God and man at Yale
the superstitions of "academic freedom"
by William F. Buckley · first published 1951
8mentions
0recommended by
4HN commenters
2016–2025first – last mentioned
100% neutral
Details how a once conservative college headed left theologically and politically.
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…conservatives see universities as hotbeds of athiest, radical left ideology, and so basically want to shut them down. In fact, one of the founding books of the modern conservative movement is William F. Buckley's God and Man at Yale.
on “The Looming Decline of the Public Research University” ↗…movement. For one thing, conservatives are very hostile toward higher education because they consider it a hotbed of marxist atheism. In fact, one of the founding books of the conservative movement, <God and Man at Yale> by William F. Buckley, focused on exactly this point. Secondly, conservatives believe in making government as small as possible, so they have been shrinking tax support for universities. And when universities…
on “Myth and reality in the crisis of college affordability (2015)” ↗…them for many decades. From the beginning, modern conservatives have seen the university as a cesspool of atheist marxism. Indeed, one of the founding books of the modern conservative movement was <i>God and Man at Yale</i> by William F. Buckley. So conservatives, especially at the state level, have worked to change the mission of the university from free inquiry to profit-making and supporting corporations, and they…
on “Public universities have “really lost our focus”” ↗…associated with "grievance studies" will ruin any social goodwill held towards academics, along with their reputation for being more right than the average person. This was William Buckley's theory in God and Man at Yale. Has the gangrene managed to advance since the 1940s without ever killing the patient?
on “Proceedings Start Against ‘Sokal Squared’ Hoax Professor” ↗…became an enfant terrible with The City and the Pillar in 1948, a novel that dealt unapologetically and sympathetically with a homosexual protagonist. Buckley published his first book three years later, God and Man at Yale, a controversial attack on an institution that he proclaimed was leaning too far left, promulgating communism, and attacking religion. Their positions staked, we can look back and see these polar…
on “James Baldwin vs. William F Buckley: A legendary debate from 1965 [video]” ↗…happily ignores the fact that what is happening under Trump is not new. Were the excesses of the left the cause of the Stop Woke Act in Florida? The right has been screaming about firing professors since God and Man at Yale was published. In my opinion, this is not anything resembling a serious accounting of the threats to speech from the right. And you can compare this article against the entire book that he published…
on “Inside CECOT – 60 Minutes [video]” ↗Picking up steam in the 80s? God and Man at Yale was published in 1951. Red Scare nonsense got lots of faculty members fired for being communist sympathizers in the 50s. Students were shot and killed by the national guard in the 60s.
on “US Confidence in Higher Education Institutions Continues Long Decline” ↗…not that they don't like the NSF in general or that science funding is breaking the bank. The issue is that people they hate rely on the NSF. This is a pretty old belief system amongst conservatives. God and Man at Yale was published seventy years ago and argued that universities should actively teach that Christ is divine and that free market capitalism is the best thing ever at all times and in all venues.
on “NSF faces shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions” ↗