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theAttack
onLiberalized
Education
Manufacturing
Higher
Ellen
Messer-Davidow
I.ThePCDebate
So faras thegeneralreadingpublicknew,thePC debateburstsuddenlyonto
theAmericanscene towardtheend of 1990. News-magazinereaderslearned
in theacademyfromfeaturestoriesin Newsweek
about"politicalcorrectness"
and Time,Iwhilehigher-brow
readersencountered
itsomewhatearlierin 1990,
Richard
Bernstein's
"The
RisingHegemonyof thePoliticallyCorperusing
in
rect"in theNew YorkTimes,JohnSearle's "The StormovertheUniversity"
theNew YorkReviewofBooks,and a forumin theNew YorkTimeson "OpeningAcademiawithoutClosingIt Down."2Businessreadersof theWallStreet
1990Journalmayhave noticedearlywarningsof PC soundingthroughout
StrikeBack," Arthur
in, for instance,Gerald Sirkin's "Multiculturalists
Schlesinger,Jr.'s"When EthnicStudiesAre Un-American,"
DorothyRabinowitz's "Vive the Academic Resistance,"and editorialstitled"The Ivory
Censor"and "PoliticallyCorrect."3
Academics,however,werealreadydrawnintothisdebateduringthemidto publications
oftheNationalEndowment
1980swhentheybeganresponding
forthe Humanities(NEH). ChairmanWilliamJ. Bennett's"The Shattered
Humanities"(1982) and ToReclaima Legacy(1984), on thedeclineofhumanities teachingand research,drewmainlydefensivecommentsprintedin the
ChronicleofHigherEducation.4But ChairmanLynneV. Cheney'sbarrageof
reports-The Humanitiesand theAmericanPromise(1987), Humanitiesin
Machines(1990), andTellingthe
America(1988), 50 Hours(1989), Tyrannical
elicitedmanythoughtful
Truth(1992)-on thefallenstateof thehumanities,
articlesand a pamphletissuedbytheAmericanCouncilofLearnedSocieties.5
In 1987, when Cheney's firstreportwas published,mass-market
books
education
to
at
the
rate
liberalized
higher
began appear
attacking
impressive of
twoperyear:e.g., E. D. Hirsch,Jr.'sCulturalLiteracy(1987), Allan Bloom's
Closingof theAmericanMind (1987), CharlesSykes'sProfscam(1988) and
TheHollow Men (1990), Page Smith'sKillingtheSpirit(1990), RogerKimball's TenuredRadicals (1990), and Dinesh D'Souza's Illiberal Education
(1991).6By 1991,theRighthad hypedthefailingsofliberalizedhighereducationin numerousconservative
andmainstream
periodicals.The NewRepublic,
andAcademicQuestionshad forumson thesubject,7syndicated
Commentary,
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EllenMesser-Davidow
41
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42
theAttack
Manufacturing
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EllenMesser-Davidow
43
theformerNEA acting
tionsand prohibitscholarshipsforminority
students,
chairmanrejectedgrantsforartworkswitheroticcontent,the formerNEH
chairmandirectedthe flowof fundingintotraditional
scholarshipand away
fromthe new criticaldiscourses,and the NationalAssociationof Scholars
to legalcenterscases ofallegedinfrac(NAS) has beensolicitingandreferring
on collegeand university
tionsagainstconservatives
I1 emphasize
campuses."
actionsin orderto pointout thatmostacademicshave thusfarmistakenly
assumedthatthedebateis theattack.The debate,however,is onlypartof the
attack.
The purposeof thischapteris notto surveythedebate,even thoughit has
beenfarmoreextensivethantheAmericanpublicand academicsknow.88
Nor
is it to enterintothedebate,thoughitsclaimsare vitalas so manyacademics
have pointedout.Rather,thepurposeis to showthattheRighthas manufacturedtheattackon liberalizedhighereducationbymeansofa right-wing
apparatusdedicatedto makingradical culturalchange. Makingradical cultural
change is essential to a conservativemovementdeterminedto impose its
visionof Americaon all of us.
II.TheConservative
Movement
andCultural
Production
Afterthe triumphof Rooseveltand the New Deal, conservativesdescribed
themselvesas "theRemnant";theywere,in thewordsof one,"obscure,unorThe establishment
of theNationalReviewby William
ganized,inarticulate."19
foreverything
thatfollowed."20
F. Buckley,Jr.,in 1955 "laid thefoundations
This magazineprovidedconservatives
with"a recognizedforumforconservative ideas"21 and helped them make the transitionto an interventionist
approachto Americanpolitics. Also foundedunderBuckley's auspices in
1960, the Young AmericansforFreedom(YAF) gave youngconservatives
practicalexperiencein organizing:it held rallies,foundedclubs on college
campuses,and "'mobilize[d]supportamongAmericanyouthforconservative
The Goldwatercampaignin 1964 propoliticalcandidatesand legislation."'22
of conservative
duced a new generation
campaignworkersas well as thelist
thatservedas thebasis forRichardViguerie'ssubsequentworkof direct-mail
fundraising.23
By 1970,theNationalReviewhad a circulationof 100,000and
YAF had 50,000 members.24
These mobilizingand direct-mail
skillsspurred
the further
of
conservative
infrastructure
development
duringthe 1970s, in
of
the
conservative
interest
of
particular proliferation
groups,theformation
and
of
the
rise
the
Christian
with
the
of
PACs,
Rightculminating
founding the
MoralMajority(1979) byRobertBillings,Jerry
Falwell,Ed McAteer,Howard
Phillips,RichardViguerie,and Paul Weyrich.Less known,however,was
anotherdevelopment
ofNew Rightinstiduringthissameperiod:thefounding
tutionssuchas theHeritageFoundationby EdwinFeulner,Jr.,PhillipN. TrufortheSurvivalof a Free Congress
luck,and Weyrich(1973), theCommittee
(now the Free CongressFoundation)by Paul Weyrich(1974), theNational
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theAttack
Manufacturing
44
Journalism
Centerby M. StantonEvans (1977), and theLeadershipInstitute
by Morton Blackwell (1979).25
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EllenMesser-Davidow
45
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46
theAttack
Manufacturing
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EllenMesser-Davidow
47
are moreeffective
thangovernment
in dealingwithsocial-cultural
structures
and
are
more
because
In
personal adaptiveto individualneeds.43
problems
they
theirreform,
culturalconservativesbelieve thatgovernment
shouldplay an
traditionalvalues, preachingthem,and, in
"role in exemplifying
important
them."44
Thus theFCF agenda"reflectsa certaingovsome cases, enforcing
ernmental[as well as citizen]activism,"and thechallengeis to promotethis
Federalbureaucraciesto 'manage' theresulting
activismwithout"generating
FCF
would increasethe
Accordingly,
policyrecommendations
programs."45
whilereassigningsome federalfunctions
to
federalregulationof institutions,
individuals.For instance,FCF recommendsthat the federalgovernment
requirepublic schools to teach the basics, test studentsand teachers,and
imposediscipline,whileat thesametimethatit legalizeschoolchoice,which
would give parentstax vouchersto pay fortheeducationof theirchildrenin
private,religious,or publicschools.
ofHigher
Education.
To breakwhattheyperceivedas the
theLiberal
Monopoly
Breaking
liberalmonopolyof highereducation,conservatives
neededto establisha culthink
turalpresencein theconservative
tanksand also a conpolicy-oriented
T. KennethCribb,
servativepresencein theliberalizedacademicinstitutions.
of
which
the
Studies
Institute
(ISI),
Intercollegiate
promotescultural
president
conservatismto studentsand faculty,put it astutelyin a lectureto the Heritage
Foundation:
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48
theAttack
Manufacturing
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EllenMesser-Davidow
49
Linda Chavez,formerly
withtheU.S. Commissionon Civil Rights,and publishesDiversity:A CriticalJournalofRace and Culture,a quarterly
magazine
written
"forpeople who don't remember
the60s."54Diversityand theColleand circulatethevanguard-movement
giateNetworknewspapersreformulate
issuesthatFCF believesconservatives
mustappropriate.
The rosterofMCEA associatessuggestshowmovement
reticulation
is used
to bringculturalconservatism
intothe academy.The founders,
and
officers,
withotherright-wing
board membersall are affiliated
organizations.
