https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/09/totalitarian_woke_culture_drives_out_a_true_scholar_at_portland_state_university.html
Peter Boghossian become newsworthy about four years ago when he co-published in legitimate academic journals nonsensical papers about dog rape at dog parks and the penis as a social structure. Academia, rather than being embarrassed and reforming itself, doubled down, turning him into a pariah. His efforts to teach open inquiry and logical thinking in his classes also saw his woke students turn on him. Boghossian has finally given up. He resigned from Portland State University and published an illuminating open letter explaining exactly what drove him out.
In his open letter, which you can read in its entirety at Common Sense with Bari Weiss, Boghossian describes an academic system that has completely abandoned any fealty to the old values of curiosity, rationality, open-mindedness, and the art of challenging people’s ideas without seeking to destroy them. Indeed, given that his specialties “are critical thinking, ethics and the Socratic method,” and his classes cover topics such as “Science, Pseudoscience, and The Philosophy of Education,” Boghossian has built his academic life around principles of free inquiry, free speech, and logic.
Boghossian explains that, in the past, universities supported these principles but, at least at Portland State University, they have abandoned each one:
I’ve invited a wide range of guest lecturers to address my classes, from Flat-Earthers to Christian apologists to global climate skeptics to Occupy Wall Street advocates. I’m proud of my work.
I invited those speakers not because I agreed with their worldviews, but primarily because I didn’t. From those messy and difficult conversations, I’ve seen the best of what our students can achieve: questioning beliefs while respecting believers; staying even-tempered in challenging circumstances; and even changing their minds.