6 ms·

At the end of the article, the author seem to have listed every diversity criteria, except the diversity of thought. With Democrat to Republican ratio of profes

by throwaway1959 5y ago

At the end of the article, the author seem to have listed every diversity criteria, except the diversity of thought. With Democrat to Republican ratio of professors in the leading US Universities being 11.5 to 1 [1], there is a growing danger that Stanford will go the way other universities have gone: lowering academic standards, admitting students based in their identity affiliations (and of course rich parents who could skirt the system), lowering faculty standards in technical departments, etc... The Stanford startups will move towards social engineering, disguised as impact investing. Move towards normalizing the discrimination against Asian and Indian male students and entrepreneurs. [1] https://econjwatch.org/articles/faculty-voter-registration-in-economics-history-journalism-communications-law-and-psychology https://econjwatch.org/articles/faculty-voter-registration-i...

stephencanon 5y ago
Are you suggesting that Stanford needs to lower its standards to create reserved spaces for Republicans?
- throwaway1959 5y ago
  Of course not. I am not actually sure how to solve this problem. I think a good start would be to move back towards encouraging freedom of speech on campus and dialog between people with different opinions.
  - whatever_dude 5y ago
    If one of those sides specializes in ignoring verifiable facts, and is of the "opinion" that entire groups of people shouldn't exist, I'm not sure there's much to be gained by any sort of "dialog".
    - bacheaul 5y ago
      Are you suggesting that this is fair characterisation of Republicans in a general sense? I'm not sure that all Republicans would agree with this. And I definitely consider myself on the liberal side of the political spectrum. I can empathise that it's difficult to have a dialog with some individuals who are only interested in convincing you of the correctness of their world view and not understanding others, but inflamatory rhetoric like this doesn't help.
      - ABeeSea 5y ago
        61% of republicans believe the election was stolen and 53% believe Trump is the true president. That is an untenable detachment from facts and reality from a major political party. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nationalreview.com/news/poll-majority-of-republicans-believe-trump-is-the-true-president/amp/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nationalreview.com/news/pol...
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - _r0fz 5y ago
        If I mention a sea lion do you understand what I'm talking about?
  - stephencanon 5y ago
    The only real obstacle to “freedom of speech on campus” is the college Republicans agitating to get an AP writer fired based on her involvement with SJP as an undergrad.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- whatshisface 5y ago
  I don't see why anyone should get special treatment, but the OP is suggesting that they do whatever they do for other groups to create reserved spaces for Republicans. There's this whole explanation about how it's not technically lowering-of-standards but I don't remember the details. I think it has something to do with only using their demographic to change your decision if they are equally as promising as someone else with a different demographic.
- xx789 5y ago
  I think that does make sense.
- RobRivera 5y ago
  if reserving slots for republicans == lower standards to you... ...you're a little prejudicial and ignorant
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- pstuart 5y ago
  Touché
- astrange 5y ago
  They already did that, it's called the Hoover Institution.
ABeeSea 5y ago
The Republican Party has abandoned data and evidence driven policy decisions in favor of ideology. The last Republican Party convention had no official policy platform outside of “whatever Trump wants today.” Why would you expect Professors to be excited to join a party that is a cult of personality that incessantly demonizes the very institutions they lead?
- throwaway1959 5y ago
  The study I cite was published in Sep 2016, so it predates Trump.
  - ABeeSea 5y ago
    The abandoning of evidence and data happened long before Trump. Denying evolution, denying climate change, promoting abstinence only education, etc. Look to Liberty University if you want to see what a Republican institute of “higher learning” looks like.
    - SamReidHughes 5y ago
      Have you ever tried showing a Democrat a twin study?
      - ABeeSea 5y ago
        Not sure what you are getting at.
        qqqwerty 5y ago
        White supremacists like to claim that twin studies prove that black people are less intelligent due to genetics. Apparently Sam seems to think that Democrats refusing to accept the shoddy science behind twin studies (the conclusions of which are often used in service of racist meta-studies) somehow implies that they are also "anti-science". Probably best to just ignore the comment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Fund https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Fund https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_race_and_intelligence_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_race_and_intell...
spamizbad 5y ago
Why is diversity of thought limited to Democrats and Republicans, two perspectives that are actually quite close when it comes to economics - do you want a mixed-market economy that tilts slightly more in the direction of free market capitalism or not? There's just not much daylight between Democrat and Republican economic professors compared to say a Marxian Economist vs Chicago School for example. I think the handwringing over D/R splits really boils down to narcissism of small differences.
- drewcoo 5y ago
  I think it works like this: https://seuss.fandom.com/wiki/The_Sneetches https://seuss.fandom.com/wiki/The_Sneetches And if the mention of Seuss dredges up culture war nonsense, that's only fitting.
ausbah 5y ago
are you suggesting that it is the large slant "left leaning" professors that will cause such issues, or that there is a slant at all?
chris11 5y ago
Stanford's culture may be liberal. But they do support conservative leaders. The Hoover Institute is at Stanford, there isn't really a liberal equivalent at that university. It's members have worked in both Bush administrations, and the Trump administration. It's currently directed by Condoleezza Rice.
- barry-cotter 5y ago
  The liberal equivalent of the Hoover Institute is the rest of Stanford. Any organization that is not explicitly right wing becomes left wing over time.
thatfrenchguy 5y ago
Yeah, because we know republicans are definitely some sort of meritocratic organisation.
- rejectedandsad 5y ago
  Unfortunately, the cult of "meritocracy" is a bipartisan issue (though somewhat slanted towards the Democrats now because of cultural realignment over the last decade). In my opinion, "meritocracy", where "meritocracy" is defined by a narrow scope of skills the dream-hoarder class possesses and the rest don't know about, is the problem.
UncleMeat 5y ago
Don't fool yourself into believing that conservatives at Stanford value diversity of thought. The college republicans have made plenty of efforts to get people they don't like fired. They've also harassed a number of my friends.
rejectedandsad 5y ago
You identified the problem, but not the solution. The Hoover institution, of course, is basically a safe-space for right-wing ideologues in America now. The problem is Stanford and similarly exclusive institutions. You get more diversity of thought out of greater diversities of backgrounds, like at SJSU, CSULA, Ohio State, NC A&T, and Virginia Commonwealth University (to name a handful of non-elite schools).