LongtimeIEA president
Leslie Lenkowskyis nowpresident
oftheHudsonInstitute
(a right-wingthinktank) and an NAS member.Madison Centerfounder
WilliamJ.Bennettwas theNEH chairman,
is a fellowat theHudsonInstitute
and the HeritageFoundation,and recentlywas appointedthe chairmanof
NationalEmpowerment
Television,a Free CongressFoundationproject.The
Madison Center'sfirstpresident,
JohnAgresto,and MCEA's firstpresident,
ChesterFinn,areNAS membersandformer
Bennettassociatesrespectively
at
theNEH andtheDepartment
ofEducation.Withsuchreticulation
acrossrightandthefederalgovernment,
itis no surprisethatthenNEH
wingorganizations
ChairmanCheneywrotea featurearticle,"DepoliticizingtheAcademy,"for
Newslink(theCollegiateNetwork'snewsletter),
providedsummerinternships
at theNEH, and spokeat MCEA conferences.55
Board membersare similarly
affiliated:JohnBunzel (Hoover Institution
and NAS member),T. Kenneth
ofISI), IrvingKristol(NAS member;andsee note3), Harvey
Cribb(president
Mansfield,Jr.(NAS memberand NEH NationalCouncilmember;see below),
and Jeremiah
Milbank(JMFoundation).MCEA associates,together
withrepresentatives
fromotherright-wing
serveon theadvisoryboards
organizations,
of CollegiateNetworknewspapers.The Dartmouth
Reviewadvisoryboardwhich includes MartinAnderson(Hoover Institution),PatrickBuchanan,
WilliamLind (FCF), WilliamRusher(NationalReview),R. EmmettTyrrell
(AmericanSpectator),and the "Old Right" intellectualsM. E. Bradford,
GeorgeGilder,and Russell Kirk-is moreillustriousthanmost,buteven the
Fenwick Review (College of the Holy Cross) advisory board includes
Buchanan,Rusher,D'Souza, and Michael Novak (AEI). Those newspapers
the WakeForestCriticgives
lackingadvisoryboardsdo notlack supporters;
special thanksto MCEA, JosephA. Shea, Jr.(CenterforIndividualRights;
see below),andtheHeritageFoundation.
The attackon theacademyfromwithoutandwithinis onlyhalfofthestratbelieveis a liberalmonopolyofhighereducaegyto breakwhatconservatives
tion.The immediategoal is to transform
thehigher-education
systemintoa
free-market
liberal
institutions
and
coneconomybyweakening
strengthening
servativeones.Thesemovesare supposedto worktogether
to createa marketplace of competinginstitutions-publicand private,Christianand secular,
conservativeand liberal.If all institutions
are placed in a marketeconomy,
theirviabilitycan be determinedby those who, throughtheirindividual
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50
theAttack
Manufacturing
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EllenMesser-Davidow
51
servativeinstitutions.
Suchprojects,I will arguenext,areproductsofthesame
that
right-wing
apparatus producedthePC debate.
III.TheRight-Wing
Apparatus
we
Given its agenda forculturalconservatismand its free-market
strategy,
butas a masnotmerelyas a reticulated
shouldsee conservatism
movement,
sive apparatusconsistingof severalinstitutional
systemsvariouslyarticulated
to produceculturalchange.The systems,whichI reviewnext,arethinktanks,
andlegal centers.
foundations,
grassroots
organizations,
training
programs,
thinktanksexistedbefore1975,
Whilesome conservative
TheThink-Tank
System.
Institute
(1943),
(1919), theAmericanEnterprise
notablytheHooverInstitution
and theHeritageFoundation(1973), dozensof nationalones wereestablished
in recentyearsby somefifty-five
by themid-1980sand have been augmented
state-levelthinktanks.The state thinktanks,regional legal centers,and
NationalRifleAssociationbelongto theMadisonGroup,whichwas launched
by the AmericanLegislativeExchangeCouncil (ALEC), an organizationof
that"hopesto wrestcontrolof stategovstateofficeholders
2,400conservative
it
as
domination."57
what
sees
Leftist
from
ernment
Althoughstatethinktanks
andprivatienterprise
supportfree-market
varyin theirprojects,theystrongly
fromeducationto garbage.Modeledon theHeritageFounzationofeverything
thestate
forstatepolicyactivists),
dation(whichholdsannualtraining
meetings
and themselves
markettheirpolicyrecommendations
thinktanksaggressively
see below).58
to stategovernments
(forHeritagemarketing,
Nationalthinktankswereoriginallyconceivedas "planningand advisory
on government
institutions"
policythatwould influencethe"nation'sformal
bypublishingpolicystudies,holdingseminarsforpolitpoliticalprocesses"59
ical and businessleaders,and bankingtheresumesof potentialconservative
onesdurandjudicialpositions.The mostinfluential
appointeesto government
In
wereAEI and Heritage. 1985,for
ingtheReagan and Bush administrations
instance,AEI "had 176 people on staff,ninetyadjunctscholars,and a budget
of $12.6 million.Thirty-four
people fromAEI werenamedto administration
theirideas werebeingturnedintopolicy.60Herposts,"and,moreimportant,
of itspeople
itagehad "a staffof 105,a budgetof $10.5 million,andthirty-six
The
traffic
also
has
flowedthe
had been appointedto administration
jobs."61
staffand
officialsbecomingthink-tank
otherway,withReagan administration
fellows.Amongthe DistinguishedFellows now at Heritageare RichardV.
Assistantto thePresidentforNationalSecurityAffairs;William
Allen,former
J. Bennett,formerNEH Chairmanand Secretaryof Education;and Edwin
General.62
Meese III, former
Attorney
becauseitsrightwas defundedandretrenched
AlthoughAEI subsequently
Heritagehas continuedto expand.In
wing backersjudged it too centrist,63
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52
theAttack
Manufacturing
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EllenMesser-Davidow
53
themarketchoicesof thosewho
Heritageclaims,"priceswouldbe setthrough
can affordto buy theirown health-careprotection.In the presentsystem,
and health-careproviders,divorced
pricesare set arbitrarily
by government
the
of 1992, the Heritageplan "was
summer
frommarketinitiatives."71
By
rankedas one of thethreeoptionsseriouslybeingconsideredby Washington
policy-makers,and won high praise fromThe Economist,New Republic,
NationalReview,andForbes."72
froma 127-pagemonographto a
How was theHeritageplan transformed
Post and,
leadingoption?First,Heritagegave an exclusiveto theWashington
it
whenthestoryappeared,was contactedbythemedia.Then,simultaneously,
news
madea numberofmovesto markettheplan.PublicRelationsdistributed
and theWashington
Post storyto 40 nationallysynreleases,themonograph,
dicatedcolumnists,
600 opinion-pageeditors,and 1,100health-care
reporters
at everymajordailypaperin thenation.Government
Relationsdeliveredthe
theWashington
Post newsclip,and a coverletterto membersof
monograph,
Congress and health-carestaffers,and the authorsof the monographheld
staffers
and HHS officialsto explaintheplan.As
meetingswithcongressional
newspaperendorsements
appeared,theywere sentto Congressionaldelegawentto
tionsfromtheappropriate
states(e.g.,theTampaTribuneendorsement
and
Academic
Relations
disthe Floridadelegation).73
Similarly,Corporate
tributedmaterialsto theiraudiences.In addition,Heritagealso distributed
its plan to otherhealth-care
researchpapersfavorablycontrasting
plans and
the
and
minorities.
overviews
of
the
to
low-income
Next,
elderly
targeted
plan
itreleaseda studyoftheplan's financing,
which,accordingtoLewin/ICFcomputerprojections,would reducetotalhealth-carespendingby $11 billionin
thefirstyear,and distributed
thisstudyto themediaand legislators.Presumably,thefinalphasewillbe Heritage-organized
lobbyingfortheplanonce it is
introduced
as congressional
legislation.74
This examplenot onlydetailsthemarketing
process,but also suggestsa
shiftin focus.AlthoughHeritage,as a staffmemberpointedout,originally
focusedon "bombsandbucks"(i.e., foreignandeconomicpolicy),itlaunched
severalculturalprojectsin thelate 1980s at thebehest(and through
thefundit
to
of
conservative
foundations
that
should
attention
the
breakdown
pay
ing)
of families,communities,
and values.75These projectsincludethe Bradley
the SalvatoriCenterforAcademic
Scholars,the ConservativeCurriculum,
Leadership,andtheCulturalPolicyStudiesProgram.The purposeofthelatter
of politicaldebate,and
projectis "to bringculturalissuesintothemainstream
values thatshouldmorefullyinfluenceAmerican
to articulatethetraditional
namedDistinguished
Fellow in Cultural
culture."WilliamJ.Bennett,
recently
is
how
affectAmerfederal
and
Studies,
Policy
"examining
policies
programs
ican culture,and, in turn,how Americancultureaffectsfederalpolicies and
The membersof its bimonthly
WorkingGrouprepresentother
programs."'76
conservativeorganizations:thinktanks(AEI, Hudson Institute,Ethics and
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54
theAttack
Manufacturing
PublicPolicyCenter,CenterforEducationalPolicy),media(Media Research
Center,WABC Radio, National Review), grass rootsorganizations(Eagle
Forum,Cit;zensDemocracyCorps,TraditionalValuesCoalition[TVC]), and
thefederalgovernment
(stafffromtheofficesof formerVice PresidentDan
WilliamDannemeyer,
andHHS).
