Awakening

Objectivism, Old fashion

Finally the Academia start to swing back from it state of madness. It is obvious that an attempt to re-establish classical studies, the core of western civilization, is being fought by the current establishment. It is very interesting to note that those who protect multiculturalism and political correctness are:

As worthy as such projects sound, setting up an quasi-independent institute devoted to the study of Western civilization can easily run afoul of university rules and regulations, not to mention university ideology. In late 1999, about the same time that Mr. George was setting up the Madison Program, political philosophy professor Hadley Arkes was working on a similar project at Amherst College and finding it much more difficult. Eventually, he established Amherst’s Committee on the American Founding, but so far its staff consists primarily of Mr. Arkes himself. He says the university has stymied fund raising by demanding control of most of the money he has drummed up for the program.

"A week doesn’t go by without someone in the administration trying to put restraints on the program or undercut the program," he says of both Mr. George’s project and his own. Other scholars, at the moment wishing to remain incognito, are trying to start Madison-like programs on their own campuses, but they are meeting resistance from the faculty and administration, some of whom worry about the supposed conservative political agenda of such programs.

In November, Hamilton College decided to refuse a $3.6 million grant from alumnus Carl Menges to establish the Alexander Hamilton Center for the Study of Western Civilization. A swirl of outrage from the faculty culminated in a 77 to 17 vote "expressing concern" about the project. Perhaps this was less than surprising from a school that made headlines for its invitations to Ward Churchill, who compared the people killed on 9/11 at the World Trade Center as "little Eichmanns," and Susan Rosenberg, formerly of the Weather Underground.

Although the task to bring classical education, and western civilization studies, seems like Herculean it will succeed - and the demand for such studies among students are a good indicator. It will take time but the new dawn of hope, that the  academia will become again center of the western civilization - instead of a tool to destroy it, is raising.

Technorati Tags: Western Civilization - Academia - Multiculturalism - Political Correctness

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Rogel @ January 22, 2007