stephencanon 5y ago

Are you suggesting that Stanford needs to lower its standards to create reserved spaces for Republicans?

throwaway1959 5y ago
Of course not. I am not actually sure how to solve this problem. I think a good start would be to move back towards encouraging freedom of speech on campus and dialog between people with different opinions.
- whatever_dude 5y ago
  If one of those sides specializes in ignoring verifiable facts, and is of the "opinion" that entire groups of people shouldn't exist, I'm not sure there's much to be gained by any sort of "dialog".
  - bacheaul 5y ago
    Are you suggesting that this is fair characterisation of Republicans in a general sense? I'm not sure that all Republicans would agree with this. And I definitely consider myself on the liberal side of the political spectrum. I can empathise that it's difficult to have a dialog with some individuals who are only interested in convincing you of the correctness of their world view and not understanding others, but inflamatory rhetoric like this doesn't help.
    - ABeeSea 5y ago
      61% of republicans believe the election was stolen and 53% believe Trump is the true president. That is an untenable detachment from facts and reality from a major political party. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nationalreview.com/news/poll-majority-of-republicans-believe-trump-is-the-true-president/amp/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nationalreview.com/news/pol...
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
    - _r0fz 5y ago
      If I mention a sea lion do you understand what I'm talking about?
- stephencanon 5y ago
  The only real obstacle to “freedom of speech on campus” is the college Republicans agitating to get an AP writer fired based on her involvement with SJP as an undergrad.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
whatshisface 5y ago
I don't see why anyone should get special treatment, but the OP is suggesting that they do whatever they do for other groups to create reserved spaces for Republicans. There's this whole explanation about how it's not technically lowering-of-standards but I don't remember the details. I think it has something to do with only using their demographic to change your decision if they are equally as promising as someone else with a different demographic.
xx789 5y ago
I think that does make sense.
RobRivera 5y ago
if reserving slots for republicans == lower standards to you... ...you're a little prejudicial and ignorant
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
pstuart 5y ago
Touché
astrange 5y ago
They already did that, it's called the Hoover Institution.