Quayle,SenatorJesseHelms,Representative
The WorkingGroupprovidedtheformer
vice president
withresourcematerials on MurphyBrown'ssinglemotherhood
and theLos Angelesriots,helped
to raisethecongressional
debateon speechcodes on campus,and,through
the
in JusticeClarence Thomas's confirmation.77
The
TVC, was instrumental
structure
and workof theCulturalPolicy StudiesProgramindicatethatHerhas
advocacymodel in thecultural
itage
appliedits research-and-marketing
arena.
This briefsummary
showsthatculturalconservatives
haveused thinktanks
to producethe "expert"knowledgetheycould not generatefromwithinthe
academy.Theyhave done so by conflating
"expertise"as pertainsto knowledge producedby scholarlymethodsand "expertise"as pertainsto theauraof
those who producethisknowledge.In thisway,the
authoritysurrounding
an "academicized"auraof authority
thinktankshave constituted
uponwhich
conservatives
have capitalizedto advancetheirpoliticalagenda.In actuality,
as one writerremarks,mostnationalthinktanksgrewfrom"theideological
combatand policyconfusionof thepasttwodecades"and"are gearedtoward
butthey
politicalactivismand propaganda,ratherthantowardscholarship,"78
markettheirideas through
a scholarlyapparatusofjournalsand seminarsas if
theyweretheproductsof scholarship.The resultis notmerelythemisrepresentation
ofthink-tank
knowledgeas scholarlyknowledgebutalso a deteriorationin thevalue of academicdisciplines.PeterWeingartexplainsthatwhen
"scientific"
scienceloses "a
knowledgeis producedin theseotherinstitutions,
commonframeof value-orientations
and beliefsas well as a commonbasis of
in politics,
interests
and technicalexperts.Theirinvolvement
amongscientific
whichhas beeninterpreted
ofpolitics,turnsoutto be the
as a 'scientification'
status
'politicization'of [academic]scienceat thesametime.The professional
of [academic]sciencewithitssharpdelineationfromothersocial institutions,
its self-governance
withrespectto qualitystandards,
criteriaofrelevanceand
a code of ethicsbecomessubjectto politicalconflicts."79
AlthoughWeingart
stressesthechangesto academicscience (the erosionof its self-governance
and in turnits standards),I wish to stressthe changes in the economyof
knowledgeproduction.When "scientificknowledge,"whichhas been producedby academicinstitutions,
also seemsto be producedby thinktanks,the
is
result
competition
among"scientific"knowledgesin policy-making
likely
and publicarenas.Since scienceis generallyregardedas havinggreatauthority,thecompeting"scientific"
knowledgesare likelyto be readilyconsumed
andotherpublicswithoutmuchcriticalanalysisto differentibypolicymakers
ate them.
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EllenMesser-Davidow
55
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56
theAttack
Manufacturing
in thattheysupportno parties,candidates,
Whileclaimingto be nonpartisan
or legislation,LI and NJC are not nonpolitical.Theirpoliticalworkis not,
insofaras I have observed,to directlyinfluencelegislationand electionsbut
ratherto influencethosewho mediatetheseprocesses-the media,political
organizersand activists,and conservativecitizens.For instance,in a directto LI, Representative
mailletteraskingfora tax-deductible
contribution
Dick
media
and
fears
about
the
liberal
on
conservative
professionalizArmeyplays
ingpracticesinjournalism:
areprepar... Whileyoureadthisletter,
left-wing
journalism
professors
... Collegejournalism
newcropofmediaradicals.
departments
ingtheir
a steadystream
And
ineverysinglestategraduate
ofyoungleft-wingers.
theseyounglibsendthemouttomanagethenews.... Upongraduation,
the
That'showtheyperpetuate
eralsmoveto professional
journalism.
Left'sdominance
ofthemedia.90
activiststo lead thefight
LI, he writes,"trainsyoungconservative
By contrast,
In
otherwords,LI's funcbias
on
and
media
liberal
off
campus."91
againstbig
tion is to produceconservativeactivistswho will influencethe media and
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EllenMesser-Davidow
57
theminfluence
politicalprocesses.Whileone mightarguethatReprethrough
sentativeArmey'srhetoricmay not reflectLI's practice,my observationof
LI's BroadcastJournalism
School suggeststhatitdoes.
In practice,theBroadcastJournalism
School insistedon theliberalbias of
mainstream
mediaand theneedto counterit. The book,one thirdof thereadingspacket,and some of thehandoutsgivento thestudentsassertedonlyone
pointof view-that the media have a liberalbias.92While the term"bias"
in severalsesthepresenters
appearedin thetitleof onlyone of thesessions,93
sionspromotedthispointof view.For instance,in the"Interviewing"
session,
TimGoeglein,PressSecretary
to SenatorDan Coats,explainedthatmediabias
and decidehow to runthecountry,
but
occursnotbecauseliberalsgettogether
ratherbecausethekindof peoplethemediaattract-thosefrombrokenhomes
andwithsocialproblems-haveliberalinterests.
Whena student
askedwhether
conservatives
aretrying
to changemediacoverageor trying
to changetheprowillfollow.94
fession,Goegleinrepliedthatifyoudo thesecond,thefirst
Video newsclipsshownat the school were used to reinforce
theclaim of
evaluateit.Forinstance,BrentBaker,Execmediabias rather
thanto critically
utiveDirectorof theMedia ResearchCenter,showeda newsclipon theEarth
Summitin Rio and arguedthatitrepresented
onlyone pointofview.Mostscientists,he assertedwithoutany supportingevidence, do not believe that
increasedlevels of CO2 are caused by environmental
pollution;ratherthey
and
that
theresulting
warmbelievethatincreasedCO2 is occurring
naturally
in
such
as
the
season
has
some
extending growing
up
good consequences,
Alaska. "Fair and balanced"newscoverage,he argued,wouldreportthatliberalenvironmentalists
haveone opinionconcerning
theeffectsof CO2 and scirestson a rhetorical
entistshave another.His argument
slippage:it implicitly
as politicalactivistswho have opinionsand
liberalenvironmentalists
portrays
whohavefacts.This argument
notonlyis partialin
pitsthemagainstscientists
thatitfailsto presentfullandfaircoverageofthepositionsandthefactspertinentto them,butalso is partof thedeprofessionalizing
strategy
pursuedby LI
and NJC(see below).
at the
While "fairand balancedcoverage"is a phraseI heardfrequently
it
did
not
characterize
the
session
on
"Office
BroadcastJournalism
School,
Politics"conductedby AmyNoble, Special ProjectsManagerat theFederal
exerNews Service.95Her sessionconsistedalmostentirelyof a role-playing
cise. Givingthe studentsa scriptfroma McLaughlinshow on the Webster
case, Noble had themplay out conservativestrategiesthatlocal news teams
to thepro-choiceposition.The strategies-defending
mightuse in responding
thepro-lifeposition,attackingthepro-choiceposition,etc.-all assertedthe
pro-lifeposition.Missing were "fair and balanced coverage" and critical
analysisof bothpositions,so thatin actualitytheexercisewas political,not
educational,training.
economMy observationof theNJC's Fridayseminaron "common-sense
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58
theAttack
Manufacturing
thisinstitute's
conservative
ics" reporting
confirms
similarly
politicalpractice.
shoulddeliveraccurate,balanced,and
While NJC staffstressthatreporting
theseminarI attendedbelies thisstandard.
