on how put forth as evidence that her scholarly record was marred
they develop the intellect. These methods are the same in by repeatedly citing others without proper credit.
America and India, and for that matter everywhere else. Prof. Gay — the first black president of the nation’s old-
est and most prestigious university — said she had resigned
(Dr. Larry Arnn is President, Hillsdale College, USA)
“in the best interests of Harvard” to let the institution move

64 EDUCATIONWORLD FEBRUARY 2024