Carole Hooven discusses her experience at Harvard and the challenges she faced from the woke left. They explore Harvard's problems, the DEI structure, and the suppression of truth in universities. The speaker expresses their distress over the potential loss of freedom of thought and dialogue at universities, highlighting the importance of being able to disagree and engage in conversation.
The DEI movement in academic institutions can lead to a chilling effect on open dialogue and rational discourse, as fear of reputational damage prevents faculty and administrators from defending controversial viewpoints.
Universities prioritizing feelings and sensitivities over truth-seeking create a chilling atmosphere where expressing disagreements or engaging in open debate becomes risky, negatively impacting academic freedom and intellectual growth.
Deep dives
The Influence of DEI and Fear of Reputational Damage
The podcast episode discusses the influence of the DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) movement and the fear of reputational damage within academic institutions. The guest, Carol Hovin, a former Harvard lecturer, shares her experience of being targeted and labeled as transphobic by a graduate student after appearing on Fox News to discuss her book on the biology of sex. Hovin explains that the power of DEI and the fear of being seen as unsupportive or indifferent towards marginalized individuals prevented faculty and administrators from defending her. This fear of reputational damage illustrates the chilling effect DEI has on open dialogue and rational discourse in universities.
The Suppression of Objective Facts and Arguments
The episode highlights how universities have shifted their focus away from truth-seeking towards prioritizing the feelings and sensitivities of individuals. Hovin's experience exemplifies this shift, as she faced backlash not for factual inaccuracies, but for discussing empirical data and arguments related to evolutionary reproductive strategies. The prevailing ideology of social justice that permeates universities deems the statement of certain facts or arguments as harmful and transphobic. This has dire consequences for intellectual and academic freedom, creating a chilling atmosphere where expressing disagreements or engaging in open debate becomes risky.
The Transformation of Universities into Advocates of Social Justice
The episode argues that universities have transformed into advocates for a particular understanding of social justice, where the suppression of certain truths takes precedence over the pursuit of knowledge and truth. The episode suggests that many institutions, including Harvard, have embraced this approach and prioritize ideological conformity over open inquiry. The guest and the host express dismay at the change, lamenting the loss of universities as spaces of robust debate and dialogue that challenge long-held beliefs and foster intellectual growth.
The Chilling Effect of DEI and Fear on Academic Freedom and Intellectual Discourse
The podcast episode emphasizes the chilling effect of DEI and fear within universities, leading to self-censorship and a reluctance to engage in controversial topics. Hovin's experience of being ostracized, unsupported, and having her teaching responsibilities affected highlights the far-reaching impact of DEI ideology on academic freedom and intellectual discourse. The episode raises concerns about the future of universities as institutions that embrace a diversity of viewpoints, encourage free thought, and prioritize the pursuit of truth.
Carole is back to discuss her travails at Harvard, teaching in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology. She originally appeared two years ago to discuss her superb book T: The Story of Testosterone, the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us. She’s now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and an associate in Harvard’s Department of Psychology, in the lab of Steven Pinker. She’s also an active member of the newly established Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard. We talk here about her own experience in the last few years, targeted by the woke left on Harvard’s campus, and about Harvard itself, and whether the Ivy League can be reformed.
For two clips of our convo — on loving your intellectual enemies, and how you “can’t win a fight for rights by lying about facts” — pop over to our YouTube page. Other topics: Carole’s popularity with students before her cancellation; her many teaching awards; her Fox News appearance; the grad student who targeted her on Twitter and terrified the senior faculty; the friends who turned on Carole; the TAs who shunned and refused to teach for her en masse; the administration that abandoned her; the sprawling DEI infrastructure at Harvard; the monoculture there; its growing disdain for the working class; how Veritas was sacrificed for standpoint epistemology; feelings over rational debate; runaway grade inflation; “decolonizing” syllabi; Katie Herzog’s report on medical schools abandoning “male and female”; how you can acknowledge nature while still respecting identities and pronouns; CRT as the enemy of liberal democracy; Gay’s testimony before Congress; the quality of her academic papers even before the plagiarism emerged; Harvard threatening the NY Post with defamation; Gay’s resignation and NYT op-ed; the NYT scapegoating James Bennet in 2020; Chait’s cowardice when I was fired at New York Mag; the Trevor Project’s redefinition of homosexuality; the pro-Hamas protesters on campus; the belated alarm by big donors; how “white supremacy” became “Jewish supremacy”; how the SAT finds disadvantaged students — but the woke want to abolish it; my debate with Harvey Mansfield over homosexuality; Harvey mentoring students from minority groups; Carole and I debating whether the the federal government should withhold funds from DEI colleges; and, as always, how Trump makes everything worse.
Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy (the first 102 are free in their entirety — subscribe to get everything else). Coming up: Alexandra Hudson on civility and Jennifer Burns on her new biography of Milton Friedman. Please send any guest recs, dissent and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.
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