Conformity in Academia, Explained

Conformity in Academia, Explained
Students participate in an activity near Royce Hall on the campus of the University of California–Los Angeles on March 11, 2020. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
Mark Bauerlein
Updated:
Commentary

To people who aren’t professors and don’t work on college campuses, it doesn’t make sense. How can a habitat devoted to open discussion and strong job protections be so constricted and unpleasant, as academia seems to be? And how can people occupying the highest parts of that enterprise be so afraid to speak their minds and contradict the majority opinion?

Mark Bauerlein
Mark Bauerlein
Author
Mark Bauerlein is an emeritus professor of English at Emory University. His work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, The Washington Post, the TLS, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.
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