cross-posted from
unbossed
Stephen H. Balch of the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship but wearing his National Association of Scholars hat is demanding that the U.S. Education Department investigate two accrediting agencies: the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and the Council on Social Work Education.
Why?
Because these accrediting organizations urge universities to rate students based on their commitment to social justice. Oh! the Humanity!
The Chronicle of Education has a good story that, unfortunately, may be found online only at its subscription
page.
Who the heck is the NAS?
The National Association of Scholars (NAS) is an organization of professors, graduate students, college administrators and trustees, and independent scholars committed to rational discourse as the foundation of academic life in a free and democratic society. The NAS works to enrich the substance and strengthen the integrity of scholarship and teaching, persuaded that only through an informed understanding of the Western intellectual heritage and the realities of the contemporary world, can citizen and scholar be equipped to sustain our civilization's achievements. In light of these objectives, the NAS is deeply concerned about perspectives within the academy that reflexively denigrate the values and institutions of our society. Because such tendencies are often dogmatic in character and indifferent to both logic and evidence, they tend to undermine the basis for coherent scholarly dialogue. Recognizing the significance of this problem, the NAS encourages an assertiveness among academics who value reason and an open intellectual life.
In other words, social justice "reflexively denigrates the values and institutions of our society"? Have these folks heard of the Declaration of Independence or the Preamble to the US Constitution?
Unbossed has seen and called out these people in the past. They are part of a whole raft of intertwined front groups whose goal is to impose conservative ideology. And, at the same time, denigrate the true values this country was founded on.