Among the counterattacks against leftist control of higher education has been a movement to create centers of civic education, where students learn about the pillars of western civilization (rather than constantly hearing how awful it is).

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In this Minding the Campus article, Professor Rich Vedder looks at this and expresses his reservations. While the concept is fine, it seems to be running into leftist opposition.

Looking at his own state, Vedder writes, “Yet my assessment of the early progress at these Ohio centers so far is pretty negative. One of them seems to be straying far from the original intent of promoting the intellectual foundations of American exceptionalism, while another appears to have a good deal of administrative bloat and possibly even nepotism—curses common in higher education generally.”

The left has pretty much owned higher ed for decades and it’s hard to beat them at their own game.

Vedder points to a particular case where a renowned scholar who sought a teaching position was ignored, probably because he is known as a serious scholar who won’t bend.

He continues, “I am particularly appalled at the Ohio centers’ treatment of Scott Gerber. Professor Gerber is a respected legal scholar, especially known for his work on colonial America, having recently published a book with Cambridge University Press on legislation regarding religious freedom in three colonies.” Not one of the five civic learning centers in Ohio even deigned to grant him an interview. Vedder blames academic politics and cowardice and I think he’s right.

Vedder concludes, “Universities have enough trouble being run by their own paid administrators; be wary of legislators operating in an often-changing political milieu, fiddling directly with academic programs and staffing. Courses on the wisdom of America’s founding fathers or on the contributions of the ancient Greeks may be replaced by ones on, say, the perceived systematic racism of white male Americans. DEI reborn. “

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