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Manufacturing the Attack on Liberalized Higher Education

Author(s): Ellen Messer-Davidow


Source: Social Text, No. 36 (Autumn, 1993), pp. 40-80
Published by: Duke University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/466388
Accessed: 07-08-2015 06:42 UTC
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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

columnistGeorge Will firedoff columns for the WashingtonPost and


Newsweek,8and D'Souza publishedin a half-dozenvenues, includingthe
AtlanticMonthly,Forbes, and the American Scholar.9

Progressiveacademics who respondedto the attackmade theproverbial


mistakesof too littleand too late. By and large,theyrepliedto theconservative arguments,ignoringthe issue of how so manyof themhad suddenly
Limitedby theirtraining,
appearedin print.10
theycame to theattackthrough
textsand focusedon itstextualfeatures-therhetoric,
theideas,thevalidityof
that
once
the
attack
was
so widelyit was a
textualized
claims"--notrealizing
faitaccompli.Moreover,sincemostofthemwerenotreadingright-wing
periodicals in themid-1980s,theydid notnoticethestrategy
fortheattackpercolating thereand later spreadingto mainstreamperiodicals. The strategy
involvedproducingcriticismsthatdemonizedliberaland lefttypes,an anticommunist
these
techniqueused by theOld Rightin the 1950s,and targeting
criticismsto particularaudiences,a direct-mailtechniquedevelopedby the
New Rightin theearly1980s.
ChairmanCheney,forinstance,triedthestrategy
outduringa talkat a 1988
of
the
American
Council
of
Learned
Societies
(ACLS):
meeting
WhenI becomemostconcerned
aboutthestateofthehumanities
in our
is notwhenI seetheories
andideasfiercely
comcollegesanduniversities
I
them
I
but
when
see
when
see
feminist
critineatly
peting,
converging,
ofpoststructuralism,
variousforms
andotherapproaches
cism,Marxism,
andthreatening
all comingtobearon oneconcept
todisplaceit.I think
ofWestern
oftheconcept
whichhascomeunder
civilization,
specifically
on manyfronts,
for
Attacked
pressure
politicalas well as theoretical.
andEurocentric,
thiscentralandsustaining
sexist,
elitist,
racist,
being
idea of oureducational
systemand our intellectual
heritageis being
ofstudy.12
declared
unworthy
Marxists,
Cheney'sconceit-thata new academic"gang of four"(feminists,
and theorists)was betraying
thenationalculturalheritage-multiculturalists,
was notjusttheidiosyncratic
rhetoric
ofan outspokenpublicofficial.
Rather,it
was takenfroman alreadycraftedconservative
discourse.
As
earlyas
political
had
laid
out the argumentthat"tenuredradicals" had
1986, right-wingers
embarkedon a wholesaledemolitionof theWesternculturaltradition
and the
U.S. universities
it.Raisingthespecterof 1950scomchargedwithpreserving
munismand 1960s radicalism,sucharticlesas StephenH. Balch and Herbert
London's "The TenuredLeft" (1986), Russell Jacoby's"Radicals in Academia" (1987), ChesterE. Finn's "The Campus: 'An Island of Repressionin a
Sea ofFreedom"'(1989), and JohnP. Roche's "AcademicFreedom:The New
LeftVigilantes"(1989) portrayed
theactivitiesof progressive
academicsas at
once McCarthyite
and revolutionary.13
Conservativeswere the mostprolificin attackingacademic feminismin
academicperiodicalsand feminist
positionson such issues as abortion,rape,

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42

theAttack
Manufacturing

and sexual harassment


in academicand generalperiodicals.Whiletheirdiscussions of feminismrangedfromthe serious,thoughnot always accurate
(e.g., VirginiaR. Hyman's"Conflictand Contradiction:
Principlesof Feminist
the
to
lannone's
"Literature
vitriolic
(Carol
by Quota"),14most
Scholarship")
differentiated
an acceptablymoderateequal-rights
whichhas been
feminism,
embracedby a large partof the public, fromlesbian, Marxist,and postwhichtheylinkedto academicradicalism.
structuralist
feminisms,
were
less
successfulin the battleagainstacademic theorybecause
They
theyhad, by and large,to relyupon conservativeacademics to conductit.
kindsoftheorywerereluctant
Those whosupported
traditional
to condemnthe
wholeenterprise,
andthosewhocriticizedparticular
theoretical
trendsfoundit
harderwork(and certainly
less fun)to enterthesecomplexdiscoursesthanto
demonizetypes.WhilePeterShaw's "DecliningDiscourse"(1988) denounced
Marxistcriticism
without
meaningfully
engagingitandJosephEpstein's"AcademicZoo: Theory-in Practice"(1991) readlikea People magazineaccount
mostconservative
of thenamesin New Criticismand new theory,
academics
even
New
withdeconstruction.'5
the
a
Criterion,
Finally,
grappledawkwardly
conservativeartjournaleditedby HiltonKramerand managedby Kimball,
believedhad no place in
weighedin on politics,a subjectthatconservatives
sucha journal.In thefallof 1991,it devotedseveralopeningcommentaries
to
thepoliticsof theacademicleft-"The Counter-Revolution
Abroad,theCulturalRevolutionat Home," "Post-Communist
Radicalismand the Cultural
Revolution,"and "The AcademicLeftStrikesBack."
The attackon multiculturalism
has been thebroadestbecause theopening
ofthecurriculum
topreviously
excludedracesandculturesoverlapswithother
effortsin the academyand societythatconservativesoppose: forinstance,
African-American
andgayactivism,affirmative
codes.
action,andhate-speech
Duringthepast fouryears,theyhave publisheddozens of articlescriticalof
andallegedreverseracismon campusin Commulticulturalism,
Afrocentrism,
National Review,New Republic,and otherperiodicals.Most bear
mentary,
provocativetitlesthatridiculetheseprojects(e.g., EdwardAlexander's"Race
Fever,"BrianHecht's"Dr. Uncool J:The Sun-ManComethto Harvard,"and
Fred Siegel's "The Cult of Multiculturalism")
or thatappropriateantiracist
rhetoricin orderto turnpublic sentimentagainstantiracistprojects(e.g.,
AndrewSullivan's"Racism 101,"D'Souza's "New Segregationon Campus,"
and Thomas Short's "'New Racism' on Campus?"). Honors for the most
titled
obfuscatingrhetoricgo to NathanGlazer's attackon multiculturalism
"In Defenseof Multiculturalism."16
thatcouldbe listedin a comprehensive
The manypublications
bibliography
on thissubjectomittwodimensionsoftheattack:first,
thousandsofcriticisms
voicedbyconservatives
in televisionandradiointerviews,
op-edpieces,letters
to theeditor,and newsletters;
and second,numerousactionstakenby citizens
andgovernment
officialsto regulateliberalizedhighereducation.Forinstance,
theformerSecretaryof Educationattempted
to regulateaccrediting
associa-

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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

Thus,between1955 and 1980,theRightbecamea powerful


politicalmovestrains(Old Right,neoconservament.It had builta coalitionof conservative
ecoand supply-side
free-market
tive,New Right,Christian
Right,libertarian,
interest
of
national
and
an
infrastructure
nomics,etc.)
organizations,
groups,
churches,and corporatecouncils. Despite riftsin ideologies and priorities
thecoalitionbecame a politicalforceby
amongits variousconstituencies,26
organizingcadresof campaignworkers,PACs, lobbyinggroups,and eventually the dominantfactionof the RepublicanParty.Today the conservative
movement,the termnow preferredby manyof its members,is intenton
and organizing
the"ThirdGeneration"
thecoalitionby training
strengthening
also
these
same
the
thegrassroots.27
decades, Right
enlargeditsinfraDuring
and legal
withfoundations,
thinktanks,media,traininginstitutes,
structure
centersthatbeganto focustheirresourceson culturalchange.
Withtheelectionof PresidentReagan in 1980,
forEducation.
Conservative
Agendas
to makenational
werefinallyin a positionto use thegovernment
conservatives
tookthe
culturalchange,and theybegan witheducation.Theirinterventions
formnotof critiques,whichimplyacademicanalysis,butof agendas,which
theyproducedtwoagendasforeducation.The
implypoliticalaction.Initially,
traditional
formulated
centrist
liberals,and polby neoconservatives,
agenda,
"federalinterthat
the
American
at
Institute,
Enterprise
charged
icy analysts
ventionto promoteeducationalequitywas excessive"bothin placingequity
beforeexcellenceand in pursuingit withlittleregardforthecostsinvolved.
ofpublic-education
to "proThe agendacalledfora reordering
goals so as first
mote economic growthfor the nation," next to "help preserve a common cul-

tureby teachingstudentsthebasic values uponwhichAmericancapitalismis


theradical
based,"and onlythento supporteducationalequity.28
By contrast,
at the
and
formulated
conservative
Christians
analysts
by
policy
Rightagenda,
of
universities
that
a
liberal-humanist
Foundation,
charged
monopoly
Heritage
and federalagencieshad broughtabouta decline"ofqualityteachingand academicstandards."Its moredrasticaim was to reverseprogressive
changeby
ofEducation,eliminating
education(abolishingtheDepartment
defederalizing
andenforcethefederalfundingofeducation,andreducingequityregulations
research
ment)but at the same timeincreasingtheregulationof university
sponsoredbyfederalagencies.29
The themesoftheradicalRightagendaweresketchedoutinA NewAgenda
of Heritage'sotheragendas,
forEducation,a bookletthatfollowedtheformat
suchas MandateforLeadership,bycombininganalysisandactionrecommenIn theintroduction,
Eileen M. Gardiner,
dationsto theReagan administration.
an educationpolicy analystat Heritage,arguedthatAmerica'straditionally
local systemofeducationhad givenwayto a centralizedsystembesetbyvari-