JeffTucker,
completeinformation,
the
associateeditoroftheFree Market(a newsletter
LudwigVon
publishedby
Mises Institute)
and an NJCalumnus,citedpoll results(whetheractualor ficdecisions:e.g., in
tive,I could nottell) on the"fairness"of wage-and-price
responseto thequestion,"Is itfairforvendorsto raiseflowerpriceson a holithatsixtypercentof Moscovitesand eightypercentof New
day?"he reported
Yorkerssaid it was unfair.RidiculingNew Yorkersas more socialist than
Moscovites,Tucker'sexplicitpointwas to equate liberaland socialistecoto conservative
nomics,and his implicitpointwas to conveytheirinferiority
economics.As theFCF has observedelsewhere,"Liberalshave
free-market
withfairness,withseeingthat
been perceivedas people concernedprimarily
thefruitsof prosperity
weresharedby all segmentsof society.Conservatives
wereseenas thoseconcernedmainlywitheconomicfreedomandwithincreaseconomicgrowth."96
Thus,in thesecby spurring
ingthecommonprosperity
ond partof his talk,Tuckerassertedthatin a freemarketthe price system
"equilibrates"consumerdesireswithwhatis beingproduced."Fairness,"he
argued,has to do notwithpricingdecisionsthatmaypreventsomeconsumers
frombuyingproductsbutratherwiththefreedomofpartiesto contracton the
his appropriation
market.Rhetorically,
stripped"fairness"of itsliberalmoral
considerationsand made it an operatingconditionof the conservativefreefree-marhis simplisticaccountofconservative
marketsystem.Substantively,
critical
or
economic
economics
was
ket
unaccompanied
by
analysis alternative
models, and studentquestions,ratherthan challengingthe account,only
elicitedfurther
elaborationofit.97
educational
These briefexamplessuggestthatLI and NJCarenotprimarily
organizationsand shouldnothave tax-exemptstatus.The InternalRevenue
Code stipulatesthat"an organization
maybe educationaleventhoughit advofull
or
cates a particular
position viewpointso longas itpresentsa sufficiently
and fairexpositionof thepertinent
factsas to permitan individualor thepublic to forman independent
opinionor conclusion.On theotherhand,an orgais themerepresentation
of
nizationis noteducationalif itsprincipalfunction
of
the
on
dominance
left-wing
unsupportedopinion."98Armey'sopinion
media,Baker'sopinionon theeffectsof CO2 and thestatusof liberalenvironNoble's pro-liferole-playingexercise,Tucker's"common-sense
mentalists,
economics,"as well as manyotherinstancesthatcould have been cited-all
thepresentation
of unsupported
opinionand thefailureto givefull
exemplify
andfairexpositionthat,accordingto theInternalRevenueCode, disqualifyan
LI andNJCare,in actuforeducationalstatusandtaxexemption.
organization
in
contest.
As WilliamForrest,
engaged political
ality,politicalorganizations
outcome
of
thenan LI vice president
"The
it,
politicalcontestovertimeis
put
of
the
activistson eitherside. ...
determined
the
number
and
effectiveness
by
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EllenMesser-Davidow
59
To someextent,whatwe do at thisInstitute
is to trytoincreasethenumberand
effectiveness
of theactivistswho are conservative."
The LI, he added,does
whatis notdone by higher-education
conservatives
believe that
institutions;
theseinstitutions
serveonlycertainpoliticalviewsandnotothers.That'swhat
thefightis about.99
LI and NJC are also professionalizing
institutions
intenton breakingthe
academic monopolyof professionalization.Paradoxically,theyuse antiprofessionalcritiqueboth to attack academic professionalizationand to
advancetheirownbrand.How do theymanagethissleight-of-hand?
Speaking
at a Fridayseminar,Ralph Bennett,seniorWashingtoneditorof Reader's
Digest,warnedNJCstudentsnotto thinkofjournalismas a profession;there
isn't muchaboutjournalism,he explained,thatyou can't learnduringtwo
in potentialemployees'
weeks on thejob. As an editor,he is less interested
in
a
in
their
journalismschool than
training
groundingin literature,
history,
he opined,journalistsaretheslavesof
and theBible. Withoutsuchgrounding,
whoevergives theminformation.100
ChrisWarden,an NJC editor,likewise
buta craft.A professionhas a body
added thatjournalismis nota profession
of knowledgeunique to its practice,whereasjournalismdoes not. Aspiring
journalists"can learnthetechniques,skills,tricksofthetrade"easilybecause
theyare almostformulaic.What theyneed is generaland common-sense
and the
The generalknowledge,itwouldseem,is conservative,
knowledge.101
is
common-sense
the
free-market
economics
Tucker.
explainedby
knowledge
By describing
journalismas an easilylearnedcraftand thusdeprofessionalto
(no needforuniversities
izingit,LI andNJCdelegitimate
university
training
in whatare onlytechnicalskills)and legitimate
trainstudents
theirown training (superficialskillscan be learnedin a few weeks). At the same timethat
to
theyuse theirsuperficial
theyattackacademicprofessionalization,
programs
cadres of youngconservatives
by givingthemcredentialsto
professionalize
moveintotheprofessions.
Moreover,theirgoal ofbreakingtheliberalmonopof
articulates
to thelargerconservativegoal of breakingthe
oly professions
is enablednotonlyby
liberalmonopolyof highereducation.Such articulation
rhetoric
andpractices,butalso bytheflowofmoneythatsupportsthem.
TheFoundation
System.In the mid-1980s,conservativefoundationsput their
This shiftcan be
resourcesbehindtheshiftto culturalandacademicchange.102
seen by examiningrecentfundingpatterns.One way to look at fundingpatHereis a granteesampling
ternsis in termsofa rangeofgranteesandgrantors.
for 1989 of some of the organizationsmentionedin this chapter.103
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theAttack
Manufacturing
60
$25,000
Institute
forEducationalAffairs(beforeMCEA merger):total$411,902Achelis,$20,000; Bodman,$30,000; Bradley,$118,000;Coors,$12,000;
Kirby,$25,500; Olin,$121,402;Ryder,$15,000; Scaife,$60,000;WarnerLambert,$10,000
Madison Center (before MCEA merger): total $555,000-Bradley,
$525,000; Olin,$30,000
total$115,000-Bradley,$45,000; Coors, $25,000;
LeadershipInstitute:
Murdock,$45,000
NationalAssociationof Scholars:total$611,200-Coors, $10,000; Olin,
$176,200; Scaife,$300,000
$125,000; SmithRichardson,
NationalJournalism
Center:total$110,000-Coors, $25,000; O'Donnell,
$25,000; Olin,$25,000; Readers'Digest,$35,000
National Endowment for the Humanities JeffersonLecture: total
$30,000-Bradley,$15,000; Olin,$15,000
The obvious patternis thata handfulof right-wingfoundations-particularly
Bradley, Coors, JM, Noble, Olin, Scaife, and Smith Richardson-support
those publications and organizations thathave been instrumentalin the attack
on liberalized highereducation.
But the grantees are only part of the story.The particularculturalprojects
funded,Paul Gottfriedexplains in a book chapterappropriatelytitled"Funding
an Empire," are those thatcarryout the agenda of foundationscontrolled by
neoconservatives. Originally established by paleoconservative (or anti-New
Deal) families, these foundations have been taken over by neoconservative
staffwho now make decisions to fundthose projects thatadvance culturalconservatism.Gottfried,himselfa traditionalconservative,writes:
and
staffsof Bradley,Olin,Smith-Richardson,
Withouttheadministrative
Sara Scaife, therewould be no operativeagenda of "culturalconserWhilecultural
in New Yorkand Washington.
vatism"beingimplemented
still
conservatives-i.e.,criticsof modernsociety-would undoubtedly
have a forum,therewould be no organizedactivityforpositionsthat
foundationheads have decided to call "culturallyconservative."
. .
. The
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EllenMesser-Davidow
61
In return,
foundations.
as a mereconWeyrich
goesbeyondfunctioning
andservesas a spokesman
foran activistpolitical
gressional
lobbyist
withthetraditional
values."Breaking
agendabasedon "Judeo-Christian
conservative
on
limited
he
calls
forgovernmental
government,
emphasis
topromote
cultural
conservatism
acrossthecountry.'05
programs
Gottfriedadds, "In theirown view,neoconservativesand theirallies have
to influencecultureand in turnshape politics.Observing
seized foundations
theinstitutions,'
theLeft's'long marchthrough
have begun
neoconservatives
theirown march,producingofficialpositionson educational,religious,and
aestheticquestions and hiringor coopting advocates to publicize their
stands."106
Anotherwayto look at funding
is in termsofone foundation.
