OAH: Free Speech for Me, But Not For Thee (#47153)
by Jonathan J. Bean on November 20, 2004 at 7:05 PM

David Montgomery's long diatribe against right-wing repression and the "centrality of dissent" (presumably reserved only for those with left-wing views) ignores not only speech codes but the ways the OAH has politicized itself. By constantly, since the 1960s, filing one resolution after another against a particular war or admininstration policy (always Republican), the OAH has the "chutzpah" to state: "We may get involved in politics, but no one may criticize us--that's an infringement of academic freedom." No, that is the essence of adolescence: All claiming of "rights" and no responsibility for the consequences. The truth is the Left-dominated OAH cannot, will not, look at measures to keep racial and ethnic data "secret" (note the uproar when Bush appointed a "conservative" historian who could not reveal KGB data to other researchers, yet the same critics parade _Shape of the River_, a paean to affirmative action based on "secret" data made available only to them!).

I am tired of OAH members circulating "Historians Against the War" resolutions in my department--everyone signs, of course, except me. Even if I were against the war (I am ambivalent), I do not think it proper for historians to go beyond their expertise. What difference does the view of "Historians" make unless they are specialists in the field? We may all become involved as informed citizens, but as historians we are not entitled to special status as our own members of self-appointed blue-ribbon commissions of people who are really non-experts on the subject.

Above all, Montgomery and the OAH have the utter gall to condemn "watchdog" groups like Campus Watch and the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. If groups representing, say, African Americans or women were to speak on academic issues, they would be accorded a respectful hearing, but the OAH's philosophy apparently is "no enemies to the Left, all threats to the Right." Notably, the OAH Report left out F.I.R.E., which has been doing the work protecting free speech and assembly of all members of the university community: liberals, conservatives, radicals, students, faculty, etc.

As for the the "right-wing" threat in the K-12 arena, readers ought to consult Diane Ravitch's wonderful _The Language Police_, which examines how P.C. textbooks have become due to internal censorship among publishers. (Undoubtedly, these publishing censors learned even-handedness from the far-left professors they had in college). Instead, Montgomery warns darkly of "extreme conservative and fundamentalist Christian activists...." Notice how left-wing groups are a) never characterized as "extreme" even when they destroy complete runs of conservative alternative newspapers; b) there was not a SINGLE point of discussion of the threat posed to academic freedom from within the profession. Since 97% of those running the OAH are liberal to radical, they simply cannot imagine the possibility of a "thinking conservative" in their midst because they do their best to mock, "chill" and silence conservative voices from the undergraduate level onward. Hence, few conservatives enter the dismal field of History, knowing a "hostile environment" awaits them (especially if they happen to have the wrong sex or skin color).

To paraphrase Bill Buckley, "there is more ideological diversity (and vigor) in the phonebook of a large city than among liberal arts faculty at our institutions of higher (mis)education!"