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EllenMesser-Davidow

45

ous ills (increasedcosts,decreasedquality,corruption


that
by specialinterests)
defederalization
wouldreverse.30
The fiveessayson primary-secondary
educationcriticizedteachertenure,teachers'unions,statecertification,
affirmative
actionand equal opportunity
value-neutral
(i.e., secular-humanist)
programs,
to privateandreligiousschools,andcomeducation,denialoffederalfunding
andbilingualeducation.The one essayon higheredupensatory,
handicapped,
cationarguedthatthemissionof universities
had been perverted
by thepostwar growthand liberalizationof highereducation.Universities,
ratherthan
education,now were designed"to
pursuingtruthand providingliberal-arts
The authorconcludedthat"thefederalgovernremedysocial inequalities."31
mentcannothelpuniversities
pursuetheireducationaltasks;democraticgovis not,and shouldnotbe, an appropriate
ernment
sponsorforliberalartstrainwhile
it
cannot
the
can
But
hurt."32
ing.
help, government certainly
in thelast chapterwas devisedto makegovThe listof recommendations
ernmenthelpfulin implementing
theradicalRightagenda and continuesto
guideconservatives
todayas, forinstance,theylobbyforstateschool-choice
cases, proplans and a federalvouchersystem,litigatereverse-discrimination
on teachers'unionsand
mote standardizedtesting,and proposerestrictions
associations.Thoughtheagendarecommended
radicalchangesin
accrediting
education,itdid nottacklethelargermatterofculturalproduction.
How,then,
to defederalizeeducationto a theodid theRightgetfroma recommendation
of culturalproduction?
reticallydriventransformation
In themid-1980s,a groupof conservatives
associatedwith
Cultural
Conservatism.
a
Paul Weyrich,
presidentof theFree CongressFoundation(FCF), undertook
whichwas to be thetemplatefora new
projectcalled "culturalconservatism,"
Americanpolitics.Turningaway fromthe conservativepreoccupationwith
economics,FCF designedculturalconservatismas a responseto "activist
and othernon-economicissues."
movementsbuiltaroundvalues,life-styles,
movements
as
"the
these
vanguardsof a profoundpolitical
Recognizing
cen"the
it
that
that
carryus intothetwenty-first
change," predicted
politics
will
on
on
culture."33
be
based
not
but
economics,
tury
FCF read theissues raisedby thevanguardmovementsas evidence"that
of a
fromculturaldrift... [a] gradualemptying
Americahas been suffering
notby some violentoverturning,
butby slow
nation'svalues of theircontent,
evaporationin whichtheformis left-in rhetoricand oftenin manners-but
thesubstancedisappears."34
The symptoms
ofdriftincludedconspicuousconethic,demandsto eliminateracismand homophobia,
sumption,a "me-first"
scientificproposals to achieve zero-populationgrowthand eliminatemale
aggressionas the sourceof war,decreasedreligiousand parentalinfluence,
deterioration
of schooleducation,women'sandcritical-legal
studies,androck
videos.Blamedforitwerethe1960sculturalradicalsand a newercastofcharacters,suchas yuppiesand welfarerecipients,
producedby liberallargesse.35

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46

theAttack
Manufacturing

Eager to cast off"thenegativepublicimageof the'New Right,"'Weyrich


the strainsof postwarconservativeorthodoxy
(Cold Warriors,
distinguished
from
free-market
cultural
conservalibertarians,
fundamentalists,
economists)
tivism.Whereastheyhad definedthemselvesin termsof whattheyopposed
culturalconservatism
anti-Hoover,
antiregulation),
(theywereanticommunist,
woulddefineitselfin termsof whatitstoodforagainsttheforcesoftheLeft.36
ideas of environmental
stewardIt wouldpromote,forinstance,conservative
to thepoorbecauseitrecognizedtheseideas as partof a
shipandphilanthropy
This shiftwould producea deeperunderWesterntradition.37
longstanding
thosevalues it had inherof
conservatism
by findingways to affirm
standing
ited.38
Culturalconservatives,accordingto WeyrichadvisorWilliam S. Lind,
Westernculture"becauseit"isfunctionally
"seek to conservetraditional
true";
in termsofwhatitprothatis, "itis necessaryifoursocietyis tobe successful,
videsitscitizens."39
Theybelievein
betweentraditional
and causalrelationship
a necessary,
unbreakable,
ofright
andwrong,
Judeo-Christian
values,definitions
Western,
waysof
sociandwaysofliving... andthesecularsuccessofWestern
thinking
their
their
andtheopportunities
eties:their
liberties,
theyoffer
prosperity,
lives.If theformer
areabandoned,
citizensto leadfulfilling,
rewarding
willbe lost.Theessenceofcultural
conservatism
canbereduced
thelatter
values.If we
to a singlephrase:traditional
valuesarefunctional
further,
learnin schools,
wanta societywherethingswork-wherestudents
whereourhomesandourpersonsare
whereproducts
arecompetitive,
followtraditional
Western
safefromcrime,
etc.-we must,as a society,
values.40
carriesfivemeanings,accordingto Michael Schwartz,an FCF
Functionality
trueforsocietyis notthemarketbut
vice president.
First,whatis functionally
culture.Secondly,if culturalvalues are functionally
true,culturalconservativesdo notneed to convincepeople thattheyare good,butonlythatempirivalueslead to coalitionbuildingbecause
callytheywork.Moreover,functional
that
also allows theRightto
a
works.
wants
Functionality
society
everyone
the
of
environmentalism-withideas
of
the
the
Left-e.g.,
appeal
appropriate
meansthattheorymustbe put
outrejectingthementirely.41
Last,functionality
ideas
have
intopractice.Or, as Weyrichobserves,
consequencesonlywhen
can "putfeet"
theyareconnectedto action.Askinghimselfhowconservatives
has tohavea positivevisionof
Lindanswersthatconservatism
on theirtheory,
anda leader.Cultural
theAmericaitwants,an agenda,a grassroots
movement,
conservatism
suppliesthevisionandtheagenda.42
theinstitutions
Culturalconservatism's
agendais to reform
responsiblefor
thosethatanothergroupofconservative
theorists
Western
culture,
transmitting
have called mediatingstructures:
families,schools,churches,neighborhoods,
labor unions,professionalassociations,business,serviceorganizations,
and
themedia."Stand[ing]betweentheindividualcitizenand government,"
these

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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:

We mustthusprovideresourcesand guidanceto an elite whichcan take


up anew the task of enculturation.
Throughitsjournals,lectures,seminars,books,and fellowships,thisis whatISI has done successfullyfor
thirty-six
years.The comingof age of sucheliteshas providedthecurrent
leadershipof the conservativerevival.But we shouldadd a majornew
componentto our strategy:the conservativemovementis now mature
on thatlast Leftistredoubt,thecolenoughto sustaina counteroffensive
lege campus.... We are now strongenoughto establisha contemporary
on campus,andcontesttheLefton itsownturf.
presenceforconservatism
We planto do thisbygreatlyexpandingtheISI fieldeffort,
itsnetworkof
campus-basedprogramming.46
Conservatives realized thatthe move would not succeed if theyused outsiders
to force change upon an academy whose independence fromexternalpolitical
interferenceis traditionally acknowledged (though not always observed in
practice) in this country.Rather,the move had to occur both withinand against
the academy.
The organization initially most successful in moving the attack into the

academyis theMadisonCenterforEducationalAffairs(MCEA), formedfrom


a 1990 mergerof the Institutefor Educational Affairs(IEA) and the Madison
Center.47It has achieved success largely throughits Student JournalismProgram,which sponsors the Collegiate Networkof seventyconservative student
newspapers on sixty-sixcampuses across the country."With a combined circu-

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48

theAttack
Manufacturing

lationofmorethan600,000,"theMCEA writes,"CollegiateNetworkpublicationsremainthemostpotentcatalystfordebateon college campuses."48


