Hedges’ interview continues with him and Schrecker discussing the Vietnam war and resulting protests by students, whom the faculty ultimately supported. Schrecker claims that, as the result of the protests, the media demonized students, the universities lost money and prestige, and nationalists such as Ronald Reagan gained credibility.
I discuss the 1970’s pretty thoroughly in my Culture Wars Series, but I think it worth repeating that in 1973 David Rockefeller brought Jimmy Carter into his Trilateral Commission. According to Wikipedia, members of this Commission were to hold, along with Carter’s presidency, “[a]ll of the top positions in [his] government.” In 1975, the Commission Published the report, “The Crisis of Democracy,” basically saying the US had too much of it. I quote Noam Chomsky’s response extensively in this entry, but I’ll quote his summary, with excerpts from the original text, about educational institutions here:
Higher education should be related “to economic and political goals,” and if it is offered to the masses, “a program is then necessary to lower the job expectations of those who receive a college education.” No challenge to capitalist institutions can be considered, but measures should be taken to improve working conditions and work organization so that workers will not resort to “irresponsible blackmailing tactics.”
The 1971 Powell Memorandum outright accuses higher education of an “assault on the enterprise system.” To quote its call for a more aggressive stance on all levels of public discourse:
There should be no hesitation to attack the Naders, the Marcuses and others who openly seek destruction of the system. There should not be the slightest hesitation to press vigorously in all political arenas for support of the enterprise system. Nor should there be reluctance to penalize politically those who oppose it.
Lessons can be learned from organized labor in this respect. The head of the AFL-CIO may not appeal to businessmen as the most endearing or public-minded of citizens. Yet, over many years the heads of national labor organizations have done what they were paid to do very effectively. They may not have been beloved, but they have been respected — where it counts the most — by politicians, on the campus, and among the media.
It is time for American business — which has demonstrated the greatest capacity in all history to produce and to influence consumer decisions — to apply their great talents vigorously to the preservation of the system itself.
Although Schrecker’s interview suffers for not covering these important texts, she does discuss the importance of the Powell memo here. However, “The Crisis of Democracy,” as revealing the false dialogue of US two-party politics, is a fatal omission.
The “low key” enfeebling of our educational institutions coupled with the vampire castle identitarianism and veneer of democracy in what remains of them have contributed to the soaring inequality of our classes while allowing those youths so lifted to privilege to feel entitled to such privilege.
From Chasse aux Livres
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