ABeeSea 5y ago

The Republican Party has abandoned data and evidence driven policy decisions in favor of ideology. The last Republican Party convention had no official policy platform outside of “whatever Trump wants today.” Why would you expect Professors to be excited to join a party that is a cult of personality that incessantly demonizes the very institutions they lead?

throwaway1959 5y ago
The study I cite was published in Sep 2016, so it predates Trump.
- ABeeSea 5y ago
  The abandoning of evidence and data happened long before Trump. Denying evolution, denying climate change, promoting abstinence only education, etc. Look to Liberty University if you want to see what a Republican institute of “higher learning” looks like.
  - SamReidHughes 5y ago
    Have you ever tried showing a Democrat a twin study?
    - ABeeSea 5y ago
      Not sure what you are getting at.
      - qqqwerty 5y ago
        White supremacists like to claim that twin studies prove that black people are less intelligent due to genetics. Apparently Sam seems to think that Democrats refusing to accept the shoddy science behind twin studies (the conclusions of which are often used in service of racist meta-studies) somehow implies that they are also "anti-science". Probably best to just ignore the comment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Fund https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Fund https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_race_and_intelligence_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_race_and_intell...

spamizbad 5y ago

Why is diversity of thought limited to Democrats and Republicans, two perspectives that are actually quite close when it comes to economics - do you want a mixed-market economy that tilts slightly more in the direction of free market capitalism or not? There's just not much daylight between Democrat and Republican economic professors compared to say a Marxian Economist vs Chicago School for example. I think the handwringing over D/R splits really boils down to narcissism of small differences.

drewcoo 5y ago
I think it works like this: https://seuss.fandom.com/wiki/The_Sneetches https://seuss.fandom.com/wiki/The_Sneetches And if the mention of Seuss dredges up culture war nonsense, that's only fitting.

ausbah 5y ago

are you suggesting that it is the large slant "left leaning" professors that will cause such issues, or that there is a slant at all?

chris11 5y ago

Stanford's culture may be liberal. But they do support conservative leaders. The Hoover Institute is at Stanford, there isn't really a liberal equivalent at that university. It's members have worked in both Bush administrations, and the Trump administration. It's currently directed by Condoleezza Rice.

barry-cotter 5y ago
The liberal equivalent of the Hoover Institute is the rest of Stanford. Any organization that is not explicitly right wing becomes left wing over time.

thatfrenchguy 5y ago

Yeah, because we know republicans are definitely some sort of meritocratic organisation.

rejectedandsad 5y ago
Unfortunately, the cult of "meritocracy" is a bipartisan issue (though somewhat slanted towards the Democrats now because of cultural realignment over the last decade). In my opinion, "meritocracy", where "meritocracy" is defined by a narrow scope of skills the dream-hoarder class possesses and the rest don't know about, is the problem.

UncleMeat 5y ago

Don't fool yourself into believing that conservatives at Stanford value diversity of thought. The college republicans have made plenty of efforts to get people they don't like fired. They've also harassed a number of my friends.

rejectedandsad 5y ago

You identified the problem, but not the solution. The Hoover institution, of course, is basically a safe-space for right-wing ideologues in America now. The problem is Stanford and similarly exclusive institutions. You get more diversity of thought out of greater diversities of backgrounds, like at SJSU, CSULA, Ohio State, NC A&T, and Virginia Commonwealth University (to name a handful of non-elite schools).