In
it is correct.Mostof thewell-known
debateson race,gender,
thisassessment,
sexuality,and leftismin theacademywerecatalyzedby thesenewspapers,as
Less
the particularlyvirulentexample of the DartmouthReview attests.49
have
is
that
most
of
the
curriculum
known,however,
published
newspapers
surveys,the firstappearingin theBrownSpectator,HarvardSalient,DartmouthReview,and FederalistPaper (Columbia)in 1988, and have attacked
course.50
suchas theUniversity
ofTexas composition
curricular
innovations,
MCEA makesdirectgrants
theCollegiateNetwork,
Generouslysupporting
to thenewspapers(nearly$200,000 in 1991); provideseditorialand technical
assistance; maintainsa toll-freehotlinefor advice; publishesNewslink,a
ofCN Friends,a
freeofchargethepublications
distributes
newsletter;
monthly
and magazines
than
conservative
of
more
eighty
policyorganizations
group
National
and
American
the
Review,
Spectator);
(including HeritageFoundation,
holdsregionalconferences
for
cash awardsforstudentwriting;
givesmonthly
distributes
freeofchargethe"bookofthemonth"(pastbooks
newspaperstaffs;
includeSykes's Hollow Men, D'Souza's IlliberalEducation,and ChesterL.
to theWashington
Finn,Jr.'sWeMustTakeCharge);andmakesreferrals
Legal
Centerand the CenterforIndividualRights(on CIR, see below). Through
andyearitprovidessummer,
another
EditorialInternships,
semester,
program,
offices
of
students
at
federal
for
(NEH,
Department
long internships college
conservative
Office
of
the
Vice
Commerce,
President),
organizations
(Bradley
Foundation,FreedomHouse), and conservativepublications(New Republic,
PublicInterest,
AcademicQuestions,PolicyReview).51
NationalInterest,
Fuelingtheattack,MCEA publishestheCommonSenseGuidetoAmerican
Colleges,whichevaluatestheacademicand politicalclimateat colleges and
and students
ask administrators,
Itsquestionnaires
universities.
speciffaculty,
admissionsand
need-blind
actionprograms,
icallyaboutaggressiveaffirmative
need-basedscholarships,abortioncounseling,special-interest
organizations
aboutEurocentrism,
("women,Asian,homosexual,etc."),campuscontroversy
"coursesused forpoliticalindoctrination,"
oppositionto a core curriculum,
"an
behavior
and
and
codes,
ideologicallydiversemixof speakers."52
speech
is moreapparent
in
to conservatives,
The slant,highlighting
issuesprovocative
are
mailed
to
because
the facultyand studentquestionnaires,
they
perhaps
NAS membersand conservative
staffs.53
student-newspaper
Finally,MCEA providesgrantsto scholarsworkingon books-among
them,D'Souza forIlliberalEducationanda newbookon "thepolitical,moral,
and culturalcontributions
of Westerncivilization";Paul Hollanderfora book
withCommunistsystems";and Tamara
on "the sourcesof disillusionment
Jacobyfora book on "Americanracerelations"(see note7). MCEA's interest
its DiversityProgram,whichholdsnationalmeetin "race relations"informs
such speakersas ClarenceThomasand
students,featuring
ings forminority

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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

choices, can reorientthe market.That conservatives have reasonable hopes of


creating and reorientingthe market is expressed by Michael P. McDonald,
presidentof the Center forIndividual Rights (see below). He is opposed to litigation requiringacademic institutionsto be hospitable to a diversityof opinion on theircampuses because
a sounderview wouldemphasizenotthediversity
withineach institution
butthediversity
amongthem.The goal shouldbe to maximizetherange
ofchoices,particularly
withregardto educationalmission.Insteadofhaving courtssuperintend
highereducation,we shouldrelyon contractual
remediesand informedindividualchoice to safeguardagainstpolitical
witha reputation
forand a
zealotryand oppression.A privateuniversity
will notforlongretaingood scholars-or motivated
recordof intolerance
numberof institustudents.
Administrators
and facultyat thediminishing
on buildingand
tionsthatvalue traditional
scholarshipshouldconcentrate
not
on
them
their
academic
programs,
up to every
preserving
opening
to "buildand preserve"and keep the
passingfad.The simpleexhortation
courtsat bay may sound harshto the victimsof PC zealotry.But the
SupremeCourtand Congresshave alreadybreachedthewalls of institutionalacademicfreedomin cases involvingclaims of racial discriminationand sexual harassment.
By doing so, theyhave openeda Pandora's
Box of litigation:any academicwho is deniedan appointment
or a promotionor tenure-and who happens to be femaleor a minority-can
marchintocourtwitha primafacielegal case.56
The obvious rationale against litigating to achieve a strongerconservative
presence on campuses-that it is a double-edged sword-is not the one I want
to emphasize. Rather,the implicitrationale informingMcDonald's position is
that conservatives can use the free-marketeconomic model as a strategyfor
seizing at least some means of culturalproductionand thencompetingeffectively in thatmarket.
How will theydo so? On one hand, theywill "build and preserve" conservative institutions,as McDonald suggests, and, on the other hand, they will
weaken liberal ones. Already, as education activists, theyhave won seats on
school and university boards, pressured textbook publishers, and formed
groups (i.e., Accuracy in Academe) thatmonitoreducation in orderto make its
content more conservative. As education lobbyists, they promote schoolchoice legislation in order to shiftthe decision-point for fundingeducation
from the federal government,which has refused to supportprivate and religious schools, to parents, who would be free to do so. Their claim that not
only conservatives but also inner-cityminoritiesare dissatisfied with public
schools suggests thatone result of school-choice would be to depopulate and
therebydefundpublic schools. While higher-educationfundingis a more complicated situation,a numberof conservative proposals-such as reducing student aid, prohibitingminorityscholarships, permittingcompeting accrediting
associations, and awarding federal fundingto conservative projects-would
weaken the liberalizing trendsin the academy and redirectresources to con-

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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

22 fellowsand scholars,morethan50 adjunct


1991,ithad 145 peopleon staff,
whichis remarkable
foritswidebase
scholars,and a budgetof$19.3 million,64
of support:50 percentof its incomewas contributed
individual
170,000
by
donorssolicitedthrough
directmail,25 percentbyfoundations,
and 13 percent
withtheremaining12 percentderivedfrominvestments
and
by corporations,
well
as
other
sales. Amongthefoundations
supporting
Heritage(as
right-wing
organizations)are Lyndeand HarryBradley,AdolphCoors,Samuel Roberts
Noble,JohnH. Olin,Reader'sDigest,and Sara Scaife.65
its ideas,Heritagedrawson theexpertslistedin
To produceand distribute
The AnnualGuide to Public PolicyExpertsand its own nearly200 publicationsa year.In 1990, theAnnualGuide listed"1,500 conservativescholars
whoseexpertise[was] cataloguedin 70 subfields,"and in 1992 it listed2,000
scholarswhoseexpertisewas cataloguedin 77 subfields.Beginningin 1993,
theAnnualGuidewillbe availableon CD-ROM, and all Heritagepublications
willbe availableon a subscription
As thesenumberssugnetwork.66
computer
as in producingits ideas.
gest,Heritagehas been as effectivein distributing
Edwin J. Feulner,Jr.,presidentof the HeritageFoundation,explains: "We
don'tjust stresscredibility.
.. . We stressan efficient,
effective
deliverysystem.Productionis one side; marketing
is equallyimportant."67
The delivery
consists
of
four
divisions:
Public
Relations
markets
ideas to
system
marketing
themedia and thepublic;Government
Relationsto Congress,theExecutive
combranch,and government
agencies;AcademicRelationsto theuniversity
Bank
institutions
think
Resource
state
and
the
intertanks),
munity,
(including
nationalconservativenetwork;and CorporateRelationsto businessesand
trades.Division marketingis coordinatedat twice-weeklymeetingsof the
seniormanagement,
butpolicyresearchdrivesthemarketing
process.68
How the marketingworks,accordingto Blumenthal'sresearch,is that
is in theHeritagecomputer.So are about3,500
"everycongressionalstaffer
journalists,organizedby specialty.EveryHeritagestudygoes outwitha synopsis to thosewho mightbe interested;
everystudyis turnedintoan op-ed
distributed
Features
the
piece,
by
Heritage
Syndicateto newspapersthatpubThe goal is to getthemessageto themediaand thepublic,who,
lish them."69
in turn,getit to policymakers.
Feulner'scommentsare notfancifulcapitalist
rhetoric.ThroughtheHeritagemarketing
model,adoptedby otherorganizathe
has
in
words
the
ofone writer,
an "ideas industry"70
tions, Right deployed,
in whicha cadreofprofessional
use thinktanks,interest
right-wingers
groups,
and mediato produceanddistribute
conservative
ideas.
To cite a specificexample,in June1989 HeritagepublishedA National
HealthSystem
forAmericadetailingitsConsumerChoice HealthCare Plan,a
"market-based
pricingsystem"ofhealthinsurance.Accordingto theplan,the
and employer-provided
health insurance
existingsystemof governmentwouldbe replacedbytaxreliefthatwouldencourageindividualsto coverroutinemedicalexpensesand buycatastrophe
insurance."Undersucha system,"

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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

Althoughthinktankscan be used to breaktheacademicmonopolyon the


productionof "expert"knowledge,theydo nothave thecapacityto produce
the "experts"themselves.Indeed, when PatrickBuchanan recommended
theHeritageFoundation,he arguedin a 1972 memoto President
establishing
Nixon"thatthemostpressingneed" forconservatives
"was to create'a new
"cadre" of Republican governmentalprofessionalswho can survivethis
Administration
andbe preparedto takeoverfuture
ones.' As Buchanansaw it,
one of themaindifficulties
was 'credentialitis.'"'80Thinktanksdo notproduce
"experts"because theydo notcontrolthetrainingand credentialing
practices
thatearlyin thiscenturymovedwithinthepurviewof thehigher-education
system.Consequently,conservativeshave appropriatedthese practicesby
institutes.
establishing
training
TheTraining-Program
theLeadinstitutes,
System.Next,I will discusstwotraining
and theNationalJournalism
Center,thatoverlapin theirideershipInstitute
ologies, goals, and programs.The purposeof the LeadershipInstitute(LI),
foundedby MortonBlackwellin 1979, is to increasethenumberand effectivenessofconservative
nineschoolsthatoffer
activists,whichitdoes through
in
roots
trainingprograms youthleadership,grass
organizing,organizational
andmobilizing,
fortheForeign
leadership,direct-mail
fundraising
preparation
Serviceexamination,
Hill
broadcast
Capitol
staffing,
legislativemanagement,
and
student
Notice
that
four
schools
train
conservajournalism,
publications.81
tivesforthemovementand fivetrainthemfortheprofessions.
LI pursuesthe
doublestrategy
of strengthening
theconservative
movement
byputting
professionals intoit and weakeningtheliberalprofessions
by puttingconservatives
in itsrecruitment
intothem.This strategy
is reflected
of students
conthrough
servativeorganizationsand publications82
and its Joband TalentBank that
conservatives
in publicsound,technically
places "philosophically
proficient"
the
LI
offered
Can
succeed?
thirty-three
policypositions.83
strategy
training
in 1991,fora totalof
programsin 1992 and graduateda record1,002students
3,950 from1987 through1991.84Its 1990 estimatedincomewas $1,119,180,
and itswide base of supportresemblesthatof theHeritageFoundation:sixtyone percentof its incomeis fromindividualdonors,twenty-five
percentfrom
and theremaining
seven percentfromrestricted
foundations,
contributions,
sevenpercentfromschoolincomeand interest.85
The purposeof theNationalJournalism
Center(NJC),foundedin 1976-77
undertheauspicesof theEducationand ResearchInstitute
(ERI), is to "help
talentedyoungpeople breakintothemedia."NJC,whichbelievesthatmedia
of traditional
educationalvaltrainingshouldoccur "withinthe framework
six
in
weeks
of
and
eco"common-sense
ues,"86provides
training journalism
nomics"(studentswriteweekly"spot news" stories,attendFridayseminars,
and completea magazinestory),followedby six-weekinternships
at NJC's
fourdozen outlets.The programis designedto correctwhatNJC sees as the

