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Comment by lotsofpulp | Hacker News Reader

Seems like a very simple solution. I struggle to see any material effect to MIT had they simply ignored these complainers.

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Many such cases. That's why we need to look more closely at why the professional administrative class so eagerly does the wishes of activist mobs.

Could it be that the activists and the administrators believe the same things?

Or the admin feel like they are taking the easiest way out? But if I was an admin, the easier thing would be to ignore it.

I thought it was because, if the mob doesn't get their way, they single out the 'admins' as the next target. At least that's what I remember before I cut out on following twitter as a first party platform.

It's very conceivable, but I haven't seen any examples in a long time, if ever.

That could be part of it. According to surveys the administrators are very left-wing, even more than the professors who are already almost completely left-wing themselves.

Yeah. Over the years I've seen a number of incidents where (someone in) the Harvard administration assumes that the student body, professors, and alumni universally share their view that Affirmative Action is an unquestionable good and then gets caught off guard when this turns out not to be the case.

They do the wishes of right-wing activist mobs, too, and the original victims of campus "cancel culture" were Palestinians.

Could it be that the administrators believe in nothing?

Or administrators don’t want the mob’s fight to be amplified into mainstream national news. I’m sure this would upset donors.

I had the same thought. Maybe the mob is just the excuse the administrators can point to to do what they wanted to do already. Perhaps they both understand their role.

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