An Existential Threat to Doing Good Science

There has always been a mechanism that allows academics to freely pursue research: tenure. Faculty are ostensibly supposed to be the highest authority at universities, but that authority has been steadily eroded by administrators by effectively eliminating tenure-tracked positions.

Tenure had long been under attack, and the key perpetrator is administrative creep. People from the business world have taken over university governance, and the corporate culture they promote is incompatible with the mission of universities.

Machine shops are being converted from resources for staff and students into "cost centers," for example. As someone on the ground doing research in an academic environment, THIS is the kind of change that kills research productivity.

I have worked on projects funded in part by grants designed to create opportunities for students at HBCUs. The same research would have been persued regardless of funding source, but the grant brought in excellent and enthusiastic talent, and the science was better for it ultimately. We eagerly go after these funding opportunities in addition to other sources because they are truly a win for everone. I strongly disagree with the premise of the article, and find the characterizations in it to be quite disingenuous and counterproductive to promoting fruitful dialog.

> Many professors I know will freeze in class when realizing they were praising the work of a “colonialist” such as Darwin or Newton.

The American left has lost the ability to see shades of gray. No human since the dawn of time has been perfect. If we cherry-pick which scientists to believe based on their moral stance from centuries ago, we're throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

It takes a lot of courage nowadays to stand up to cancel culture. Luana Maroja likely risked her career to write this article.

Wokeness has started to hurt the hand that feeds it.

Higher education is ripe for disruption. It is sad that a common-sense, science-based approach should feel like disruption.