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56

theAttack
Manufacturing

liberalbias of journalismas it is taughtin universities


and practicedin the
media,and to supplycollege graduateswiththeexperiencetheylack when
theprogramfourtimesa
theyapplyforentry-level
journalismjobs. Offering
to
total
of
to
a
NJC
estimated
in 1990 that"500 of
students,
year
sixty eighty
our alumniare workingin mediaand media-related
posts"at AP, UPI, ABC,
News
the
Service, Washington
CBS, CNN, C-SPAN,Copely
Post,Washington
Times,WallStreetJournal,DetroitNews,Los AngelesTimes,San Francisco
PhoenixGazette,a numChronicle,SeattleTimes,RichmondTimes-Dispatch,
berof magazines,andvirtually
everyconservative
periodical.87
The InternalRevenue Service has grantedthese two institutesthe taxSection501(c)(3) of theInternal
exemptstatusof educationalorganizations.
RevenueCode allows exemptionto "corporations
and anycommunity
chest,
and
for
fund,orfoundation,
charitable,
organized operatedexclusively religious,
scientific,testingforpublic safety,literary,or educationalpurposes"and
in which"a substantial
deniesexemptionto organizations
partof theactivion
or
to influties" consistsof "carrying propaganda, otherwiseattempting,
ence legislation"or"participating
in,or intervening
in,anypoliticalcampaign
An organion behalfof (or in oppositionto) anycandidateforpublicoffice.""88
zationnotoperatedexclusivelyfortax-exempt
purposesand engagingin the
forinstance,
whether,
proscribedactivitiesis termedan "action"organization,
it attempts
itselfto influencelegislationor "urgesthepublicto contact,memoropposing
bersofa legislativebodyforthepurposeofproposing,
supporting,
the
or
of
or
even
"advocates
adoption rejection legislation."The
legislation,"
local counterm"legislation"includesactionby Congress,statelegislatures,
or
constitutional
and
cils,
initiative,
amendment, a similar
publicreferendum,
procedure.89

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

AmericanSpectator:total$234,000-Bradley, $29,000; Coors,$10,000;


Noble, $10,000; Olin, $25,000; Scaife, $115,000; SmithRichardson,
$45,000
National Review: total $342,000-Bradley, $200,00; Olin, $42,000;
Scaife,$100,000

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theAttack
Manufacturing

60

New Criterion:total $245,000-Newhouse, $20,000; Olin, $100,000;


Scaife,$125,000
CenterforIndividualRights(for 1989): total$115,000-JM, $25,000;
Smith Richardson, $90,000; (for 1990): total $165,000-Bradley,
$90,000104
$25,000; Olin,$50,000; SmithRichardson,
Free CongressFoundation:total $710,000-Bradley, $330,000; Coors,
$150,000; DeMoss, $90,000; McKenna,$15,000; Noble,$100,000; Olin,

$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

shapingof culturalconservatismis now bringingeconomicbenefitsto


politicalactivistswhohavediscovereda marketfor"values."Forexample,
thehead of the Free CongressFoundation,Paul Weyrich,receiveshundredsof thousandsof dollarsannuallyfromthe Bradley,Olin, and Roe

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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

sifiedin two categories:Associates,who give an annualgiftof $10,000 or


more,and Founders,who give an annualgiftof $100,000 or more.For 1991,
its 141 Associatesinclude:corporations
(Abbott,Amway,AshlandOil, BrisChase
Manhattan
Bank,
Chevron,
Dow, DuPont,Exxon,Ford,Gentol-Myers,
eral Motors,Johnsonand Johnson,Lilly, Lockheed,Mobil, Nestle,Pfizer,
Philip Morris,Procter& Gamble,QuakerOats, RJRNabisco, Searle, Sears
Roebuck,Squibb,Winn-DixieStores);corporatefoundations
(Alcoa, Amoco,
FMC, GE, Hilton,Merck, Sunmark,UPS); otherfoundations(Anschutz,
JM,Kirby,Lauder,Lennon,Martin,McKenna,Pope, TayBrady,Gerstacker,
lor, Van Andel, Walker);and manyindividuals.For 1991, its twenty-five
Foundersincludedtheusual right-wing
foundations
(Bradley,Coors, Noble,
Olin, Pew, Reader's Digest,Scaife), as well as individualsand corporations
associated withthem.Donations fromCoors, forinstance,came fromthe
Mr.JosephCoors,and
AdolphCoorsCompany,theAdolphCoorsFoundation,
Mrs. HollandCoors.10
aretellingin termsoftheacademicprograms
Finally,funding
patterns
they
suchas twonewonesat Heritage.The BradleyResidentScholarsProsupport,
gram,fundedbytheBradleyFoundationandestablishedin 1987,bringsyoung
to an academiccareer"to Heritage"for
scholarswho are "fullycommitted
to
ten
months
to
conductresearch,
deliver
of
from
five
teachseminars,
periods
learn
firsthand
about
the
and
are
lectures,
public
policyprocess."They usually
selectedfromthoseworkingin thesocial sciencesand humanities
becausethe
in
a
interest
research
on
"has
American
special
political,social, and
program
culturalinstitutions
and therelationship
of thoseinstitutions
to thepublicpolicy process.""' A 1991-92 BradleyScholar,LaurenceJarvik,launchedthe
conservative
campaignto privatizepublictelevisionnotonlythrough
Heritage
lectures and papers'2 but also throughComint: Journal of the Committeeon

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

expectedto definetheissuesthat,accordingto conservatives,


highereducation
needsto address.
To definehigher-education
issues, Heritageemploysthe inside/outside
ofraisingthedebatein academicvenues,suchas AcademicQuestions
strategy
and also through
(theNAS journal)and itsownLeadershipConference,
journalistsandlegislators.114
arethoselisted
AmongtheissuesHeritageis defining
ofPurpose:"thewholesaleabandonment
of
in theSalvatoriCenter'sStatement
our Westernheritage," "the attack on standards today .

. .

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-

ofVirginia'srefusalto allow student


feesto fund
lengedtheUniversity
activity
a religiousmagazine.'20

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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

CollegiateNetworkstudentnewspaper)whenit stoleand quotedfromprivate


ofgaystudents.
Nexthe was an editorofProspect,a magazine
correspondence
fundedby conservativePrincetonalumni,whenit attackedwomen'sstudies
thesex lifeof a femaleundergraduate
stuand described,withoutpermission,
ofJerry
dent.Afterwriting
a biography
a
founder
of
the
Moral
Falwell,
Majorand an AEI
ity,he was a domesticpolicyanalystin theReaganadministration
His workon IlliberalEducation:ThePoliticsofRace and Sex on
employee.130
partlybya $30,000grantfromOlin,funneledtohimin
Campuswas supported
1988 by theIEA,131by $70,000 fromOlin in 1990, and by another$20,000
fromOlin, funneledto him by the Madison Center(recall thatthe IEA and
Madison were mergedas MCEA).132The IEA, accordingto one journalist,
servedforyears"as a 'clearinghouse,' makingmatchesbetweenthose[confoundations
andcorporaservatives]whoneedmoneyandthose[conservative
who
have
it."133
tions]
Much of Kimball'sTenuredRadicals: How PoliticsHas CorruptedHigher
Educationappeared,beforepublishedas a book,in theNew Criterion,a conservativeartjournalmanagedby Kimballand editedby HiltonKramer.The
New Criterionis supported
thatfundright-wing
think
bythesamefoundations
tanksand politicalorganizations.
The Bradley,Olin, and Scaife foundations
$300,000 to thejournal'sbudgetin 1986 and $325,000
togethercontributed
each for1987 and 1988. Notwithstanding
conservativecomplaintsaboutthe
of
this
art
politicization scholarship,
journal regularlypromotesthe neoconservativepoliticalagenda: forinstance,the editor'sintroductions
to the
Octoberand November1991 issues includeattackson the "AmericanacaLeft,"theAmericanCouncilofLearnedSocieties(ACLS), the
demic-political
ModernLanguageAssociation(MLA), andTeachersfora DemocraticCulture
of a conser(TDC), as well as severalindividualsby name.The contradiction
vativeartjournaladvancinga politicalagendais explainedby HarveyMansfield, a conservativescholar who opposes women's studies and AfricanAmericanstudiesbecause theyare "openlyand blatantly
political."Recently
appointedto theNEH counciland himselfa recipientof Olin money,Mansfieldobserves,"It's ironicthatconservativeshave to use politicsto rid the
campus of politics,but we do." He intendsto use his positionon the NEH
Council to "take a standagainstwhatis happeningin the AmericanacadMansfield'sinstrumentalism
is typical.Once theywere published,
emy."134
D'Souza's and Kimball's books were promotedby right-wing
organizations
and reviewedby right-wingers,
whileD'Souza and Kimballthemselveswent
on theconference
and TV circuits.All along,theyhave been trainedand supthe
neoconservative
whoseviews theypresentin
portedby
politicalinterests
theirwork,and thatworkhas been producedand marketedby the "ideas
industry."
To reframetheattackon liberalizedhighereducation,I now returnto an

