Kerby Anderson

Yesterday I talked about some of the problems with the universities in America and focused on the economic issues. Today I would like to talk about ideology. Victor Davis Hanson answers the question: “How Were the Universities Lost?”

He begins by acknowledging that most Americans already sensed that universities were a hotbed of liberalism and intolerance. But after the Hamas attack on Israel in October, most Americans were shocked at the level of antisemitic hatred on college campuses. He has several explanations.

First, elite universities worked to reduce their “white” incoming student populations. He points to the abolition of the SAT requirement and no longer looking at the comparative ranking of high school grade averages. The net result was a dramatic decrease in the number of Jewish students at many elite universities.

Second, was the description of Jewish students as “white” and “privileged.” The academic and financial success of Jewish people made it easier to target them as oppressors even though they are a minority in America. Third, universities began to admit increasing numbers of foreign students, especially from oil-rich Middle East countries, who possess an anti-Jewish bias.

He concludes, “The net result is that there are now thousands of students from abroad, especially from the Middle East, far fewer Jewish students, and student bodies who demand radical changes in faculty standards and course work.”

He also argued that these schools may go the way of Disney and Bud Light. “At the present rate, a Stanford law degree, a Harvard political science major, or a Yale social science BA will soon scare off employers and the general public at large.”

That’s why I suggest that a college degree may not be worth as much as it was just a few decades ago.