Historians Vow to Oppose the Conservative Campaign to Pressure Universities to Hire Conservatives
In a pointed response to the growing campaign to pressure universities to hire more conservative professors in the humanities, historians meeting in Philadelphia today said the effort smacks of McCarthyism and vowed to oppose it. They passed a resolution to put the American Historical Association—the nation’s oldest and most revered historical society—on record against the effort.
Conservatives, led by David Horowitz, have long claimed that universities are dominated by left-wingers. To correct this perceived political imbalance they have proposed to reform the system by persuading state legislatures to pass an “Academic Bill of Rights” to help conservatives win positions in the academy. The historians, at their annual Business Meeting, admitted that most humanities professors are liberal but insisted that is not because conservatives are discriminated against. Rather, liberals simply are more drawn to the humanities than conservatives, who often dominate faculties at business schools.
Ellen Schrecker, the author of the resolution, contended that Horowitz’s aim is to “give power over such matters as curriculum, course content, and faculty personnel decisions to governmental authorities and other agencies outside the faculty and administrations of institutions of higher learning.” She said this reminded her of what went on during the era of Joe McCarthy, the subject of much of her historical research.
The vote took place just two days before the state legislature plans to hold a hearing in Philadelphia on the merits of Horowitz’s measure.
Some 5600 historians are attending the annual meeting of the AHA this weekend. Fewer than 70 turned up for the vote at the Business Meeting, though that was about the same number that usually attend. Before the resolution can become official policy it must be approved by a vote of the Council of the AHA. The Council is scheduled to take up the matter at a meeting on Sunday.
Although the resolution was approved unanimously in under an hour, it was nearly derailed after libertarian David Beito argued in favor of a substitute that would have put the AHA on record against both the Academic Bill of Rights and university speech codes. Many conservatives oppose speech codes, which have been knocked down by the courts as unconstitutional. Beito, joined by Ralph Luker, argued that it would be politically wise for the members to lump the measures together to win Republican support for the principle of academic freedom. Luker said it would be a “serious political mistake to address only the concerns of the academic left and not the concerns of the libertarians and the right.” As Beito noted, it will take Republican votes to defeat Horowitz’s measure in many states.
Many of the members agreed that speech codes are indefensible and vowed to consider supporting a resolution against them in the future. But for the time being the main and immediate threat to academic freedom, they said, was Horowitz’s movement to enact his “Academic Bill of Rights.”
Beito's measure appeared to have some support. But when someone suggested taking a roll call vote the meeting's parliamentarian explained that a quorum would be required. As a quorum was lacking (100 people constitute a quorum) the meeting might have to simply come to an immediate end unless other members could be rounded up. Hearing this the crowd rallied behind the Schrecker resolution and defeated Beito's soundly.
After his substitute was voted down he joined in approving the main resolution offered by Schrecker, as he had pledged at the outset of the debate.
Related LinksDavid Beito, Robert"KC" Johnson, and Ralph E. Luker: A Time to Choose for the AHA in Philadelphia: Speech Codes and the Academic Bill of Rights Scott Jaschik: More Criticism of ‘Academic Bill of Rights’