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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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EllenMesser-Davidow

69

counties,withtheaimoforganizingthegrassrootsand makinglocal interventions.We can expectexistingright-wing


organizations,academic and nonto
local
their
academic, multiply
chaptersand increasetheirmemberships.
in mobilizinga grassrootsmovement,
Morepowerfulthantheseorganizations
however,are threetechnologiesdeployedby conservatives:(1) directmail,
whichhas longbeen used notmerelyto raisemoneybutto informand mobilize recipientsaboutconservative
issues; (2) Town Hall, a nationalcomputer
networkestablishedjointlyby theNationalReviewand theHersubscription
suchfeaturesas
itageFoundation,whichlinksindividualsand groupsthrough
news bulletins,discussions, and on-line publications; and (3) National
Television(NET), airedby theFree CongressFoundationto
Empowerment
somesixtystateaffiliates
andcurrently
fourmonthly
broadcasting
programs"Family Forum Live" on family-valuesissues, "Campus Connection"on
issues,"A Second Look Live" on African-American
issues,
higher-education
Outreach"on conservative
and"Empowerment
issues.136The local groupsand
nationaltechnologiesare theconservative
infrastructure
forperforming
those
inconsciousnessthatearlyfeminists
horizontal
articulatory
practices
performed
raisinggroups,where,by sharingtheirexperiencesand feelings,theybound
in sisterhood.
themselvestogether
Throughhorizontal
practices,theRightcan
both
traditional
conservatives
and
(re)constitute
newlytargeted
populationsas
of
two
conservative
grassrootsagents
change,thereby
doing
thingsnecessary
It willbe able to diffuseconservative
to sustainthemovement.
consciousness
more widelythroughout
society,and it will be in a positionto make wideFor instance,it will be able to lobbystatelegislatures,
ranginginterventions.
local publicson thefailingsof particularuniversities
alumni,and interested
and colleges,therebyusingthesegroupsto leveragechangeson the institutionsby withholding
fundsfromthemand demandingtheirfurther
regulation.
The continuedsuccess of conservatives
in attacking
and reforming
liberalized highereducationdependsupontheirabilityto gainmorecontroloverall
and colleges,academic
aspectsof thehigher-education
system-universities
and
academic
publishing,public
private
fundingsources,stateand federal
The signsthattheyhave gainedsomecontrolat thenationallevel
government.
have been scatteredand ominous.The appointment
of Carol lannone,who
and otherconservatives
on the
joined LynneCheney,GertrudeHimmelfarb,
boardof theWoodrowWilsonInternational
Center;the firingof NEA chair
JohnFrohnmayerand the appointmentof NEA actingchair Anne-Imelda
forfundingby peer-panels;the
Radice, who rejectedprojectsrecommended
recentappointments
of severalNAS membersto theNEH NationalCouncil;
theappointment
of conservatives
to theboardof FIPSE; theappointments
of
CarolynnReid-Wallace and ChristinaHoff Sommersto positions at the
ofEducation-all oftheseshowNAS andotherconservative
leadDepartment
ers gainingmorecontrolover the nationalapparatusthatcan forceradical
changeson liberalizedhighereducation.The electionofPresidentClintonmay

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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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Ellen Messer-Davidow

71

ChristopherHitchens,"A Modern Medieval Family," Mother Jones (July/August1986),


52-56, 74, 76. For theirfurtherconnectionsto conservativeorganizationsand individuals,
see Sidney Hook, "Three IntellectualTroubadours,"American Spectator (January1985),
18, 20-22; and Paul Gottfriedand Thomas Fleming,The ConservativeMovement(Boston:
Twayne, 1988), 59-76. Informationon William Kristolfrom"Black ConservativeExpected
to Fill Education's No. 2 Post," WashingtonPost, 18 March 1987, A19; and author'sinterview of JohnM. Slye, Research Assistant,CulturalPolicy Studies Program,HeritageFoundation,Washington,D.C., 11 June1992.
4. William J. Bennett,"The ShatteredHumanities,"Wall StreetJournal,31 December
1982, 10; and To Reclaim a Legacy: A Report on the Humanities in Higher Education
(Washington,D.C.: National Endowmentfor the Humanities,1984). A Reagan appointee
with ties to right-wingorganizations,Bennettis currentlya DistinguishedFellow at the
Heritage Foundation and Chairman of the Board of the Free Congress Foundation's
National EmpowermentTelevision. He was a board memberof theInstituteforEducational
Affairs(IEA) and the founderof the Madison Center,two organizationsthatmerged in
1990 to become the Madison Center for Educational Affairs.InformationfromThe Heritage Foundation 1991 Annual Report (Washington,D.C.: Heritage, 1992), 25; author's
interviewof Michael Schwartz,Senior Vice President,Free Congress Foundation,Washington,D.C., 11 June 1992; author's interviewof Caroline J. Pyott,Vice President,Madison Center for Educational Affairs,Washington,D.C., 2 April 1992; and Peter H. Stone,
"The I.E.A.-Teaching the 'Right' Stuff,"The Nation, 19 September1981, 231-35.
5. LynneV. Cheney,The Humanitiesand theAmericanPromise: A Reportof theColloquium on theHumanitiesand theAmericanPeople (Charlottesville,Va.: Colloquium on the
Humanitiesand theAmericanPeople, 1987); Humanitiesin America: A Reportto thePresident,the Congress,and theAmericanPeople (Washington,D.C.: National Endowmentfor
the Humanities, 1988); 50 Hours: A Core Curriculumfor College Students(Washington,
D.C.: National Endowmentforthe Humanities,1989); and TyrannicalMachines: A Report
on Education Practices Gone Wrongand Our Best Hopes for SettingThemRight(Washington, D.C.: National Endowmentfor the Humanities,1990). George Levine, Peter Brooks,
JonathanCuller,Marjorie Garber,E. Ann Kaplan, and CatharineR. Stimpson,Speakingfor
theHumanities(New York: AmericanCouncil of Learned Societies, 1989). Also a Reagan
appointee,Cheney consistentlynominatedconservativesto the NEH National Council and
obtained fundingfor the annual NEH JeffersonLecture fromright-wingfoundations:the
Olin Foundationcontributed$10,000 and the BradleyFoundation$10,000 forthe 1988 JeffersonLecture,deliveredby RobertA. Nisbet (Foundation GrantsIndex, ed. RuthKovacs,
19th ed. [New York: Foundation Center, 1990], 526, 764); Olin contributed$12,000 and
Lecture,deliveredby ForrestMcDonald (FoundaBradley $10,000 forthe 1987 Jefferson
tion GrantsIndex, 18thed., 519, 715); and Olin contributed$15,000 and Bradley $10,000
forthe 1986 Jefferson
Lecture,deliveredby Leszak Kolakowski (Foundation GrantsIndex,
17thed., 512, 710).
6. E. D. Hirsch,Jr.,Cultural Literacy: WhatEveryAmericanNeeds to Know (Boston:
Houghton Mifflin,1987); Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind (New York:
Simon & Schuster,1987); Charles Sykes, Profscam: Professorsand theDemise of Higher
Education (Washington,D.C.: RegneryGateway, 1988); Sykes, The Hollow Men: Politics
and Corruptionin Higher Education (Washington,D.C.: RegneryGateway, 1990); Page
Smith,Killing the Spirit: Higher Education in America (New York: Viking, 1990); Roger
Kimball, TenuredRadicals: How Politics Has Corrupted Our Higher Education (New
York: Harper& Row, 1990); Dinesh D'Souza, Illiberal Education: The Politics ofRace and
Sex on Campus (New York: Free Press, 1991). These authors,withthe possible exceptions
of Hirsch and Smith,all had financialand institutional
connectionsto the Right-Bloom as
the frequentrecipientof grantsfromthe Olin Foundation; D'Souza as a recipientof Olin
grantsand an habitu6of AEI, Heritage,MCEA, and LeadershipInstituteprograms;Kimball
as managingeditorof theNew Criterion,itselfsupportedby the Olin, Scaife, and Bradley
foundations;and Sykes as an authorpublished by the right-wingRegneryGateway press.
For an account of Smith's quarrels with academe, see his biographical entryin the 1990
CurrentYearbook,ed. Charles Moritz (New York: H. W. Wilson, 1990), 565-70.

