Today we have a response to yesterday’s Daily Read that brings up some important points. Amanda Taub addresses the focus on identity politics in Edward Schlosser’s article (which, as I failed to point out yesterday, is written under a pseudonym), and argues that identity politics aren’t the real issue. Taub stresses that the problem stems from fear of the university and its modern business model that treats students and professors as an “interchangeable means of production.” This means that liberal professors like the pseudonymous Schlosser aren’t actually afraid of their students; they are afraid of a system in which they could lose their jobs by exercising their academic freedom. I think Taub has an excellent point that we shouldn’t distract from this problem by deflecting it onto students who may have sensitivities to difficult subject matter. Blaming identity politics may only serve to further disempower and silence the voices of those who are most in need of acknowledgement. As Taub points out, “If adjuncts and junior faculty members feel insecure enough to censor their teaching or work, then that’s a problem in their relationship with their universities, not in their relationships with their students.”

I was a liberal adjunct professor. My liberal students didn’t scare me at all.