Over the weekend the National Association of Scholars published a new research report about the politicization of the University of California. Actually, A Crisis of Competence:  The Corrupting Effect of Political Activism in the University of California deals with a much broader subject than the UC system. It describes phenomena that are familiar in all the state university systems and many independent colleges and universities as well. And it offers a strong thesis to the effect that contemporary American higher education has been badly hurt by the failure of safeguards against using the classroom to advance partisan ideas and loyalties.

Even to name this topic is to risk a fair number of readers stopping dead in their tracks.  Oh, another kvetch by conservatives that no one invited them to the prom. Well, yes and no. There are a thousand ways to dismiss the problem of…

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