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72

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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tives (Winter1988), 53-54; Jeffrey


Hart,"Report froma Phallocrat,"National Review, 24
February 1989, 45; Nicholas Davidson, "The Myths of Feminism,"National Review, 19
May 1989, 44-45; Barbara Amiel, "Feminism Hits Middle Age," National Review, 24
November 1989, 23-25, 59; HerbertI. London, "Leveraging Feminism at Barnard,"Academic Questions 3, no. 2 (Spring 1990), 5-6; Nicholas Davidson, "FeminismDeconstructs
Itself,"National Review, 20 August 1990, 42-43; Carol lannone, "Literatureby Quota,"
Commentary91, no. 3 (March 1991), 50-53; KatherineKersten,"What Do WomenWant?
A ConservativeFeministManifesto,"Policy Review 56 (Spring 1991), 4-15; letterson the
Kersten article in Policy Review 57 (Summer 1991), 83-91; Norman Podhoretz,"Rape in
FeministEyes," Commentary92, no. 4 (October 1991), 29-35; Steven Goldberg,"Feminism againstScience," National Review, 18 November 1991, 30, 32-33; KennethMinogue,
"The Goddess That Failed," National Review, 18 November 1991, 46-48; and Naomi Munson, "HarassmentBlues," Commentary93, no. 2 (February1992), 49-51. All of thesejournals are supportedby right-wingfoundations.For 1989, the "old conservative"National
Review received $342,000 fromBradley, Olin, and Scaife; and the right-wingRockford
Institute,which publishes Chronicles, received $185,000 fromCoors, Kirby,and Smith
Richardson.For 1989, the right-wingIntercollegiateStudies Institute,which publishes the
Intercollegiate Review, received $275,000 fromBradley, Coors, Kirby, Shelby Cullom
Davis, Olin, Noble, and Scaife; and in 1990, it received $411,200 fromBradley,JM, Olin,
and Scaife. In 1990, the neoconservativeNew Criterionreceived $405,000 fromBradley,
received$50,000 fromBradley and Olin;
Olin, and Scaife; theneoconservativeCommentary
and the "old conservative"AmericanSpectatorreceived $160,000 fromBradley,Olin, and
Scaife. Fundingof the National Association of Scholars, which publishesAcademic Questions, and the Heritage Foundation,which publishes Policy Review, is discussed in detail
below. AmericanScholar, published by Phi Beta Kappa, is edited by the neoconservative
JosephEpstein.
15. Peter Shaw, "Declining Discourse," Society 23, no. 3 (March-April 1986), 11-13;
Joseph Epstein, "The Academic Zoo: Theory-in Practice," Hudson Review 44, no. 1
(Spring 1991), 9-30. Also see Peter Shaw, "The Politics of Deconstruction," Partisan
Review 53, no. 2 (Spring 1986), 253-62; JamesW. Tuttleton,"Authorityin English Studies," Academic Questions 2, no. 4 (Fall 1989), 81-88; Nino Langiulli, "Siftingthe Rubble
at Yale," Academic Questions 3, no. 1 (Winter 1989-90), 77-84. Peter Shaw, "Making
Sense of the New Academic Disciplines," Susan Shell, "No Angst and All Play: Today's
Cheerful Assault on the Humanities," and Charles L. Griswold, Jr.,"Ideology and the
Humanities: Questions Whispered to Dissenters"-all appeared in a symposiumin Academic Questions 3, no. 3 (Summer 1990), 22-39. Books include PeterWashington,Fraud:
LiteraryTheoryand the End of English (London: Fontana, 1989); JohnM. Ellis, Against
Deconstruction(Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress, 1989); and David Lehman,Signs of
the Times: Deconstructionand theFall ofPaul de Man (New York: Poseiden, 1991).
16. Thomas Short, "A 'New Racism' on Campus?" Commentary86, no. 2 (August
1988), 46-50; Lawrence Auster,"The Regents' Round Table," National Review, 8 December 1989, 18, 20-21; Edward Alexander,"Race Fever," Commentary90, no. 5 (November
1990), 45-48; Andrew Sullivan, "Racism 101," New Republic, 26 November 1990, 18,
20-21; "Race on Campus" (a forum),New Republic, 15 April 1991, 23-25; D'Souza, "Multiculturalism101: GreatBooks of the Non-WesternWorld,"Policy Review 56 (Spring 1991),
22-30; Midge Decter, "E PluribusNihil: Multiculturalismand Black Children,"Commentary92, no. 3 (September 1991), 25-29; Nathan Glazer, "In Defense of Multiculturalism,"
New Republic, 2 September 1991, 18-20, 21; D'Souza, "The New Segregationon Campus," American Scholar 60, no. 1 (Winter 1991), 17-30; Mary Lefkowitz, "Not out of
Africa: The Originsof Greece and the Illusions of Afrocentrists,"
New Republic, 10 FebruNew Republic, 18 February
ary 1992, 29-36; Fred Siegel, "The Cult of Multiculturalism,"
1991, 34-36, 39-40; Brian Hecht, "Dr. Uncool J: The Sun-Man Cometh to Harvard,"New
Republic, 2 March 1992, 11-12; and Lawrence Auster,"The ForbiddenTopic," National
Review, 27 April 1992, 42-44. For attacks on affirmative
action, see WalterE. Williams,
"Race, Scholarship, and AffirmativeAction," National Review, 5 May 1989, 36-40;
Thomas Sowell, "'AffirmativeAction': A Worldwide Disaster," Commentary88, no. 6

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74

ManufacturingtheAttack

(December 1989), 21-41; Abigail M. Thernstrom,"On the Scarcityof Black Professors,"


Commentary90, no. 1 (July 1990), 22-26; FrederickR. Lynch, "Surviving Affirmative
Action (More or Less)," Commentary90, no. 2 (August 1990), 44-47; and ChesterE. Finn,
Jr.,"Quotas and the Bush Administration,"Commentary92, no. 5 (November 1991),
17-23.
17. On accreditation,see CourtneyLeatherman,"Role of AccreditingAgencies QuestionedFollowing Stormof Criticismand Debate," Chronicleof Higher Education, 19 February1992, A15-16; and thediscussionbelow. On minorityscholarships,see ScottJaschik,
"SecretarySeeks Ban on GrantsReserved forSpecificGroups," Chronicleof Higher Education, 11 December 1991, Al, A26-27. On the NEA, see "NEA Head Vetoes Grantsfor
Sexually Explicit Art,"Minneapolis Star Tribune,13 May 1992, 13A; Kim Masters,"Can
Arts Chief Take Bold Steps and Tread a Fine Line?" Minneapolis Star Tribune, 15 May
1992, 7A, 9A; and "NEA Panel ProtestsActions by Chairman,"Minneapolis Star Tribune,
16 May 1992, 7A, 9A. On solicitingcases of alleged discrimination,
see "Research Center:
InformationNeeded," NAS Update 2, no. 2 (Fall 1991), 5. On referralsto legal centers,the
comes fromauthor'sinterviewof JosephA. Shea, Jr.,Associate General Couninformation
sel, CenterforIndividualRights,Washington,D.C., 8 June1992.
18. Those wishingto sample the debate should see Michael Keefer,"'Political Correctness': An AnnotatedList of Readings," ACCUTE Newsletter(Fall 1991), 1-13; Debating
P.C.: The Controversyover Political Correctnesson College Campuses, ed. Paul Berman
(New York: Laurel, 1992); and BeyondPC: Towardsa Politics of Understanding,ed. Patricia Aufderheide(St. Paul: Graywolf,1992).
19. Albert Jay Nock, quoted in Sidney Blumenthal, The Rise of the CounterEstablishment: From ConservativeIdeology to Political Power (New York: Times Books,
1986), 13. For general accounts of the rise of the conservativemovementbesides Blumenthal, see JeromeL. Himmelstein,To the Right: The Transformation
of American Conservatism(Berkeley: Universityof CaliforniaPress, 1990); Paul Gottfriedand Thomas Fleming, The ConservativeMovement(Boston: Twayne, 1988); and Gillian Peele, Revival and
Reaction: The Rightin ContemporaryAmerica (Oxford:Clarendon,1984). For accountsof
conservativeleaders, see Watchon theRight:ConservativeIntellectualsin theReagan Era,
ed. J. David Hoeveler, Jr.(Madison: Universityof Wisconsin Press, 1991); and American
ConservativeOpinion Leaders, ed. Mark J. Rozell and JamesF. Pontuso (Boulder: Westview, 1990).
20. Himmelstein,To theRight,68.
21. Ibid., 65-66.
22. Ibid., 67.
23. Ibid., 65-69.
24. Ibid., 67, 69, 70.
25. Peele, in Revival and Reaction, does a good job of differentiating
the Old Right,
neoconservatives,New Right,Christian(or religious) Right,and otherconstituencies.By
thetermneoconservatives,I referto a loose groupof intellectuals-both academic and nonacademic, many centeredin New York City,many of themJewishor Catholic, many selfavowed liberals untildisaffectedby the leftmovementsof the 1960s and/orGreat Society
Public Interest,New
programsof the 1970s-who publishin such journals as Commentary,
Republic, and New Criterion.By the termNew Right,I mean a populist and at the same
time professionalizingmovementthatformedinterestgroups,foundedright-winginstitutions, established political and campaign organizations,and employed new technologies,
such as direct-mailsolicitation.A numberof those involvedin theseactivitiesmightalso be
described as the Religious Right-including fundamentalist
and orthodox(e.g., Catholic,
Jewish,and Mormon) denominations.The termNew Right was oftenused, fromthe late
1970s throughthe mid-1980s, for all conservativeconstituencies,but seems to be giving
way now to the terms"conservatism"and "conservativemovement"in the discourse of
conservativesthemselves.
26. For excellentbriefaccounts of the differencesand commonalities,see Amy Moritz,
"Family Feud: Is the ConservativeMovementFalling Apart?"Policy Review 57 (Summer
1991), 50-54; and Jacob Weisberg,"HunterGatherers,"New Republic, 2 September1991,
15-16.

