Why fascists hate universities

[Hume]

Authoritarians and would-be authoritarians are only too aware that universities are primary sites of critique and dissent

In the fall of 2023, in response to Israel’s brutal retaliation in Gaza for Hamas’s terrorist attack, anti-genocide protests erupted in American universities. These anti-genocide protests were labeled as pro-Hamas and used as a basis to attack elite universities, their students, their professors and their administrations, verbally, politically and physically.

It is not implausible to take the goal to have been, at least largely, a preliminary show of police power to university students.

Why fascists hate universities | Jason Stanley

Authoritarians and would-be authoritarians are only too aware that universities are primary sites of critique and dissent

www.theguardian.com

 

[Hume]

"In the United States, the Republican party has long been aware of the democratic potential of student movements. As it lurches closer and closer to authoritarianism, it will, like all rightwing authoritarian movements worldwide, seek to crush dissent, starting with university students and faculty.

 

[Hume]

"DeSantis has focused on public and higher education as central targets. According to an AAUP report, “academic freedom, tenure and shared governance in Florida’s public colleges and universities currently face a politically and ideologically driven assault unparalleled in US history.”

The committee’s final report reveals an atmosphere of intimidation and indeed terror, as the administrative threat to public university professors has been shown to be very real.