The Volokh Conspiracy - "Universities should not be in the social justice business":

So says Stanley Fish, and of course he is correct. I wish someone would explain this to those who run Brandeis University, my alma mater.

It was bad enough that President Jehuda Reinharz added "social justice" to Brandeis's mission statement (though this language now seems to have been moved to Brandeis's official "Diversity Statement", which states that "Brandeis University considers social justice central to its mission as a nonsectarian university founded by members of the American Jewish community." It's also one of Brandeis's "Four Pillars," though here "social justice" is used interchangeably with "social action," an even more clearly inappropriate mission for a university to undertake.) At least there was still some "plausible deniability" that Brandeis's oft-proclaimed "commitment to social justice" should be interpreted as having political or ideological connotations.

In fact, however, it seems clear that Brandeis wishes to use its professed commitment to "social justice" to attract donations from left-liberal alumni and other left-liberal sources. The most recent brochure from the Brandeis development office has a message from Nancy Winship, Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement, in which she remarks that "Today's Brandeis students will become tomorrow's enlightened leaders--individuals who will operate socially responsible businesses [just running a successful business that employs many people and provides wanted goods and services apparently is not "enlightened"], pursue ground-breaking medical breakthroughs, head progressive national governments, and serve in life-change non-profit organizations." I suppose few Brandeis alums, myself included, would be proud of alumni who run regressive national governments, but surely Ms. Winship is well aware that "progressive" is a synonym for American "liberals," or what in European terms would be Social Democrats or Greens.

Elsewhere in the same brochure, we learn from Mia Goldwasser '10 that "one theme I see arise often in my coursework is social justice, a central part of the Brandeis mission. Whether it's through my work on campus with Students for Environmental Action or volunteering in a local elementary school, this commitment to helping the less fortunate continues to serve as a guiding force."

In short, Brandeis is, officially, in the social justice business. At best, this is just p.r. talk, and has no effect on academic freedom in the university, and is merely embarrassing. At worst, Brandeis in fact institutionally favors certain ideological views over others, and has no claim to be a university devoted to the pursuit of truth regardless of ideological implications.

Many Brandeis professors have been quick to condemn the administration when they think that concerns over donor relations have led Brandeis to implicitly disavow academic neutrality with regard to Israel. I'm still waiting for any of these professors to challenge Brandeis's far more blatant and overt commitment to a left-liberal "social justice" agenda.

UPDATE: Reader HLSLibertarian comments:

No one has suggested that Brandeis shouldn't have the right to promote any political agenda it chooses. My qualm, and I imagine Prof. Bernstein's as well, is that Brandeis holds itself out [ed: selectively] to be an institution without such an agenda.

I'm a fairly recent alum, and was disgusted at the pervasiveness of a political agenda in many departments. Brandeis is churning out clueless grads who are completely unaware that serious arguments exist for positions on the right. Brandeis teaches them that there is only Enlightenment and Ignorance. They graduate ill-equipped to have a normal conversation with a Republican, much less try to convince one of anything.

	[David Bernstein, June 9, 2008 at 11:19pm] Trackbacks "Universities should not be in the social justice business": So says Stanley Fish, and of course he is correct. I wish someone would explain this to those who run Brandeis University, my alma mater. It was bad enough that President Jehuda Reinharz added "social justice" to Brandeis's mission statement (though this language now seems to have been moved to Brandeis's official "Diversity Statement", which states that "Brandeis University considers social justice central to its mission as a nonsectarian university founded by members of the American Jewish community." It's also one of Brandeis's "Four Pillars," though here "social justice" is used interchangeably with "social action," an even more clearly inappropriate mission for a university to undertake.) At least there was still some "plausible deniability" that Brandeis's oft-proclaimed "commitment to social justice" should be interpreted as having political or ideological connotations. In fact, however, it seems clear that Brandeis wishes to use its professed commitment to "social justice" to attract donations from left-liberal alumni and other left-liberal sources. The most recent brochure from the Brandeis development office has a message from Nancy Winship, Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement, in which she remarks that "Today's Brandeis students will become tomorrow's enlightened leaders--individuals who will operate socially responsible businesses [just running a successful business that employs many people and provides wanted goods and services apparently is not "enlightened"], pursue ground-breaking medical breakthroughs, head progressive national governments, and serve in life-change non-profit organizations." I suppose few Brandeis alums, myself included, would be proud of alumni who run regressive national governments, but surely Ms. Winship is well aware that "progressive" is a synonym for American "liberals," or what in European terms would be Social Democrats or Greens. Elsewhere in the same brochure, we learn from Mia Goldwasser '10 that "one theme I see arise often in my coursework is social justice, a central part of the Brandeis mission. Whether it's through my work on campus with Students for Environmental Action or volunteering in a local elementary school, this commitment to helping the less fortunate continues to serve as a guiding force." In short, Brandeis is, officially, in the social justice business. At best, this is just p.r. talk, and has no effect on academic freedom in the university, and is merely embarrassing. At worst, Brandeis in fact institutionally favors certain ideological views over others, and has no claim to be a university devoted to the pursuit of truth regardless of ideological implications. Many Brandeis professors have been quick to condemn the administration when they think that concerns over donor relations have led Brandeis to implicitly disavow academic neutrality with regard to Israel. I'm still waiting for any of these professors to challenge Brandeis's far more blatant and overt commitment to a left-liberal "social justice" agenda. UPDATE: Reader HLSLibertarian comments: No one has suggested that Brandeis shouldn't have the right to promote any political agenda it chooses. My qualm, and I imagine Prof. Bernstein's as well, is that Brandeis holds itself out [ed: selectively] to be an institution without such an agenda. I'm a fairly recent alum, and was disgusted at the pervasiveness of a political agenda in many departments. Brandeis is churning out clueless grads who are completely unaware that serious arguments exist for positions on the right. Brandeis teaches them that there is only Enlightenment and Ignorance. They graduate ill-equipped to have a normal conversation with a Republican, much less try to convince one of anything.