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27. See, forinstance,Tim W. Ferguson,"What's Next fortheConservativeMovement?"


AmericanSpectator20, no. 1 (January1987), 14-16; AmyMoritz,"It's Time We Led: Conservatism'sParched Grass Roots," Policy Review 44 (Spring 1988), 22-25; and "Building
theNew Establishment:Edwin J.Feulner,Jr.on Heritageand theConservativeMovement,"
an interviewby Adam Meyerson,Policy Review 58 (Fall 1991), 10, 12, 15-16.
28. See Fred L. Pincus, "From Equity to Excellence: The Rebirthof Educational Conservatism,"Social Policy 14, no. 3 (Winter1984), 51-53.
29. See Pincus, "From Equity to Excellence," 50-56; David L. Clark and Mary Anne
Amiot,"The Disassembly of the Federal Educational Role," Education and Urban Society
15, no. 3 (May 1983), 367-87; TerrelH. Bell, "Education Policy Developmentin the Reagan Administration,"Phi Delta Kappan 67, no. 7 (March 1986), 487-93; and A New
Agenda for Education, ed. Eileen M. Gardiner(Washington,D.C.: Heritage Foundation,
1985), 79-80 and elsewhere.
30. A New Agenda for Education, vii; also vii-x.
31. Philip F. Lawler, "HigherEducation Today,"inA New Agendafor Education,47, 52.
32. Ibid., 58.
33. Cultural Conservatism:Towarda New Agenda (Washington,D.C.: InstituteforCulturalConservatism/Free
Congress Research and Education Foundation,1987), 1.
34. Ibid., 5.
35. For a typical conservativeunderstandingof culturalradicals, see Michael Levin,
"The Radical View of the World," in Cultural Conservatism: Theory and Practice, ed.
William S. Lind and William H. Marshner(Washington,D.C.: Free Congress Foundation,
1991), 45-59.
36. See William S. Lind, "What Is CulturalConservatism?"Essays in Our Times2, no.
1 (March 1986), 1-2; and Paul M. Weyrich,"CulturalConservatismand the Conservative
Movement,"in Cultural Conservatism:Theoryand Practice, 19.
37. See William S. Lind, "Introduction,"Cultural Conservatism:Theoryand Practice,
2; and Weyrich,"CulturalConservatismand the ConservativeMovement," 19-31.
38. Author'sinterviewof Michael Schwartz,11 June1992.
39. Lind, "What Is CulturalConservatism?"3.
40. Lind, "Introduction,"1.
41. All information
followingthe quotationis fromthe author'sinterviewwithMichael
Schwartz,11 June1992.
42. Author'sinterviewsof Michael Schwartzand William S. Lind, 11 June1992.
43. See Cultural Conservatism:Towarda New National Agenda, 24. For the theoryof
mediating structures,see Peter L. Berger and Richard JohnNeuhaus, To Empower the
People: The Role of Mediating Structuresin Public Policy (Washington,D.C.: American
EnterpriseInstitute,1977); and Democracy and Mediating Structures,ed. Michael Novak
(Washington,D.C.: AmericanEnterpriseInstitute,1980).
44. Lind, "What Is CulturalConservatism?"7.
45. Cultural Conservatism:Towarda New National Agenda, 25, 26.
46. T. Kenneth Cribb, "Conservatism and the American Academy: Prospects for the
1990s," HeritageLectures Series #226(Washington,D.C.: HeritageFoundation,1989), 7.
47. For furtherinformationabout the IEA, Madison Center,and MCEA, see Peter H.
Stone, "The I.E.A.-Teaching the 'Right' Stuff,"The Nation, 19 September1981, 231-35;
Lawrence J.Delaney, Jr.,and Leslie Lenkowsky,"The New Voice on Campus: 'Alternative
StudentJournalism,"'Academic Questions 1, no. 2 (Spring 1988), 32-38.
48. Madison Centerfor Educational Affairs1991 Annual Report (Washington,D.C.:
Madison CenterforEducational Affairs,n.d.), 4.
49. The PC issue was firstraised by the Vassar Spectator,accordingto RobertL. Lukefahr,Jr.(author's interviewof Lukefahr,Senior ProgramOfficer,Madison CenterforEducational Affairs,Washington,D.C., 2 April 1992). For typicalcoverage of PC issues, see
the California Review (Universityof California, San Diego) 11, no. 1 (October 1991);
Michigan Review (Universityof Michigan), 23 October 1991; and AmherstSpectator7, no.
2 (Winter 1991). For articles on Collegiate Networknewspapers,see JohnKent Walker,
"Ivy League's New ConservativePress," Boston Globe, 14 December 1982; Chris Chinlund, "Conservative Papers Relish StirringDebate," Boston Globe, 18 December 1983;

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76

ManufacturingtheAttack

David Kupperschmid,"Campus Papers Writtenby Righters:Conservatives Give a New


Edge to College Journalism,"Philadelphia Inquirer,1 January1985, A6; Renee Loth,"The
Times, They Are A-Changin'," Boston Globe, 19 January1986, section3, 14; Sidney Blumenthal,"ConservativeDebate Style,Tactics afterDartmouthIncident,"WashingtonPost,
5 February1986, A3; Diane Curtis,"ConservativeGroup's Hand in Campus Journalism,"
San Francisco Chronicle,25 April 1989, Al; and LarryGordon, "Papers Proliferate:The
RightPresses Case on Campus," Los Angeles Times,1 May 1989, section 1, 1.
50. Informationon surveysfromauthor's interviewof RobertL. Lukefahr,Jr.,2 April
1992; and on curricularinnovationsfromauthor'sinterviewof David S. Bernstein,Program
Officer,Madison CenterforEducational Affairs,Washington,D.C., 2 April 1992. For one
example, see the attackon ProfessorBruce Nelson's History33 by theDartmouthReview,
12 June 1991, 10-11.
51. InformationfromMadison Centerfor Educational Affairs1991 AnnualReport,6-9,
16-17; Madison Center for Educational Affairs1990 Annual Report, 4-8, 9-10; and
author's interviewsof Patty(Caroline J.) Pyottand RobertL. Lukefahr,Jr.,2 April 1992.
52. Informationfromthe "AdministrationQuestionnaire,"9 pp.; "Faculty Questionnaire,"7 pp.; and "StudentQuestionnaire,"7 pp., used forpreparationof the second edition
of The CommonSense Guide to AmericanColleges, ed. Patty(Caroline J.) Pyott(in preparation),sentto authorby Patty(Caroline J.) Pyott,18 May 1992.
53. On Finn,Lenkowsky,and NAS presidentStephenBalch's involvementin theGuide,
see Carol Innerst,"College Guide to Rate Teaching,Ethics, Value," WashingtonTimes,22
January1990, A5; and Innerst,"New Guide Rates GU, GWU as Free from'PC,"' Washington Times, 15 July1991, A3.
54. InformationfromMadison Centerfor Educational Affairs1991 Annual Report,
12-13; and author'sinterviewof David S. Bernstein,2 April 1992.
55. LynneV. Cheney,"Depoliticizing theAcademy,"Newslink6, no. 6 (February1991),
on Cheney fromThe Madison Centerfor Educational Affairs1990
1, 6. Otherinformation
Annual Report(Washington,D.C.: Madison CenterforEducational Affairs,n.d.), 9-10, 15.
56. Michael P. McDonald, "A Lawyer's Brief against LitigatingAcademic Disputes,"
Academic Questions 5, no. 4 (Fall 1992), 16.
57. See "BurgeoningConservativeThinkTanks," a special issue of ResponsivePhilanthropy(Spring 1991), 20 and elsewhere.
58. See JohnK. Andrews,Jr.,"So You Wantto Starta ThinkTank: A BattlefieldReport
fromthe States,"Policy Review 49 (Summer 1989), 62-65.
59. JamesA. Smith,The Idea Brokers.:ThinkTanksand theRise of theNew Policy Elite
(New York: Free Press, 1991), xiii.
37.
60. Blumenthal,The Rise of the Counter-Establishment,
61. Ibid.
62. The Heritage Foundation 1991 Annual Report,34.
63. See Sidney Blumenthal,"Hard Times at the Think Tank for American Enterprise
Institute,a Crisis of Money and Conservatism,"WashingtonPost, 26 July1986, Dl.
64. Number of staffmembers(145) fromauthor's interviewof Charles L. Heatherly,
Vice Presidentfor Academic Relations, Heritage Foundation,Washington,D.C., 6 April
fromThe
1992; however,the annual reportlists some 160 staffmembers.Otherinformation
Heritage Foundation 1991 Annual Report(Washington,D.C.: HeritageFoundation,1992),
34-37, 28-29.
65. The Heritage Foundation 1991 Annual Report,28-29.
66. For 1990 data, see Smith,The Idea Brokers,200-2. For 1992 data, see The Annual
Guide to Public Policy Experts,ed. RobertHubertyand Barbara D. Hohbach (Washington,
fromauthor'sinterviewof Charles
D.C.: HeritageFoundation,1992) CD-ROM information
L. Heatherly,6 April 1992. Computer networkinformationfromauthor's interviewof
Jeanne Allen, Director of Town Hall, Heritage Foundation, Washington,D.C., 11 June
1992.
67. Blumenthal,The Rise of the Counter-Establishment,
49.
68. Author's interviewwith Cheryl A. Rubin, Director of Public Relations, Heritage
Foundation,Washington,D.C., 11 June 1992; and CherylA. Rubin, letterto the author,2
July1992.

