As a graduate of two formerly reputable universities, I was troubled by a piece in the YU Commentator decrying and condemning the conferral of the Presidential Medallion on Rep. Elise Stefanik (NY-21). The content of the letter itself – a childish screed penned by malcontents whose news diet could benefit greatly from some variety – was boilerplate leftist pablum and, much like television shows such as The View, intended more to reassure the faithful than to win converts.
No; the troubling part was the ending. The 73 signatories (minus the utter cowards who signed anonymously) chose to identify as pathetic clichés. They chose to out themselves as one-dimensional caricatures of serious thinkers and educators. Surely they all raised a hue and cry over Sen. John Fetterman’s award last year. Or was that somehow kosher because he is – apart from his exceptional support for Israel – a conventional liberal? Perhaps one of them can deign to square this circle for us non-academics.
Their litany of complaints against Rep. Stefanik are so shopworn and boring that I found myself disappointed they didn’t put more effort into it. The overall piece was so lacking in perlocutionary force that it felt like how I imagine illiterate medieval parishioners perfunctorily chanting prayers in Latin, with no understanding (or care) of what they say, as long as everyone sees them doing the right thing. Stalin and Pol Pot loved underlings who preened like this. But run from them like your hair is on fire if they ever get a hand on the levers of state power.
Rep. Stefanik, a close ally of President Trump, is a Harvard-educated woman who confounds the shallow and lazy biological determinism that colors their stunted and blinkered worldview. As an outspoken conservative, she naturally finds herself on the same side of those of us who advocate for Torah values, so it’s worrisome that these YU employees (less the 14 cowards) had to retreat to their fainting couches. A quick online search showed that almost every political donation they made was to liberal campaigns, which is roughly in-line with YU’s faculty. In the 2024 cycle overall, 19 political donations by YU faculty were reported. Of them, two went to a Republican (both to Rep. Stefanik, as it happens, and for a whopping $700 which wouldn’t cover the airtime to clear one’s throat). Of the 54 donations made in 2022, one went to a Republican (Liz Cheney, so, whatever). Of the 99 donations reported in 2020, none were made to a Republican.
The ongoing collapse of academia in this country is a major problem. Far too many professors are subversive political advocates and/or foreign operatives with minatory ideological agendas. Were I in an executive position at YU, such an ideological imbalance would worry me. These professors all seem to occupy the same sliver of the political spectrum, and they teach YU’s students a range of topics, including humanities, sciences, law, and social work. Perhaps parents should think twice before exposing their children to teachers like these, whose values are so aggressively arrayed against their own.