Over
patterns
theyears,theOlin Foundationhas generouslyfundedconservative
academic
institutes
projects-forinstance,conservative
(e.g., theSocial Philosophyand
theCenterfortheStudyof
Center
at
Green
State
Bowling
University,
Policy
Social and PoliticalChangeat SmithCollege,and theOlin CenterforInquiry
ofChicago),acaintotheTheoryandPracticeof Democracyat theUniversity
demiclectureseries,and also professorships
forconserat variousuniversities
vativescholars,who in turntrainconservativegraduatestudents,some supportedbyOlinpostdocs.In 1989,Olin awardedthefollowingamountsto these
fewinstitutions
selectedfroma morecomprehensive
listing:BostonUniver$258,102
sity,$817,352 (some to PeterL. Berger);GeorgeMason University,
(some to JamesC. Miller III and WalterL. Williams); HarvardUniversity,
Yale
$1,261,745 (some to HarveyC. Mansfieldand Samuel P. Huntington);
of
as
four
three-yeargrants;University Chicago,
University,$2,118,598
$1,495,934(some to AllanBloom); Stanford
$1,190,533;andUniUniversity,
of
as
a
To citea longitudinal
$2,583,000
versity Rochester,
seven-year
grant.107
University
example,"between1986 and 1989,"AllanBloom,neoconservative
of Chicago professorand authorof The Closing of the AmericanMind,
Gottfried
"receivedfromOlin over$3 millionin mostlyunrestricted
gifts."108
associated
makesthewell-supported
claimthattheneoconservative
professors
withtheseacademicprojectshave trained,or otherwisesupported,
manyof
thoseneoconservatives
who now stafftheveryfoundations
thatsupporttheir
projects.Moreover,detailingthe"sumptuouslifestyle"enjoyedby recipients
of foundationlargesse, he points out that "neoconservativeacademics
endowedby thefoursisters[Bradley,Olin, Scaife,SmithRichardson]comat thehandsof left-wing
faculties,butfewhumanities
plainof theirsuffering
scholarson theLeftdisposeof comparablefinancialresources.Therecan be
no doubtthatthewidelypublishedsocialistscholarJudith
Shklarreceivedless
financialsupportin thelateeightiesthanherneoconservative
colleaguesin the
samepoliticalsciencedepartment
at Harvard."'109
A thirdway to look at funding
is in termsof therangeof grantors
patterns
to one grantee.Significant
annualdonorsto theHeritageFoundationare clas-
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62
theAttack
Manufacturing
newsletter
a quarterly
Centerfor
Media Integrity,
publishedby theright-wing
the Studyof PopularCulturein Los Angeles,which,underthe directionof
its ideas throughmonoDavid Horowitzand PeterCollier,also promulgates
the
new
scandal-sheet
and
Heterodoxy,
right-wing
attackingtheacadgraphs
is
the
and
Scaife foundaThe
Center
Bradley,JM,Olin,
emy.
supportedby
the
of
one
of
as
well
as
National
Association
whose
mostvocal
Scholars,
tions,
Hoff
serves
on
the
of Comint
Christina
editorial
board
Sommers,
members,
and contributes
to Heterodoxy.
The purposeof theSalvatoriCenterforAcademicLeadership,established
in 1991 through
a five-year
$1 milliongrantfromtheHenrySalvatoriFoundaas academicleaders.The Centerselects"twentytion,is to trainconservatives
fiveyoungfacultyand doctoralcandidatesin the social sciences and the
in a sumhumanities"
to be SalvatoriFellows fortwoyears.Theyparticipate
mercolloquiumand a springLeadershipConference,whichbringstogether
andleadersoforganizations
"scholars,administrators,
workingfortherenewal
of Americanhighereducation."113
such
Through
training,the leaders are
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EllenMesser-Davidow
63
. .
fromthe 'tenured
of civil and
and "thoseprinciplesof freeenterprise,
radicals' on thefaculty,"
of
lifted
to itspreand
human
excellence
that
have
America
religiousliberty,
senteminence."The LeadershipConferenceheld in March 1992 featured,
amongothers,ProfessorsAbrahamMiller,PeterShaw,and Alan Gribben(all
NAS members)on a paneltitled"PC vs. AcademicFreedom:Do Universities
Know the Difference?";and Edwin Meese III, Hadley Arkes (a Heritage
BradleyResidentScholar),andMichaelGreve(ExecutiveDirector,Centerfor
IndividualRights)on anothertitled"PC and Civil Liberties:Is Litigationthe
Answer?""115
This interestin alleged violationsof conservativeacademics'
is
a
rights topicI shall addressafterdiscussinghow theattackon liberalized
highereducationis advancedbygrassrootsorganizing.
TheGrass
Roots
System.Foundationresourcesmaysupportthenonacademicinstitutionalization
of culturalconservatism,
conservativeprofessionalizing
practices,and theattackon highereducation,buttheideas, practices,and attack
also haveto be legitimated
The workoflegitimation
byacademicsthemselves.
is done by theNationalAssociationof Scholars(NAS), whichpresentsitself
as a grassrootsacademicorganization.
The NAS, whichtookitscurrent
titlein
called theCoalitionforCam1987,evolvedfroma predecessororganization
pus Democracy,whichwas foundedin 1982 undertheauspicesof therightwingCommitteefortheFree Worldand theIEA, whoseassociateswereneoconservativesIrvingKristol,Midge Decter, Elliott Abrams,and William
of theOlin Foundation.The NAS is, as theCoalition
Simon,current
president
was, led by StephenBalch and HerbertLondon and fundedby right-wing
foundations.116For FY 1990-91, the NAS received$520,611 fromBradley,
Coors,JM,Olin, Scaife,SmithRichardson,MadisonCenter,and anonymous
donors.For FY 1991-92, it estimatedrevenuesof $682,830 fromBradley,
Coors, Olin, Scaife, SmithRichardson,Joyce,Madison Center,and anonymousdonors.117
The complex structure
of the NAS-a nationalorganizationwithsome
threethousandmembers,approximately
statechapters,campus
thirty-five
chapters,caucuses withinthe disciplines,and international
affiliates-perIn its scholarlyguise,itholdsconferences,
formsseveralfunctions.
publishes
a journal,AcademicQuestions,and makespronouncements
about academic
culture.Meanwhile,its politicalactivitiesare wide-reaching.
Nationalhead-
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64
theAttack
Manufacturing
to lobbygovernment
officialsand churn
quartersmobilizesthemembership
outwritings
on theexcessesof"tenured
radicals."Itsresearchcenterassembles
thestoriesof allegedconservative
victimsof left-academic
abuses and also is
rumoredto compiledata on leftacademics.Statechaptersestablisha conservativepresenceon campusesand give theappearanceof grassrootsfaculty
organizing,although,as is trueforthe MinnesotaAssociationof Scholars,
some were foundedby nonacademicpoliticalconservatives.Throughthese
thata subactivities,theNAS giveslegislatorsand thepublictheimpression
stantialacademicconstituency
trendsin highereducaopposestheliberalizing
tion.Butmoreinsidious,itsscholarlytrappings
"academicize"theproductsof
of scholarlyknowledge,it
the "ideas industry."
By tradingon the authority
cultural
conservatism's
in
the
ideas
legitimates
eyes of thepublicand thereby
advancesculturalconservatism's
agenda.
TheRegulatory
System.Increasingly
usingtheconservative
legal centersthathave
to thecourtsto change
conservatives
areturning
sprungup acrossthecountry,
highereducation.For instance,the CenterforIndividualRights(CIR) was
foundedin 1989 bytwoformer
staffmembersof theconservative
Washington
Legal Foundation:Michael P. McDonald, CIR's president,and Michael S.
It differs
fromtheWashington
Greve,itsexecutivedirector.
Legal Foundation,
theLandmarkFoundation,
andotherconservative
centers
legal
byspecializing
in academic cases and enteringthemin the earlystages ratherthanat the
appealslevel.By thetimea case reachestheappealslevel,JosephA. Shea,Jr.,
a CIR counselexplained,itis "set";thecase has beencraftedandthemistakes
made.CIR, bycontrast,
orto
helpstoresolvea case beforeitreacheslitigation
craftit forlitigation.To thatend,it advises its clientson therulesof "selfdefense."The firstis to assume thatone is battlingalone. The second is to
all accusers,gettheaccusationsin writing,
respondto all accusations,confront
and appearon talkshowsso thepubliccan see theaccusedas a personwithan
to go to
opinion.The thirdruleis to documenteverything,
therebypreparing
courtevenifthecase is unlikelyto endup there.
