Fascism in the Academy

Sir: Philippa Martyr’s experience as a young academic being condemned, harassed and ostracised by her “colleagues” (Letters, May 2017) reminded me of my own, as a middle-aged one, more than ten years ago.

Immediately following the publication of the first article I published in Quadrant (“The Bullies and the Bullied”, March 2005) a senior “colleague” e-mailed everyone in my division, denounced the article, and put it on the agenda for the division’s next monthly meeting. I declined to attend such a meeting and immediately sent this colleague’s response to the then editor of Quadrant, the late Paddy McGuinness. His response was swift and terse: “The left-wing fascists are at it again.” Within weeks I received a letter from the university’s “HR” section informing me that I was suspended and would effectively be tried on a charge of “serious misconduct” (although the university administration carefully refrained from any mention of the article in question).

Personally, when an academic, I was always more concerned about the freedom to fail students—and not least of all the freedom to just get on with teaching and research in good conscience—than the freedom to publicly express unpopular opinions, but in the modern Australian university the denial of these freedoms must rank as two of the most blatant evils in an increasingly degraded tertiary education system.

Malcolm Saunders North Rockhampton, Qld

Sir: Early this year I spent a few months teaching at a disadvantaged government secondary school in Melbourne’s north (I was filling in for someone on leave).

Never have I been in an environment where young people were so eager to make discrimination complaints. If you pulled up a student for not submitting assignments on time, for not doing their homework, for idleness or misbehaviour in class, or if they received a low grade, instantly the youngster claimed he or she was a victim of racial bias.

This chip-on-the-shoulder seemed part of their teenage social development. It appeared haltingly with some Year 9 students, and was established as a habitual response for the Year 10s, who had an inflated sense of entitlement.

None of the grumbling was serious. The students openly admitted this, and saw ethnic discrimination allegations as amusing, a sort of entertainment, as well as a handy means of harassing any who impeded their fun. All knew how to lodge formal complaints with various government bureaux, and said they looked forward to making much use of these procedures in adulthood.

Clearly racial discrimination is poised to be a key growth industry and a major employer of future Australians.

Christopher Heathcote Keilor, Vic

Sir: In regard to your recent article “A Disaster of the Active Kind” (May 2017), I am surprised that you did not mention the one university of Australia which has consistently withstood the Left-centred ideology which is destroying our society: that is to say, Campion College, Sydney. Established precisely to “promote the study of Western civilisation”, Campion is an oasis of sanity in the current desert of academic life.

Sarah Fanning Tarlo, NSW

Sir: It was a bit saddening to read Melissa Coburn’s piece about her struggles with In Search of Lost Time (May 2017). Her take on Proust’s musings at the beginning of Swann’s Way is about as low-key a description as you could devise. Poor old Marcel.

Contemplating reading the whole work is admittedly daunting, but maybe that’s part of the problem. Germaine Greer’s smart comments notwithstanding, there are plenty of delights to be found by reading it in small bits.

Melissa Coburn does not mention a newer translation where different authors were commissioned to do a section each. I would recommend James Grieve’s translation of what Moncrieff poetically called Within a Budding Grove. More accurately, Grieve’s title is In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower.

This version is very readable while losing none of the flavour of the Moncrieff–Kilmartin translation. For example, in summarising a longish description of Odette de Crecy’s dress style as Mme Swann he writes, “whatever she wore encompassed her like the delicate and etherealised epitome of a civilisation”. I don’t know what the French is like but this English version, by an Australian by the way, is a delight to read. Clive James is not the only Australian admirer of Proust.

Peter Jeffrey Griffith, ACT

Sir: In his excellent article “Howard Haters and the History Wars” (April 2017) Gregory Melleuish understands the Greek verb ginosko to be the source of the nouns gnostic and gnosticism. That is correct on etymological grounds. The Gnostics, however, were a second- and third-century Christian heresy whose was a mystic knowing, not a knowing based on the usual processes of education that lead to an intellectual understanding.

That quibble aside, however, Melleuish is absolutely correct. Those modern historians whom he labels elitist do indeed share that flaw with the ancient heretics.

Paul Barnett Epping, NSW

Sir: In response to John O’Sullivan’s comments (October 2015), just after Turnbull replaced Abbott, that “the liberal rank and file who support a political party from tribal loyalty or ideological sympathy” will need to be “soothed”, I wrote a letter (Letters, November 2015) saying that, on the contrary, my wife and I, both Liberal supporters since the Whitlam era, feeling we were being taken for granted by Abbott, were very pleased he was replaced, and that we had high hopes for the new prime minister. However, our optimism has now evaporated, and we are now taking a look at the Liberal Party itself.

Up until 2014, we were fully occupied with work and family, taking advantage of the wonderful opportunities Australia offered. Like most people, we believed in the strength of Australian society, and that you did not have to study events every day looking for weaknesses. When the long silent tunnelling by the progressive movement burst to the surface at the beginning of the new millennium, we thought that the structure of our society was firm, and all would eventually be well. So, we took no notice of the seditious and pagan ideas of the progressives; after all, we are a great democracy. When Turnbull replaced Abbott, we ignored his progressive leaning, and gave more weight to his business acumen. In the case of the latter, we are beginning to wonder, and in the case of the former, he now looks out of place even in the broad church of the Liberal Party. We are even beginning to wonder about the Liberal Party itself, as it now seems to be a different shade of blue.

John O’Sullivan’s observation (April 2017) that there has been a change in the political atmosphere since the 2016 election is correct. Underlying this change are many people like us who, emerging belatedly from the mists after a long period of trust in our politicians and faith in our hard-won great society, are rapidly beginning to see things as they really are.

Richard Forrest Pacific Pines, Qld