Exposing the True Nature of ‘Campus Investigations’

Review of ‘Professors Speak Out: The Truth About Campus Investigations,’ by Nicholas Wolfinger.

The main campus of McGill University is seen in Montreal on Nov. 4, 2018. Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

Once upon a time, when I was an undergraduate, academic life was populated by persons, mostly men, who were very smart, slightly eccentric, and would sometimes say abrupt, even rude, things. Some were amazing teachers, some amazing scholars; a few were both and some were neither. During the Cuban missile crisis, my international relations (IR) prof made some critical remarks about “some guy from the English department” holding forth on matters about which, my IR prof said, he was ill-equipped to opine. That would never happen today. Or if it did, the administration would discipline the IR prof for his lack of collegiality. Today, collegiality and “professionalism” have become elements in the unwritten academic code of conduct that enable administrators to punish faculty at will.