Over 300 faculty members at Princeton have signed on to a symbolic — and hence, ultimately completely superficial — “statement of values” supporting … what else? Diversity on campus.
As if this never happens on modern American campuses, let alone one in the Ivy League.
The Daily Princetonian reports the “statement was made to ‘firmly emphasize [faculty’s] belief that all members of our community deserve to be treated with empathy and respect,’ and outlines the faculty’s desire to stand behind the University’s ‘steadfast commitment to embrace people of all ethnicities, religions, nationalities, genders, and identities, and our equally fundamental commitment to foster the free and vigorous exchange of ideas.'”
So noble. But notice what’s missing from the list? Political ideologies.
“The biggest thing was meeting students that were worried because there are reports of hate crimes and a lot of uncertainty as to changes that could happen we don’t know,” said [Professor Carlos] Brody, explaining why they decided to circulate the petition.
“We wanted these students to know that the faculty cares about them, that we care about every individual in our community regardless of gender, identity, ethnicity, or religion,” Brody said. “So we thought that gathering signatures for people to say this personally was a thing that might be valuable.” …
MORE: Princeton librarian thinks it’s her job to act as campus speech police
“I think, as someone who teaches classes on ethics, what is really clear to me is that there are important conversations about what our values are as a country and whether we as a country are able to understand the racism, sexism, homophobia, bigotry, and prejudice against the disabled that still exists in our country. And it’s clear that there is still a lot of work to be done to really confront these things, and it’s a time that we really need to be having conversations about what we owe to each other and what morality requires from us.” said [Professor Elizabeth] Harman in support of this statement’s release.
Brody noted that faculty tried to craft the statement in a “nonpartisan fashion so that it would appeal to everyone.”
But what does “nonpartisan” even mean when basically only one ideology exists among teaching staff?
MORE: Liberal profs outnumber conservatives 28-to-1 in region known for Ivy League
MORE: Princeton HR department: Don’t use word ‘man’
Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter
IMAGE: Ron Mader/Flickr
Please join the conversation about our stories on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, MeWe, Rumble, Gab, Minds and Gettr.