The Professors

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 30 JAN 2006

Horowitz, author of Unholy Alliance and founder of FrontPageMag.com, profiles 101 professors whose politics run left of center (in many cases, very, very left of center), and though his list is impressive in size and the amount of research that went into it, the most egregious crimes perpetrated by the majority of these academics is that their politics don't mesh with Horowitz's. Which isn't to say Horowitz hasn't turned up a few surprises: a Northwestern University law professor has a sordid history involving the Weather Underground, and a Rutgers University professor's early poems included lines like, "Rape the white girls" and "I got the extermination blues, jewboys." However, his intention to expose the majority of these professors as "dangerous" and undeserving of their coveted positions seems petty in some cases, as when he smugly mocks the proliferation of departments dedicated to peace studies or considers "anti-war activist" as a character flaw. The only noteworthy point that emerges from Horowitz's melodramatic finger pointing is his questioning of the tenure system, which he believes "serves to protect mediocrity and encourage incompetence." More distressing to Horowitz, it would appear, is that tenure allows professors who disagree with his personal political opinions to continue teaching.