Heaven help me if the fact that I’m employed at a state university stopped me from pointing out (as Juan, tongue-in-cheek (I think), implies that it would) that state universities create inherent civil liberties problems when they, as they must, engage in content-based speech regulations. For that matter, it shouldn’t stop me from pointing out that there are likely better things to do with tax dollars than subsidize the education of indviduals likely to earn well-above the median income in the future (i.e., law students) by running state law schools with low tuition rates (note to Gov. Warner: privatize GMUSL, please!), although it’s possible the gets its money back and more when these students become taxpaying attorneys (most of whom stay in Va.). Even worse, in a proper libertarian society, my job, which I love dearly, would likely not exist, at least not in its current form–the ABA, which is in charge of accrediting law schools, puts a high premium on law schools having full-time faculties that spend relatively little of their time teaching (they are supposed to spend much of the rest of their time engaging in scholarship; some, like almost all my colleagues, do, while many others do… well I’m not exactly sure what, I guess everything from university service to practicing law on the side to doing pro bono work to coaching their kids’ little league teams to the one professor at a prominent “top 10” school who told me he yachts during the school year and travels during the Summer), but there is no reason to believe that education consumers in a free market would concur.
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