CIR focuseson academiccases whereuniversity
administrators
or influentialdepartment
membersare hostileto conservative
or to
facultyperspectives
conservative
student
acts.
Most
of
and
its
accordviews,
clients,
organizations,
are "'live whitemales"' targeted
ing to Greve,CIR executivedirector,
by the
Leftas politicallyincorrect,118
been
referred
and manyhave
by theNAS and
MCEA.19 Perhapsbestknownare twoofthecases theCIR has won: Levinv.
Harleston,in whichProfessorMichaelLevin,an NAS memberwho has pubthan
lished "articlessuggestingthatblacks,on average,are less intelligent
whites,"sued CityCollege forcreatinga "shadowsection"to steerstudents
away fromhis course; and Wide Awake v. Universityof Virginia,which chal-
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EllenMesser-Davidow
65
But moreimportant
CIR's activismare cases settledout
forunderstanding
at theUniversity
of court.Amongthefacultycases citedbyShea is a professor
of Alaska whowas criticizedas racistforobservingin a publicspeechthatshe
was underequity pressureto graduateunqualifiedNative Americanstudents.121
The CIR newsletterexplains it this way. When "someone,somewhere,fileda Title VI civil rightscomplaint"againsttheprofessorwiththe
Officeof Civil Rights(OCR), theCIR arguedthattheprofessor's"utterance
constituted
purespeechthatcould notpossiblygive rise to a Title VI violathe complaint."Only aftera lot of undignified
tion,"but OCR investigated
and
the
of a lawsuiton our [CIR's] part,OCR conusual
threat
foot-stomping
cludedthatan 'exchangeofviews' addressingissues ofrace or discrimination
was nota violationof federalcivilrightslaws. Due to ourvociferousprotests,
OCR reachedthisdifficult
conclusionin a meretwelveweeks."'22Amongthe
studentcases is a conservative
studentgroupat PortlandStateUniversity
that
refusedmembershipto a lesbian-feminist
student,who with her friends
to "overwhelm
thememattendedmeetingsand,accordingto Shea, attempted
and
the
When
the
refused
to the
bership
change group."'23
group
membership
and the university,
student,she chargedit withdiscrimination
accordingto
defund
it.
to
and
CIR
and
a
threatened
CIR,
deregister
"cooperatingattorney"
tookup thecase: "For severalmonths,
theUniversity
refusedtobudge,and we
were lookingforwardto bring[sic] thismatterto the attention
of a federal
court.Regrettably,
we nevergota chance;aftermullingthingsover,University
officialsandtheStateAG [Attorney
General]gotroundheelsandkeeledover.
We takethemanywaywe getthem."'24
Shea was frankaboutlitigation:"Courtis notsomething
to be avoided; it
may be theforumwheretruthcomes out. Rememberthatacademic 'goons'
who don'ttakefacile
on campus)don'trespondwell to attorneys,
(repressors
areloatheto geton
answers.Remember,
too,thateducatorsandadministrators
thestand;whentheydo, theytendto giveconvolutedanswersratherthanfacHe returned
to thispointat a laterdate:"Whenyouputsomeof
tualones."125
thesepeopleon a witnessstandand youask questionsforas longas you want
to and you can demandtruthful
answers(or thewitnessgoes to jail forcontempt),thatis a veryenlightening
experienceforall involved."l26 As his commentsand theCIR's newsletter
suggest,bothlitigationand itsthreatare powerfulweapons,thoughdifferently
so. The threatof litigationis a powerful
for
a
out-of-court
witha CIR clientbecause
settlement
weapon
university's
universities
to incurthecostsof litigation.But thethreatis even
are reluctant
not the administrator,
greaterin the courtroombecause therethe attorney,
knowshow to speak the authorizeddiscourseof simple,factual"truth"and
is able to striptheuniversity
of itsauthority
to explainwhatare comthereby
The de-authorization
oftheuniversity
thatwouldoccur
plex academicmatters.
in a CIR-typecase wherea courtrulesfora plaintiff
allegingdiscrimination
wouldseemto contradict
theauthorization
of theuniversity
thathas occurred
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66
theAttack
Manufacturing
in numerouscases wherecourtsruledagainstplaintiffs
allegingdiscriminationagainsta class (i.e., of women).In theformer,
a courtwouldfindthatthe
has discriminated
thecourtshave
againstan individual;in thelatter,
university
foundthatthe university,
as a decentralizedaggregationof departments,
by
definitioncould not discriminateagainsta class. While the two situations
whatactuallyhappensis similar.In both,the
appearto be essentiallydifferent,
of thecourt,whetherdenyingor affirming
theuniversity's
authority
position,
of the university
and does so by failingto come to
sepersedestheauthority
of academicprocess.
gripswiththecomplexity
The CIR has an annual income of $450,000, mostlysupplied by the
andWiegandfoundations,
and a
Bradley,JM,Olin,Scaife,SmithRichardson,
staffof five.127
However,itsreachis moreextensivethanitsbudgetsuggests,
law firms,
becauseitarrangesforattorneys,
torepresent
manyfromprestigious
itsclientson a pro bonobasis andobtainsamicuscuriaebriefsfromprominent
suchas theAmericanAssociationof University
Professorsand
organizations,
ofestablishing
theNew YorkCivil LibertiesUnion.The CIR strategy
judicial
forculturalconservatism
is likelyto be successfulin a federalcourt
precedents
systemnow packedwithReaganand Bush appointees.
to leverage
To citeone moreexampleof theconservative
use ofregulation
on
liberalized
then
of
Education
Lamar
education,
higher
Secretary
change
of
to
his
with
the
conservative
National
Alexander,
help
appointees
Advisory
on Accreditation
NAS membersChristina
HoffSomCommittee
(in particular
mers and MartinTrow128),attackedthe diversitystandardsof the Middle
States Association. Alexander recommendedthat Middle States be dethatcredentialing
authorized,thataccrediting
agenciesbe federally
regulated,
be providedby a numberofcompetitive
agenciesfromwhichinstitutions
may
choose, and thatinstitutional
eligibilityforfederalstudentaid notbe continWhenMiddle Statesagreedunderpressureto make
gentupon accreditation.
standards
some commentators
saw this
optionalforinstitutions,
diversity
of
of
accreditation.129
as
the
a
federalization
In
beginning
peer
"compromise"
these
to
reconstruct
of
cultural
conservatism's
agenda,
attempts
higher
light
mustbe seen
educationthrough
judicialprecedentand government
regulation
but as stepsin the implenot as responsesto left-wing
politicalcorrectness
of theright-wing
mentation
agenda.
oftheIdeasIndustry.
SomeProducts
RogerKimball'sTenuredRadicals (1990) and
DineshD'Souza's IlliberalEducation(1991), to mentiontwopopularattacks
on liberalizedhighereducation,shouldbe seen as "ideas industry"
products
foundationsand "academicized" by the National
supportedby right-wing
Associationof Scholars.
Soon aftercomingto thiscountryin 1978, D'Souza attendedDartmouth
College. He was a founderand editorof theDartmouthReview(an MCEA
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EllenMesser-Davidow
67
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theAttack
Manufacturing
68
one thatguidesconservative
economicmodel,thistimenot thefree-market
of
but
traditional
model
Cultural
a
conservatism
production.
strategy
maybe
seen as thetemplateforattack.The articulated
tanks,training
systems-think
and legal centers-are the
institutes,
foundations,
grassrootsorganizations,
apparatus.The articles,opinionpieces, letters,and news stomanufacturing
The conservative
ries,as well as a rangeofactions,aretheindividualproducts.
seminars,and the grassrootslobbying
journals and books, the think-tank
withthemainstream
media,are thedistribution
efforts,
together
system.The
constitution
and uses of thisapparatusexemplifyverticalarticulatory
practices.Theseverticalpracticesinvolveconstructing
institutional
nodalpointsto
whichin turncan be usedto
leveragechangesin nationalandlocal institutions,
as
and
of
individuals
(re)constitute
subjects
agents a conservative
society.
