Stanley Fish, Divestment, and "The Student Assault on the Academy"

National Association of Scholars

Stanley Fish, an early critic of NAS, recently published a piece on the campus divestment movement in the Huffington Post titled, "Divesting from Fossil Fuels: The Student Assault on the Academy." He advocates a non-political university, one that is a bastion of academic freedom removed from the political scrum. His return to the topic was in part prompted by our latest report, Inside Divestment: The Illiberal Movement to Turn a Generation Against Fossil FuelsThe campus divestment movement is but one of many battlegrounds over the university's purpose. Fish writes,

Now, shaming the fossil fuel industry might very well be a good thing to do (I am not going to pronounce on the substantive question), but it is not an academically good thing to do. [...] Saving the world from fossil fuels is not a pedagogical goal and doesn't belong either in the classroom or in the mission statement of a university.

It is encouraging for NAS, an organization dedicated to fair, open, rigorous debate, to share a common goal with one of its former detractors. Earlier this year, Fish offered praise for NAS's previous report on sustainability (2015), commending its "comprehensiveness, clarity and tone," as well as its detail and respect for those "on the other side."  

Read what others have to say about Inside Divestment >

  • Share

Most Commented

January 8, 2025

1.

NAS Condemns the AHA's “Scholasticide” Resolution

The National Association of Scholars condemns the “Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza,” which the members of the American Historical Association passed by 428 t......

January 27, 2025

2.

Exclusive Documents: UC-Boulder Breaks Civil Rights Law to Advance Racial Preferences

New FOIA documents grant a window into how the University of Colorado-Boulder, in the name of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, discriminates on the basis of protected class and upholds a co......

February 13, 2025

3.

The Grown Ups are Back: On Gender, Trump Replaces Confusion and Chaos with Clarity and Common Sense

With this administration, the grown ups are back: Trump is replacing confusion and chaos with clarity and common sense—not just for women’s sports but also for America....

Most Read

May 15, 2015

1.

Where Did We Get the Idea That Only White People Can Be Racist?

A look at the double standard that has arisen regarding racism, illustrated recently by the reaction to a black professor's biased comments on Twitter....

October 12, 2010

2.

Ask a Scholar: What is the True Definition of Latino?

What does it mean to be Latino? Are only Latin American people Latino, or does the term apply to anyone whose language derived from Latin?...

May 26, 2010

3.

10 Reasons Not to Go to College

A sampling of arguments for the idea that college may not be for everyone....