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77

69. Blumenthal,The Rise of the Counter-Establishment,


49.
70. See Smith,The Idea Brokers.
71. "ConservativesUnveil Plan forNational Health-CareSystem,"HeritageFoundation
News Release, 1 June 1989, 4; "New Study Shows HeritageConsumerChoice Health Plan
Would Provide Universal Coverage, ControlCosts," HeritageFoundationNews Release, 3
March 1992, 1. Also see A National Health Systemfor America,ed. StuartM. Butler and
Edmund F. Haislmaier (Washington,D.C.: HeritageFoundation,1989); and StuartM. Butler, "A Policy Maker's Guide to the Health Care Crisis, Part II: The Heritage Consumer
Choice Health Plan," HeritageTalkingPoints (a policy papers series), 5 March 1992.
72. The Heritage Foundation 1991 Annual Report,4.
73. Accordingto a HeritageFoundationlist,twentynewspapers,fivesyndicatedcolumnists, and four magazines endorsed the plan by name and another sixteen newspapers
agreed withit in principle(CherylA. Rubin,list sentto author,2 July1992).
74. Author'sinterviewof CherylA. Rubin, 11 June1992.
75. Author's interviewof JohnM. Slye, Research Assistant,Cultural Policy Studies
Program,Heritage Foundation, Washington,D.C., 11 June 1992. See also "Building the
New Establishment"(Feulner interview),9.
76. The Heritage Foundation 1991 Annual Report,25.
77. Informationon the CulturalPolicy Studies WorkingGroup, as well as a list of its
members,came fromthe author's interviewof JohnSlye.
78. Smith,The Idea Brokers,xv-xvi.
79. Peter Weingart,"The ScientificPower Elite-A Chimera: The De-Institutionalization and Politicizationof Science," in ScientificEstablishmentsand Hierarchies, ed. NorbertElias, HerminioMartins,and RichardWhitley(Dordrecht:Reidel, 1982), 73.
80. Smith,The Idea Brokers,197.
unless otherwisenoted,fromauthor'sinterviewof William Forrest,
81. All information,
Vice PresidentforPrograms,Leadership Institute,Springfield,Va., 9 June 1992; assorted
programannouncementsfromWilliam Forrest;and The Leadership InstituteProspectus
(Springfield,Va.: Leadership Institute,n.d.).
82. Author'sinterviewsof William Forrest,9 June 1992; and at the Broadcast Journalism School, Leadership Institute,held at the Free Congress Foundation,Washington,D.C.,
13 July1992.
83. Direct-mailletter,Lisa M. Kruska,Job and Talent Bank Director,Leadership Institute,n.d. (Spring 1992), 2.
84. RepresentativeDick Armey,direct-mailletter,Leadership Institute,8 June1991, 5;
and BuildingLeadership: The Newsletterof theLeadership Institute6, no. 1 (1992), 1, 5.
85. The Leadership InstituteProspectus,22-23.
86. Date of foundingand second quotation,author'sinterviewof Chris Warden,Editor,
National JournalismCenter,Washington,D.C., 3 April 1992; quotationand otherinformation fromauthor's interviewof Mal Klein, Associate Editor,National JournalismCenter,
Washington,D.C., 3 April 1992.
87. E&RI 1990 Annual Report (Washington,D.C.: Education and Research Institute,
n.d.), 1, 6-9; and a montageof newsclips,National JournalismCenter,n.d.
88. United States Tax ReporterInternal Revenue Code, vol. 1 (New York: Research
Instituteof America, 1992), firstquotation,2318; second quotation,2328.
89. United States Tax ReporterInternalRevenue Code, vol. 18 (New York: Research
Instituteof America, 1992), 35,117.
90. Armey,direct-mailletter,8 June1991, 3 (all quotations).
91. Ibid., 6 (his italics).
92. The book given to studentsis And That's the WayIt Isn't, ed. L. BrentBozell III and
BrentH. Baker (Alexandria,Va.: Media Research Center,1990), 339 pp. The readingsare:
"America's Biased and Abusive News Media," New Dimensions (April 1990), 22-27,
30-34, 37-43; "Koppel and Turneron the Ten Commandments,"New Dimensions (April
1990), 44-46; Bruce Herschensohn,"The InformationBrokers,"New Dimensions (April
1990), 48-50; David Shaw, "Abortion Bias Seeps into News," Los Angeles Times, July
1990, n.p., 8 pp.; David Shaw, "AbortionFoes Stereotyped,Some in the Media Believe,"
Los Angeles Times,2 July1990, n.p., 5 pp.; David Shaw, "'Rally forLife' Coverage Evokes

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78

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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Ellen Messer-Davidow

79

1992-93 academic year. Additional informationfrom The Heritage Foundation 1991


Annual Report,18.
112. See, for instance, Laurence Jarvik,"Making Public Television Public," Backgrounder#873,18 January1992; "Monopoly,Corruption,and Greed: The Problemof Public Television," HeritageLectures#379,25 February1992; and "AfterPrivatization:Public
Television in the CulturalMarketplace,"HeritageLectures#383,21 May 1992.
fromThe Heritage Foundation 1991 Annual Report,19;
113. Quotationand information
and the Salvatori CenterforAcademic Leadership applicationbrochure,2-4.
114. Author'sinterviewof Charles L. Heatherly,6 April 1992.
fromthe ConferenceProgram,Second Annual Leader115. Quotationsand information
ship ConferenceforAcademic Excellence and SalvatoriAwardsDinner,Washington,D.C.,
27-28 March 1992, which also containsthe Statementof Purpose.
116. See Sara Diamond, "Readin', Writin' and Repressin'," Z Magazine (February
1991), 45-49; and Diamond, "Endowing the Right-WingAcademic Agenda," 46-49.
117. From income and expense statementsdrawnup by the NAS.
118. Denise Magner,"Law FirmGoes to Bat forCampus Conservatives,"Chronicle of
Higher Education, 25 September1991, A5.
119. Author'sinterviewof JosephA. Shea, Jr.,8 June1992; Magner,"Law FirmGoes to
Bat," A5; Docket Report(FirstQuarter1992), 7; and WakeForest Critic(March 1992), 2.
120. InformationtakenfromtheCIR's Docket Report(FirstQuarter1992), 1, 4, 6; Anne
Kornhauser,"The RightVersusthe Correct,"Legal Times,29 April 1991, 15; and Magner,
"Law FirmGoes to Bat," A5.
121. Author'sinterviewof JosephA. Shea, Jr.,8 June1992. Also see Kornhauser,"The
RightVersusthe Correct,"1, 14, 15; and Magner,"Law FirmGoes to Bat," A5.
122. "AmendmentI v. Title VI in theMatterof JudithKleinfeld,"Docket Report(Spring
Quarter1992), 4.
123. Author'sinterviewof JosephA. Shea, Jr.,8 June1992.
124. "ConservativeAlliance Re-Membered:ConservativeStudentAlliance v. Portland
State University,"Docket Report(Second Quarter1992), 4.
125. Author'sinterviewof JosephA. Shea, Jr.,8 June1992.
126. Author's interviewof JosephA. Shea, Jr.,CenterforIndividual Rights,Washington,D.C., 17 November 1992.
127. Kornhauser,"The RightVersustheCorrect,"15; Magner,"Law FirmGoes to Bat,"
A5.
128. See Scott Jaschik,"Education Secretary Names 5 to Panel on Accreditation,"
Chronicle ofHigher Education, 6 November 1991, A31-32.
129. See Scott Jaschik,"Some AccreditingGroups May Be Allowed to Use 'Diversity
Standards,"' Chronicle of Higher Education, 15 May 1991, Al, A20; Robert H. Atwell,
"The Dangers of U.S. Interventionin Accreditation,"Chronicle of Higher Education, 20
November 1991, A52; Scott Jaschik, "Education Secretary Wants to End the Role of
Accrediting in Student-AidEligibility," Chronicle of Higher Education, 27 November
1991, Al, A2; "Federal Panel Postpones Vote on Recognition of Middle States Group,"
Chronicle of Higher Education, 27 November 1991, A27; Scott Jaschik and Robert R.
Schmidt,Jr.,"College AccreditorsSpur Use of Quotas, Federal OfficialsSay," Chronicleof
Higher Education, 4 December 1991, A37, A43; Scott Jaschik,"Middle States Moves to
Compromiseon DiversityRules," ChronicleofHigherEducation, 18 December 1991, A25,
A29; "Middle States' Decision on Diversity Standards Seen Enhancing Federal Role in
Accreditation,"Chronicle of Higher Education, 8 January1992, A24, A36; "U.S. May
Toughen Its Rules Governing AccreditingGroups," Chronicle of Higher Education, 12
February1992, A23, A30; and CourtneyLeatherman,"Role of AccreditingAgencies Questioned,"Chronicleof Higher Education, 19 February1992, A15-16.
130. See Dinesh D'Souza and David Corn's lettersto the editor,The Nation, 8 July
1991, 38; and Louis Menand, "Illiberalisms,"New Yorker,20 May 1991, 101-7.
131. Foundation GrantsIndex, ed. RuthKovacs, 19thed. (New York: FoundationCenter,1990), 526.

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80

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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