Wednesday, January 16, 2013

College Tyranny and Actual Tyranny

Harvey Silverglate has an interesting book review. Is it unbiased? Hardly! But it is still good. Some quotable items:
At the overwhelming majority of colleges and universities throughout the country, merely voicing an unpopular opinion (or being critical of the campus administration) can easily cause a student, or even a faculty member, serious difficulty with the campus disciplinary tribunals.
Silverglate also makes an interesting connection:
Students, who get accustomed to the administrative tyranny that marks the vast majority of colleges, universities and graduate schools today, don’t have much adjusting to do when they gain, and abuse, real power of their own in the nation at large, including in its legislative chambers, executive offices, and courts.
That may be so, but I am inclined to think that "it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion." A bad environment might make it easier but most of us have a predisposition that way.