Free Speech on Campus

Professor Lee Epstein and Chancellor Andrew D. Martin

Political Science 334

Fall 2020


MEDIEVAL SCHOLARS JOUST WITH THE ALT-RIGHT (December 2)

Case Study

In 2017 Dorothy Kim, a professor of medieval literature at Vasser, wrote a blogpost designed to highlight the relationship between medieval studies and white supremacy, as well as to persuade her colleagues not to sit (neutrally) on the side lines:

Today, medievalists have to understand that the public and our students will see us as potential white supremacists or white supremacist sympathizers because we are medievalists. The medieval western European Christian past is being weaponized by white supremacist/white nationalist/KKK/nazi extremist groups who also frequently happen to be college students. Don’t think western European medieval studies is exceptional.... ISIS/ISIL also weaponizes the idea of the pure medieval Islamic past in their recruiting rhetoric for young male Muslims. If the medieval past (globally) is being weaponized for the aims of extreme, violent supremacist groups, what are you doing, medievalists, in your classrooms?

Professor Kim concluded with a warning and some advice:

Our students are watching and will make judgements and calls on what side you are really on. I suggest overt signaling of how you are not a white supremacist and how your medieval studies is one that does not uphold white supremacy. Neutrality is not optional.

Professor Kim's post triggered a response from Rachel Fulton Brown, a professor of history at the University of Chicago. Professor Brown accused Professor Kim of "misunderstanding" her own discipline:

Professor Kim ... and her friends have persisted over the past year and a half in labeling me and many of my fellow medievalists as “white supremacists” because it suits their narrative. It is not a narrative that makes any sense if you know anything about our field...

I have never met Professor Kim; perhaps she does not attend the meetings of the Medieval Academy. But what I know from what she has written about me is this: Professor Kim wants you to be afraid. I don’t. I want for you to know that you are loved .... How should you signal that you are not a white supremacist if you teach the “medieval western European Christian past”? Learn some f*cking medieval western European Christian history, including the history of our field.


General Notes

  1. We'll focus on the question of what steps, if any, universities, departments, and professors should take if they believe particular academic subjects have negative/harmful consequences for society (more on this below). But, as the readings (and posts) point out, other questions/issues have emerged, including the types of scholars who are attracted to medieval studies/Classics and the research those scholars produce.

  2. We probably won't have time to discuss these other (though related) matters. If you're interested in them:

    • Watch this video, from a panel called "The Future of Classics." Beginning at 11:56, various professors discuss how to diversity the field and its output. At 44:58 a now-infamous confrontation took place between a member of the audience and several of the speakers.

    • You can read about the confrontation here and here

Notes on the Case Study

  1. For journalistic background/commentary on the Kim-Brown debate and related issues, read this article in the Chronicle of Education and this one, in the New York Times

  2. For background on the Alt Right's "enthusiasm" for the Classics/medieval studies, read this post by Donna Zukerberg

Readings

  1. Please read the materials linked above

  2. Also read: "University forces professor to change syllabus that threatened to dismiss students who argue against BLM, abortion or same-sex marriage"

Section/Class Activities

Zoe Stamatopoulou, a professor of Classics at Washington U, will join our class on December 2. Sections should:

  1. Prepare questions for Professor Stamatopoulou

  2. Consider whether "weaponizing" particular groups or ideas is limited to medieval studies/Classics. What about a Political Science course on Machiavelli's The Prince (praised by 20th centuries dictators)? Or an economics course, The Value of Free (Unregulated) Markets? What, if anything, distinguishes medieval studies/Classics?

  3. Returning to the question of how universities, departments, and professors should respond to academic subjects they believe have negative/harmful consequences for society: what steps, if any, should they take? Would any, or even most, of the possible responses intrude on academic freedom and free expression?

  4. Suppose a university told professors to guard against producing societal harms even if that meant revising their syllabi. Would such a mandate be similar to or different from the scenario in Reading #2 above ("University forces professor to change syllabus that threatened to dismiss students who argue against BLM, abortion or same-sex marriage")?