j.r. leonard

I think this is an important point, but if anything it's actually understated. My big critique of much of the culture of the humanities since the 1980s is that we perhaps fatally lost sought how how institutional power is built and wielded.https://twitter.com/jnthnwwlsn/status/1142418909255090176 …

And it's not simply that there was a lack of opposition to right-wing donors on college campuses -- especially after the mid-1980s, colleges and universities were often eager for the support!https://twitter.com/reftpt/status/1142425116745306112 …

I didn't explore this in detail in the paper, but I strongly suspect part of this at the publics stemmed from state disinvestment and other budget cuts.

Working with the Olin Foundation, for example, was both a great way to raise money and prove to conservative legislators that your school and your administration weren't biased!

The other point, which I *DO* get into in the review, is that *liberal* administrators saw right-wing capital as an ally against an annoying and potentially troublesome campus left. This is, in broad strokes, what happened at Harvard Law in the 1980s. I discuss it in the paper.

And there *is* something to be said about culture changes here, which I underplayed slightly in my earlier Twitter thread. Obviously institutions like the Federalist Society and the various libertarian programs/thinktanks have their own unique cultures...https://twitter.com/AShakow/status/1142431791728484352 …

...which are often heavily influenced by evangelical culture. Just look at Kavanuagh's new clerk -- the one who isn't related to Amy Chua. He went to Wheaton College before Harvard Law and the Federalist Society.

These cultures are important because they exercise a tremendous influence within these powerful institutions!