Greg,

Good article. I totally agree.

From my recent experiences at UTS in Sydney, i found the 'left', the minorities etc overran the place, detered others from joining due to their actions, and actually put you at odds with whatever they were trying to push...valid, reasonable or not.

signs such as 'F$@# off liberal scum', the overprevalence of the 'Queer Collective' trying to ram things down our throat, protests so regularly, and the fact that they use our Union money to fund these social clubs for the disenchanted or unpopular(and some of them get paid, do you believe that?).

The problem is, the best and brightest just go to uni these days, they dont go feral, and they are focussed on completing their studies.

As for others, some play sport, some party, or some join an activist minorty, and often get carried away by the wonderful new scene, as in school they were low down the popularity ladder.

The key to anything is a certain component of Tolerance. The minorites, or those incorrectly representing them (such as young adults looking for a social scene or an outlet to vent) have no tolerance for others whatsoever. Yet they push the fact that they want tolerance and equity themselves.

For the types of people involved with these groups, often the agenda is a personal one, rather than helping the minority. I am not correct in every case, and there are some good people there, but the irony is people in these organisations get the short road to political or 'leader life', by all the opportunities the system affords them. The real future leaders, or the people most suited to it are off working hard. I wish the powers that be identified this.

Minorities have their place at university, but not in students faces EVERY DAY.

Stop the hand feeding of those Arts type students who want to stay at university indefinately and continue to take, not focus on an outcome from university rather the bubble inside it, and not give back to society.

There is so much debate and discussion about the values, purposes and intellectual pursuits of Australian Universities that we all have missed the change to these institutions. They are no longer National (or Public) Institutes of learning, they are now Corporations! We need to reset our thinking and our understanding of what and who they are. Next time you consider a University, start by using the same set of values as you would if you were thinking about BHP, PBL or CSR!?

Woodyblues

Rather than being "wild", his assertions that Critical Theorists are in control of social sciences and the humanities is a commonly accepted, even by those academics who are doing the controlling - a thing in which they rejoice.

"Melleuish does not explain how these academics became a group."

It follows a simple formular: you label anyone who disagrees as either ethnocentric, racist, mysogynist, elitist, or one of the many other terms, hounding them out of campuses. These Critical Theories are united by their dislike of the establishment, and their ability to use said terms to cleanse universities.

"How they managed to weave such a spell over these institutions and how they operated to exclude "those who have a more positive outlook" ".

Explained above, but the rewriting of outcomes and constitutions of different faculties have been an example. Enviromentalists reassert their power by having outcomes for law students like "learning how to live in harmony with the environment". Most students think it's a croc, but nonetheless are unable to dislodge them from power.

The primary focus of this article was to show the way universities have gone from reaffirming society, to opposing it. Whilst the CSIRO has, for the most part, stood by our ideals of progress and development, universities have not. Instead of fostering men and women for the service of the public, they are making minions of Critical Theories which oppose all that is traditional to our nation. Civil societies do not benefit from such antagonism. The decline in the classical tradition and the traditional disciplines and the rise in "second-order disciplines" - "Mathematical studies" rather than "Mathematics" - where the focus moves from the accruing of knowledge to the imbibing of as many different loony theories and 'perspectives' (apart from the traditional) regarding a traditional discipline, in order to "critique it", rather than affirm it; is, for me the biggest symptom of the changes described.

Without repeating the ideas and points made by many above in denouncing this article, it's worth adding that University Unions are now set to be effectively transformed for the worst --so what's all the fuss about, Greg?
Following the introduction of VSU, and the inevitable destruction of Universtiy Unions as broadly liberalised, non-economically focused, sectarian bodies, it is more than likely that right-wing views and policies will dominate. Hence - just as the commodification of education and removal of equality in access to the Tertiary system has already brought about - we will see a return to a more upper class (dare I use such terms) mainstream constituency, policy outlook, and range of opinion within universities generally. This will further entrench and reflect the stale, conservative, Left-wing-fearing mindset (purporting to be justified simply because it's "more representative" of the community as a whole) which is of course an anathema to the purpose of Universities to begin with: the very exclusive self-centred attitude which underlies this -quite unnecessary- article itself.

Greg Melleuish has argued that “What is now needed more than ever is a coherent, clear and forceful statement of the moral imperatives guiding liberalism and a demonstration of their superiority to the bankrupt and selfish values that underpinned the old protectionism. The task of Australian liberalism thus remains that of ensuring that Australian liberal democracy remains truly liberal.

http://www.cis.org.au/Publications/summaries/OP74summ.htm

* (and so this apparently means getting rid of feminists, Marxists, Bolsheviks, Stalinists.Trotskyites, Maoists and basically anyone that does not fit into Melleuish’s idea of a neo-con liberalist university paradise)…oh, now I get it!

Greg made some very interesting and valid points which are not made redundant just because unions at universities are becoming less and less fashionable-not because of the Howard government but because main stream students became isolated by them.

Most posters familiar with me will note I am of centre right persuasion. I attended a university that is known as a 'centre left' institution. There are many unis known as 'right wing' too (ie Uni Syd, Bond, UQ etc). My problem was not that many lecturers/ students whom I attended uni with were left but rather that I was often penalised because of my political thoughts. University is not a place for ideological battles/ protests/ abuse but rather learning- therefore if an opinion or assignment is supported by research and written proficiently it should be graded accordingly.

It troubles me that free thought is not supported by the majority of lecturers at universities. If we are to maintain intelligent debate and intellectual growth students must be allowed to express their opinions and thoughts without fear of penalty.