Politizing American universities.

• Author: Euben, J. Peter
• Position: Education

WHEN the American Council of Trustees and Alumni accused various faculty members and the president of Wesleyan University of being unpatriotic and unsupportive of civilization in their response to Sept. 11, the criticism was itself un-American and false to Western civilization. The implication is that those academics the Council regards as "unwilling to defend its civilization," thus providing "comfort to its enemies," are as bad as, if not worse than, the terrorists themselves.

These accusations can be read as another skirmish in what was called the Culture War, a conflict that replaced the Cold War in providing Americans with a simplified moral compass. The Culture War has been proclaimed over, but if the new accusations teach anything, it is that this is far from true. Only now, the issue is not which books to read, but which bombs to drop.

The new demand, like those in the past, that everyone give unequivocal support to American policies is not seen as itself a political demand. What is seen as political is the stance taken by ideologically driven intellectuals who are unable to bring themselves, even in this time of national mourning and crisis, to support the nation and the Western intellectual tradition that makes their existence possible. The charge that political correctness has again driven ungrateful professors to a knee-jerk sympathy with America's enemies should sound a familiar note since it is a continuation of the major battles in the Culture War over who was politicizing the university. Today, however, the issue is treason and betrayal in a war where men and women were dying.

Why is it important to visit this older conflict that seemed to be winding down, if not over? The explanation is that, as the Cold War established a political template for the Culture War, so the Culture War has established one for the present controversy over who is and who is not patriotic and loyal to what.

Let us call one side in the Culture War cultural conservatives, the other multiculturalists, though, like all labels, these obscure the differences within each group and similarities across them. Thus, some multiculturalists remained respectful of the Western canon of great books, and some Marxists were critical of multiculturalism.

For cultural conservatives, politicizing the university meant using race, ethnicity, gender, class, or sexual preference as a litmus test in the selection of students, the hiring and promotion of faculty, and the determination of curriculum. They resented and rejected the idea that membership in a so-called oppressed group could confer legitimacy on what was said and...