IV.TheFuture
ofCultural
Conservatism
indicatesthattheRightwill
My fieldresearchin conservativeorganizations
its attackon liberalizedhighereducationin threeareas. It will conintensify
tinue to manufacture
conservativevictimstories,such as those thathave
in
NAS
alreadyappeared
publications,the CollegiateNetworknewspapers,
columns
of conservative
and
the
Heterodoxy,
journalists.Fromprint,thestorieswillprogressto legalcentersandconservative
courts,notonlyconstituting
a mediarealitybutalso changingcase law and thereby
relocatingsomeof the
in
overacademicmatters judicialandgovernmental
instiacademy'sauthority
tutions.
to revertliberalizedcurriculato conservaMoreover,theRightwillattempt
tiveones.BesidestheCollegiateNetworknewspapers'curriculum
surveysand
Curriculum"
theHeritageFoundation's"Conservative
conservatives
program,
have launched several projects,includinga curriculumstudyundertaken,
Balch,bytheNAS researchdivision;attackson liberalaccordingto President
ized curriculapublishedinAcademicQuestionsandpresented
at NAS conferfor
a
liberal-arts
curriculum
a
traditional
ences; proposal
printedin NAS
NEH
and
curriculum
funded
underChairtraditional
the
Update;
projects
by
"A
manCheney.Accordingto theNationalHumanitiesAlliance, majortheme
at NEH has been educationreformand
of LynneV. Cheney'schairmanship
teachersto
centralto thatfocushas [sic] beenprograms1) to assisthumanities
becomemoreknowledgeableaboutand enmeshedin thestudyof thesubjects
theyteach,and2) to helpschoolsandcollegesimprovecontentand coherence
in humanitiescurricula."'35My hunchis thatuntila liberal successor to
"curricuCheneytakesofficeNEH fundswillbe used to supportconservative
will cerlumreversion"projects,and,in anyevent,conservative
foundations
these
projects.
tainlysupport
election,conservatives
beganto
Finally,long beforethe 1992 presidential
and to states,cities,towns,and
shifttheirattentionaway fromWashington
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theAttack
Manufacturing
70
slow but will not stop conservativesbecause theycan stilluse the growing
grassrootsmovementand theirown organizationsto make changethrough
courts,and local bodies.
legislatures,
andprofessionalizing
Doing so, theyuse academicrhetoric
practicesto hide
theirpolitics,buttheirpolitics,makeno mistakeaboutit,consistin coursesof
America-political,economic,andculpracticalactionto imposea right-wing
tural-on all of us. Anyeffectiveresponsefromthosewho are unwillingto
live undertheright-wing
regimewill also requirepracticalaction:coalitionofpropresentation
buildingacrosstheLeftandthemoderatecenter;effective
values
other
electoral
to
communities;
politicssupgressivehigher-education
ofgovernment
liberal,andmoderatecandidates;restaffing
porting
progressive,
agencies;and theacquisitionof legislative,lobbying,media,and fundraising
thefutureof culturalconserskills.In short,to have a hand in determining
academics
must
less
in debate,whichwe have
vatism,progressive
engage
been trainedto believe is decisive in the academic world,and more in
activism,whichtheRighthas shownus is decisivein thepoliticaland cultural
world.
Notes
I am gratefulto JamesMaertens,LarryT. Shillock, and the editorsof Social Textfortheir
helpfulcommentson thischapter.
1. "Taking Offense," Newsweek, 24 December 1990, 48-55; "Upside Down in the
Groves of Academe" and "Academics in Opposition" (on the National Association of
Scholars), Time, 1 April 1991, 66-69.
2. Richard Bernstein,"The Rising Hegemony of the Politically Correct,"New York
Times,28 October 1990, 1, 4; JohnSearle, "Stormover the University,"New YorkReview
of Books, 6 December 1990, 34-42; and "Opening Academia WithoutClosing It Down" (a
forum),New YorkTimes,9 December 1990, E5.
3. Gerald Sirkin,"The MulticulturalistsStrikeBack," Wall StreetJournal, 18 January
1990, A14; "Campus Culture"(on PC at Vassar and Yale), Wall StreetJournal,16 February
Action: FromBad to Worse,"WallStreetJournal,
1990, A12; Thomas Sowell, "Affirmative
6 March 1990, A20; ArthurSchlesinger,Jr.,"When Ethnic Studies Are Un-American,"
Wall StreetJournal, 23 April 1990, A14; "The Ivory Censor" (an editorial), Wall Street
Journal,9 May 1990, A14; JohnH. Bunzel, "Inequitable Equality on Campus," Wall Street
Journal, 25 July 1990, A12; L. Gordon Crovitz, "Moral Cowardice at Dartmouth,"Wall
StreetJournal, 5 October 1990, A18; Joe Segall, "When Academic Quality Is beside the
Point," Wall StreetJournal,29 October 1990, A14; DorothyRabinowitz,"Vive the Academic Resistance," Wall StreetJournal,13 November 1990, A22; and "PoliticallyCorrect,"
Wall StreetJournal,26 November 1990, A10. Sowell and Bunzel are fellows at the rightwing Hoover Institution.Rabinowitz is a long-timememberof the New York-based neoconservativegroupthatincludesNormanPodhoretz,Midge Decter,and IrvingKristol.Podhoretzis editorof Commentaryand a directorof the Committeeforthe Free World.Decter,
is executivedirectorof theCommitteefortheFree World
the formereditorof Commentary,
is
and a board memberof theHeritageFoundation.Kristol,a formereditorof Commentary,
a directorof the Committeefor the Free World and a fellow of the American Enterprise
Institute.His son William Kristol was chief of stafffor William J. Bennettwhen he was
Secretaryof Education and is chiefof staffforformerVice PresidentQuayle and is a member of the Heritage Foundation Cultural Policy Studies WorkingGroup (see below). See
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ManufacturingtheAttack
7. "The Derisory Tower" (an editorial); Ken Emerson, "Only Correct" (a "campus
report"on Wisconsin); JeffRosen, "Hate Mail" (on Yale); Jacob Weisberg,"Thin Skins"
(on Oberlin); StephenR. Barnett,"Get Back" (on Berkeley); JimSleeper,"In the Mix" (on
CCNY); Tamara Jacoby,"Psyched out: Why Black StudentsFeel Torn"; Dinesh D'Souza,
"Sins of Admission"; Richard Blow, "Mea Culpa"; "Ugh! Oops" (a lexicon of politically
correctterms);Fred Siegel, "The Cult of Multiculturalism";and IrvingHowe, "The Value
of the Canon"-all in New Republic, 18 February1991, 5-6, 18-47.
8. George Will, "Poisoning Higher Education," WashingtonPost, 21 April 1991, B7;
"The Cult of Ethnicity,"WashingtonPost, 14 July1991, C7; "Catechism of Correctness,"
WashingtonPost, 20 October 1991, C7; "LiteraryPolitics," Newsweek,22 April 1991, 72;
and "Curdled Politics on Campus," Newsweek,6 May 1991, 72.
9. Dinesh D'Souza, "Sins of Admission," New Republic, 18 February 1991, 30-33;
"Illiberal Education,"AtlanticMonthly(March 1991), 51-58, 62-65, 67, 70-74, 76, 78-79;
"The Visigothsin Tweeds," Forbes, 1 April 1991, 81-86; "Multiculturalism101," Policy
Review 56 (Spring 1991), 22-30; "'PC' So Far," Commentary92, no. 4 (October 1991),
44-46; and "The New Segregationon Campus," AmericanScholar 60, no. 1 (Winter1991),
17-30.
10. For an excellent article on this point, see Charles A. Radin, "ConservativesSend
Their Agenda to Colleges," Boston Globe, 12 November 1990, section3, 1.
if limited,replies.On ideas and the invalid11. The followingare extremelythoughtful,
ity of claims, see Michael B6rub6, "Public Image Limited: Political Correctnessand the
Media's Big Lie," Village Voice, 18 January1991, 31-37. On the inaccuracyof charges,see
Rosa Ehrenreich,"What Campus Radicals?" Harper's (December 1991), 57-59, 61. On the
illogic of argumentsand invalidityof claims, see JaminRaskin,"The Fallacies of 'Political
Correctness': I," Z Magazine (January1992), 31-37. On rhetoric,inaccuracyof charges,
and ideas, see Cathy N. Davidson, "'PH' Stands forPolitical Hypocracy,"Academe (September-October1991), 8-14.
12. Lynne V. Cheney, "Scholars and Society," a speech to the American Council of
Learned Societies, New York, 15 April 1988; printedin theACLS Newsletter1, no. 3 (Summer 1988), 5-7; quotation,6.
