Fw: ACTA report fyi

From: Dr. P. R. Portes (prport01@louisville.edu)
Date: Wed Nov 28 2001 - 08:59:02 PST


FYI, another item from the Internet Scout Report, a project of the University of Wisconsin:

"Defending Civilization: How Our Universities Are Failing America and What Can Be Done About It" [.pdf]
http://www.goacta.org/Reports/defciv.pdf

Though short, this report from The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), a nonprofit co-founded by Lynne Cheney and Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, has been getting quite a bit of media attention. The report is a scathing condemnation of universities for being "the weak link in America's response to the [September 11th] attack," a label earned in part because faculty "invoked tolerance and diversity as antidotes to evil" and did not discuss the "difference between good and evil." The report charges academia with disseminating the message to "blame America first." ACTA states, "This is not an argument for limiting free speech on college campuses. Indeed, the robust exchange of ideas is essential to a free society. But it is equally important -- and never more so than in these unsettling times -- to insist that colleges and universities transmit our history and heritage to the next
generation." The report concludes with an appendix of named and numbered professors and organizations who are part of the "weak link." Anyone interested in debates over the function of universities or the composition of curricula will want to read this.



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