We have to stop believing performative progressivism. As an academic, I believe one of the most insidious areas of this is the domain of #university upper administration. We're getting better at spotting the "liberal washing" done by corporations, but universities seem to fool us (Americans) every time.
Provosts, presidents, deans, directors, and all their associate- and assistant- flavored lesserlings are very good at saying the "right" #liberal things, most of the time. They always "support" DEI initiatives, marginalized students, refugees, immigrants, crime victims, etc.
However, as pretty much every morality thinker ever has said, actions speak louder. Upper administrators at US universities overwhelmingly
- fight against workers' rights
- prioritize money over other goals
- prioritize positive PR over true change (see previous point)
- avoid any personal risk (even minor) in supporting the values they profess
- throw lower-status/lower-power people under the bus
- indulge in conspicuous consumption and ever-increasing organizational income inequality
- reject science and morality when those things threaten admin careers
- protect their own class at the expense of others
- change any and all purported values as politics and finances dictate
- aggressively protect authoritarian hierarchies with themselves at the top
- stifle criticism and dialogue when it implicates the systems from which they benefit
- use coercive violence by police to achieve their goals when all else fails
When you see a headline saying that a "university" did something, that almost always means a president did it (note: if you read a provost did something, that means the president ordered it; a provost's job is to do the things that would make a president less popular if done directly).
Universities are made up of at least three separate groups:
1. Workers: Faculty and staff
2. Consumers: Students*
3. Management: Upper administration
The dynamics are incredibly predictable.
*I only call Students "consumers" here because they are treated that way by every administration I've worked for or heard of
#highered #labor #laborrights #management #workers #faculty #professor