13. StephenH. Balch and HerbertLondon, "The TenuredLeft,"Commentary82, no. 4
(October 1986), 41-51; HerbertLondon, "Death of the University,"Futurist 21, no. 3
(May-June 1987), 17-22; Russell Jacoby,"Radicals in Academia," The Nation, 19 September 1987, 263-67; ChesterE. Finn,Jr.,"The Campus: 'An Island of Repressionin a Sea of
Freedom,"' Commentary88, no. 3 (September 1989), 17-23; Paul Hollander,"FromIconoclasm to ConventionalWisdom: The Sixties in the Eighties,"StanleyRothman,"Professors
in the Ascendant,"and Aaron Wildavsky,"The Rise of Radical Egalitarianismand the Fall
of Academic Standards," all in Academic Questions 2, no. 4 (Fall 1989), 31-38, 45-51,
52-55; and John P. Roche, "Academic Freedom: The New Left Vigilantes," National
Review, 8 December 1989, 34-35.
14. See, forinstance, Carol lannone,"Feminismand Literature,"New Criterion4, no. 3
(November 1985), 83-87; Elizabeth Lilla, "Who's Afraidof Women's Studies," Commentary81, no. 2 (February1986), 53-57; George Gilder,"Sexual Politics," Chronicles(June
1986), 1-15; Carol lannone, "The Barbarism of Feminist Scholarship," Intercollegiate
Review 23, no. 1 (Fall 1987), 35-41; JamesNuechterlein,"The Feminizationof the American Left," Commentary84, no. 5 (November 1987), 43-48; VirginiaR. Hyman,"Conflict
and Contradiction:Principlesof FeministScholarship,"Academic Questions 1, no. 1 (Winter 1987-88), 3-14; Carol lannone, "FeministFollies," Academic Questions 1, no. 1 (Winter 1987-88), 45-47; BrigitteBerger, "Academic Feminism and the 'Left,"' Academic
Questions 1, no. 2 (Spring 1988), 6-15; Carol lannone, "Analyzing a Feminist Whine,"
AmericanSpectator (May 1988), 30-31; Carol lannone, "Feminismvs. Literature,"Commentary86, no. 1 (July 1988), 49-53; Ruth R. Wise, "Living withWomen's Lib," Commentary86, no. 2 (August 1988), 40-45; Peter Shaw, "Feminist LiteraryCriticism: A
Report fromthe Academy,"American Scholar 57, no. 4 (Autumn 1988), 495-513; Margarita Levin, "Caring New World: Feminism and Science," American Scholar 54, no. 1
(Winter1988), 100-6; Steven Hayward,"Feminismas a FesteringIdeology,"New Perspec-
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ManufacturingtheAttack
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ManufacturingtheAttack
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ManufacturingtheAttack
Editor's Anger,"Los Angeles Times,3 July 1990, n.p., 5 pp.; David Shaw, "Can Women
ReportersWriteObjectivelyon AbortionIssue?" Los Angeles Times(no otherinformation),
3 pp.; David Shaw, "'Abortion Hype' Pervaded Media afterWebsterCase," Los Angeles
Times,4 July1990, n.p., 6 pp.
93. "Bias in BroadcastNews," seminarconductedby BrentBaker,Executive Directorof
the Media Research Center,an organizationdevoted to exposing the liberal bias of the
media.
94. Author'sobservationof the Broadcast JournalismSchool, LeadershipInstitute,held
at the Free Congress Foundation,Washington,D.C., 13-14 June 1992.
95. Author'sobservationof the Broadcast JournalismSchool, 13-14 June1992.
96. Cultural Conservatism.:Towarda New National Agenda, 1.
unlessotherwisenoted,is fromtheauthor'sobservationof theseminar
97. All information,
on common-senseeconomics,NationalJournalism
Center,Washington,
D.C., 3 April 1991.
98. UnitedStates Tax ReporterInternalRevenue Code, vol. 18, 35,119.
99. Author'sinterviewof William Forrest,13 April 1992.
100. Ralph Bennett,Senior WashingtonEditor,Reader's Digest, fromauthor'sobservationof the FridaySeminaron Journalism,National JournalismCenter,Washington,D.C., 3
April 1992.
101. Author'sinterviewof Chris Warden,3 July1992.
on conservativefoundationsand what theyhave funded,see Paul
102. For information
Gottfried,The ConservativeMovement,rev.ed. (New York: Twayne, 1993), esp. chapter6,
"Funding an Empire"; David Warner,"Scaife: Financier of the Right," PittsburghPostGazette, 20 April 1981, 1, 6-7; "Historyof Coors: RightWing on Tap," National Boycott
News 2, no. 4 (Spring-Summer1989), 163-65; Russ Bellant and Chip Berlet,"How Coors
Family FundingUnderminesDemocracy,"Guild Notes 14, no. 5 (November 1990), 1, 6-7;
Russ Bellant, The Coors Connection(Boston: South End, 1991); "Mixing Beer and Philanthropyto UndermineProgressive Causes," Responsive Philanthropy(Spring 1992), 16,
10-12; Jon Weiner,"Dollars for Neocon Scholars," The Nation, 1 January1989, 12-14;
Sara Diamond, "Endowing the Right-WingAcademic Agenda," CovertActionInformation
Bulletin38 (Fall 1991), 46-49; and "FoundationsAre Four Times More Liberal Than Conservative:Capital Research CenterReportsto the Nation,But Do You Believe It?" Responsive Philanthropy(Fall 1991), 1, 12-13.
103. Unless otherwisenoted, all fundinginformationis fromthe Foundation Grants
Index, ed. Ruth Kovacs, 20th ed. (New York: FoundationCenter,1991). This editionlists
grantsreportedin the tax year 1990 and usually paid in 1989 (thoughsometimespaid in
1988 or 1990). On cross-checkingthislistingagainst selected foundationannual reports,I
concluded thattheFoundationGrantsIndex does notalways providecompleteinformation.
104. The Center for Individual Rights was founded in 1988 and began operating in
1989. Informationon 1989 fundingfromthe JM Foundation 1989 Annual Report (New
York: JM,n.d.), 23; and SmithRichardsonFoundationAnnual Reportfor 1989 (n.p., n.d.),
4. Informationon 1990 fundingfromtheReportof theLyndeand HarryBradley Foundation,August 1988-July 1990 (Milwaukee: Bradley, n.d.), 16; John M. Olin Foundation
1990 Annual Report (New York: Olin, n.d.), 9; and SmithRichardsonFoundation Annual
Reportfor 1990 (n.p., n.d.), 4.
105. Gottfried,
The ConservativeMovement,124. For an accountof theneoconservative
takeover of the foundations, see 128-31; and for an account of the neoconservative
takeover,throughfoundationfunding,of thinktanksand otherorganizations,see 131-38.
106. Ibid., 125.
107. Foundation GrantsIndex, ed. RuthKovacs, 19thed. (New York: FoundationCenter,1990), 524-28.
108. Paul Gottfried,
"Populism vs. Neoconservatism,"Telos 90 (Winter1991-92), 186.
109. Gottfried,The ConservativeMovement,140.
110. Lists of Associates and Founders,dated 31 January1990, given to the authorby
JohnM. Slye, 10 June1992.
111. All quotations fromthe Bradley Resident Scholars Program application form,
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ManufacturingtheAttack
132. Fact sheet,Teachers fora DemocraticCulture,n.d. (ca. December 1991); information takenfromthe 1990 annual reportof the Olin Foundation.
133. See Stone, "The Ideology Front:The I.E.A.-Teaching the 'Right' Stuff,"231-35;
and Lawrence J. Delaney, Jr.,and Leslie Lenkowsky,"The New Voice on Campus: 'Alternative StudentJournalism,"'32-38.
134. Karen J. Winkler,"A ConservativePlans to 'Sound theGuns' at NEH," Chronicle
of Higher Education, 16 October 1991, A5.
135. JohnHammer,memorandumto NHA [National Humanities Alliance] Members
and Friends,13 February1992, 4.
136. Informationon Town Hall fromthe author's interviewof JeanneAllen, 11 June
1992; and "Town Hall Can BenefitYou," HeritageFoundationletter,n.d., 2 pp. Information
on National EmpowermentTelevision fromthe author's interviewsof Michael Schwartz,
Senior Vice President,Coalitions forAmerica BroadcastingNetwork,Free Congress Foundation,Washington,D.C., 11 June1992 and 24 November 1992.
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