The feminist movement on campus has honed to perfection its ability to respond to anything resembling criticism, or even inquiry, with military precision that virtually guarantees victory over all in-house critics.
The most well-known example of tactical superiority by the women’s movement occurred at Harvard in the last school year. Harvard’s hapless president, Larry Summers, atoned for his suggestion that women don’t major in math for natural, not political, reasons. As part of his surrender, Summers even created a task force on women faculty.
“From her large and heavily-staffed office (the task force report had specified the size and staffing of the office as well as the gender of its occupant), the new Senior Vice Provost for Diversity and Faculty Development would police every faculty appointment and promotion, to ensure that Harvard was attaining ‘gender and racial equity,’” Heather MacDonald reports in the City Journal.
No less an important post is that of the Harvard Czarina’s understudy. This important job went to a leading Crimson feminist—Lisa L. Martin. “Martin will act as special advisor on diversity to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences,” MacDonald writes. “As an academic dean, she will commandeer her very own office in Harvard’s venerable University Hall, seat of many of Harvard’s top leaders.”
“Martin will also assume the chairmanship of the Standing Committee on Women upon taking her post as special diversity advisor, showing that feminists understand how to secure power grids by building in redundancies.”
Compared to Harvard, New Jersey’s William Patterson University is a start-up school. But the 150-year-old institution has its own iron lady on staff.
Women’s Studies professor Arlene Holpp Scala used the campus e-mails to invite all who were interested and at least one who was not to a university screening of a documentary about an elderly lesbian couple. Her e-mail also invited comments. Jihad Daniel, a senior citizen working and studying at the university, took her up on that last offer.
“These are perversions,” he wrote of the themes depicted in the film. “I responded to the unsolicited e-mail as a student and in conjunction with the tenets embodied in the three Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam,” the 68-year-old Muslim explained. The university convicted Daniel of “discrimination” and “harassment.” With the aid of attorneys affiliated with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Daniel is appealing the decision.
Scala’s reviews on ratemyprofessor.com make for interesting reading. Here are a few excerpts from her favorable student reviews:
- “If you’re taking her class, don’t you dare to have another opinion other than hers in the logs, otherwise she is going to lower your grade.
- “People that have problems with her are usually resistant to progressive ideas, but they would have the same problem with anyone.
- “…very liberal and opinionated.
- ““I agree she’s a bit moody, but her classes are eye-opening, if you can deal with her super liberalness.”
Malcolm A. Kline is the executive director of Accuracy in Academia.
