Most of the great breakthroughs inscience, math, and philosophy haven’t been readily accepted by mainstreamsociety, even though the scholars that presented these iconic ideas are laudedfor their genius today. Academia, at many times in history, has been the refugeof those who are willing to think outside the box and come to conclusions aboutthe world and our place in it that may be hard for people to stomach. Yetincreasingly, this radical element of academia is falling by the wayside,leaving many wondering why academia just isn’t as edgy as it once was.
While there arestill some radical academics out there, they’re becoming increasingly few andfar between. Mainstream media, funding issues, controls on academic freedom,and even the university structureitself all have a role to play in the decline of radical academia. Read on tolearn more and why, for better or worse, academics of today are a much better-behavedgroup than those in the past.
Even at times whenuniversities should be exposing controversial things happening on campus (arecent incident at Penn State comes to mind), they push them under the rug forfear of garnering bad PR. Think it’s uncommon? A study conducted in 2009 found thatmany colleges were covering up the number of rapes on campus by pressuringvictims or failing to prosecute. If schools are willing to cover up a seriousissue like rape to save face, it’s no surprise that they have little tolerancefor radical academics who could potentially enrage parents, students, anddonors and hurt the school’s image (which they’ve spent millions carefullycreating).
Professors with edgyor controversial ideas won’t find acceptance at every college out there. Infact, many are afraid to share their ideas, despite supposed guarantees aboutacademic freedom, because they know it could lead to their termination. Even professorswho don’t end up fired could be put on lists like those compiled be theAmerican Council of Trustees and Alumni that found even fairly innocuousstatements by professors in the wake of 9/11 to be radical and unacceptable.(One professor made the list for saying, "If Osama bin-Laden is confirmedto be behind the attacks, the U.S. should bring him before an internationaltribunal." Shocking!)
Can students stilllearn a great deal in college if they want to? Sure. But the majority ofcollege education systems simply aren’t set up that way anymore. Most studentsattend college with the goal of using their diploma to get a job aftergraduation, not because they simply want to expand their minds. In fact, somehave suggested that less-marketable majors not even be funded by colleges or beremoved altogether in favor of programs in more high-demand fields. This hascreated an environment that’s pretty hostile to radical ideas, something manyacademics have noticed and are reacting against, from railing againstthe Ph.D. system to breaking out of traditional classroom settings.
Radical has become adirty word in today’s society. You’re more likely to think of terrorists thangroundbreaking scientists when you hear the word. Yet radical comes from theLatin meaning "of or having roots" or "going from the origin"and essentially means changing something from the roots of where it came from.This is an essential part of progressing intellectual thought, but these days,most professors wouldn’t shout proudly that they were radicals or had radicalideas.
Getting a job inacademia is hard, much harder, in fact, than many Ph.D. students realize.Because of that, many professors are driven pretty hard to get tenure and givetheir positions at a school some security. Sadly, radical ideas, howeverbrilliant they may be, aren’t often the best path to tenure. In a paperpublished in 1998, Professor Paul Cantor stated that tenure is actually a veryeffective way of controlling "radical" professors, stating"…under current circumstances by far the most likely outcome of abolishingtenure would be to increase radicalism of the academic community in the UnitedStates." Simply put, if professors want to get tenure, they have to behaveand many are more than willing to do so rather than chance losing their jobsand years of hard work and study.
The economicdownturn hasn’t left academia unscathed. Research funding is hard to come by,and competition may be fierce for some of the larger awards. Unfortunately,radical ideas, which may be sometimes uncomfortable for universities andresearch partners to handle, though they may lead to breakthroughs inunderstanding, are the least likely to see funding. In an age where"publish or perish" is the modus operandi of academic faculty, thislack of funding can be devastating.
Generally, Americanslike to think of their country as a place where people have the freedom tospeak their minds and that schools are places where a wide range of ideas canbe taught and explored. Generally that’s true, but not always. Many professorshave brought claims against universities for trampling on their academicfreedom after they were censured or fired for actions that should have beenwell within their rights. At SCAD, two professors were let go for encouragingstudents to demonstrate on campus. InTexas,one reporter found that professors were being censored when they attempted totalk about research that supported climate change. Others have been fired formaking comments or writing papers that offended powerful alumni or governmentrepresentatives.
Colleges these daysare very careful not to anger parents or students when it comes to what’staught in a classroom. Even when students sign up for courses on potentiallycontroversial topics like queer studies or human sexuality, they can come awayoffended by the subject matter. A few calls by concerned parents later, and aprofessor could see him or herself in pretty hot water and having to radicallychange the curriculum or teaching methods in order to please parents andstudents. It would be difficult to teach a radical course that didn’t offend someone,so many professors just skip the hassle and toe the line when it comes topleasing the university.
Ever clicked on anarticle about scientific research that promised something revolutionary but didn’tdeliver? The media plays a big role in deciding what’s news when it comes toacademia and can influence public opinion quite strongly in determining what’sradical and what’s not in academia. People who know little about an experimentmay become outraged over it if it isn’t presented in the best light in themedia or if salacious elements are played up (and aren’t they always?), givingnews outlets incredible power over what research may get funding or whichprofessors may be censured by their universities.
While some wouldhave you believe that there are numerous crazy radical professors out thereswaying the minds of young students, the reality is that most aren’t thatradical at all. Why not? It simply doesn’t pay. Not when it comes to research,career longevity, publishing, or tenure. In today’s academic climate, theresimply isn’t much to motivate professors and researchers to push too faroutside of mainstream thought. Of course, there never has been, and many aradical thinker, like Galileo, faced much more than the loss of a job overtheir ideas.
Contacts and sources:
Kaitlyn Cole
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