Public Intellectuals as Propagandists

Abstract

A frequently heard lament in recent years has been that the role of public intellectuals has declined because many who would have played that role have found comfortable niches in the academy. While this description of how public intellectuals these days make their livings is by and large accurate, what is missed by the usual bemoaning of the loss of the independent public intellectual is any perception of what has happened to the academy as a result. Far from losing their public forum, such intellectuals have instead extended their grasp by transforming the academy into a political staging ground for their concerns. The result is that higher education today is profoundly politicized. Not only is overt political propagandizing considered acceptable in education, it is even defined as inevitable. Such a view has undermined the pursuit of scholarly inquiry and the standards of professionalism in the classroom. Identity programs proliferate, and are typically staffed by professors who see themselves primarily not as educators but rather as propagandists for their particular views.