Sniffing Out Indoctrination

Fixing free speech at elite institutions

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Princeton professor Robert P. George says it’s up to the faculty to save universities. He joins Jamie to explain the issues with our campuses, including:

-punishing free speech
-abstract advocacy versus threats
-banning the bad stuff
-the long march through institutions
-the trustees not saving the universities
-Claudine Gay’s plagiarism accusations

Show Notes:

-Robert P. George’s profile at Princeton

-Robert P. George’s X profile

-Watch this episode on YouTube

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Comments (37)
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  1. Mamadr57

    Send your children to Hillsdale College if they are not strong of character to give them a balanced viewpoint! You have to be kidding me! Fairly interesting until the last and every point he made came under question for me. And made me question The Dispatch, too.

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  2. April

    Great interview! I really enjoyed this. I also am surprised about DeSantis. But you can’t be right all the time.

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    Mmaughan0

    I respect Robbie George, but am disappointed by his continued advocacy of DeSantis. DeSantis represents a growing strain of illiberalism on the right that Dr. George claims to stand against. He has had multiple laws struck down on 1st amendment grounds, he aims to use the power of the state to curb speech, and he prohibited private businesses from setting their own vaccine policies during the pandemic.

    Whatsmore, his use of refugees as political props is something that a religous man such as Dr. George should recoil from. I automatically take George a little less seriously because of his continued hopes for DeSantis' political success.

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    Ben Connelly

    Always good to hear from
    Robbie George

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  5. Alan.Crystal

    Excellent interview.
    I wish you had asked two questions during the discussion .
    1. After Prof. George said he thought Trump’s actions on Jan 6 were irresponsible but probably not criminal, it would have been interesting to find out whether he thought the Senate Republicans should have voted to convict Trump in the 2nd impeachment trial.
    2. After Prof. George said he supported DeSantis for President, it would have been interesting to hear his thoughts on DeSantis’ anti-free-speech initiatives in Florida

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  6. Mitchzavada34

    Not worth your time. Mr. George didn’t seem to have the courtesy to prepare for this interview. Boilerplate horse poop for the most part. Plus he finds Desantis to be a capable (national) politician. Oof.

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      Bstanojevic

      Yeah, the DeSantis part was shocking. His illiberal, anti-free speech policies should give a major pause to a self-identified advocate for freedom of expression.

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  7. Payette

    This was a very decent discussion, particularly with the view of how to reform universities (and revive civil discourse). It would be helpful to also hear from faculty in the other programs about their experiences re-introducing classical liberal education into higher learning. It would also be useful to hear about reforming the departments of education who are training those who will educate at the K-12 levels.

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  8. Kim Schell

    Prof. George's support of DeSantis colored that whole interview for me. Though the two do use an equivalent number of "woke" interjections. Has the Prof read DeSantis' recent attacks on free speech and academic freedom in Florida's universities? Would he support that at Princeton? Other than those concerns, the interview was informational.

    I'm a Floridian and we are a dumpster fire of MAGA-flexing overreach in governance at all levels. THERE IS A REASON FOR THE FLORIDA MAN MYTHOLOGY. DeSantis contributes regularly. Maybe that's why Trump moved here-- to get in on that Florida Man mojo.

    DeSantis has been the politics-first (read: ME first) leader using Florida as his social/political experiment and presidential launchpad. Our legislature and UF have been his b--- along the way. Ladapo (eyeroll). The state Republican committee chair is accused of rape. His defense is that his normal three-some was minus one. His wife, the absent partner of that day, is giving all new meaning to her Moms for Liberty group. She was a carefully vetted (read:political) DeSantis appointment on the special Disney district Board that DeSantis reformed and stacked to punish Disney's support of what she has recently admitted to.

    There is so much negative-for-liberal-democracy-material from his tenure that one could make the case that DeSantis' good decisions were accidents, as in a broken clock is right at least twice a day.

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      Mmaughan0

      I am heartened to see the comment section note the discord between Robbie George's professed views and his support for DeSantis. It stuck out like a sore thumb for me as well.

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    2. Ejscharf

      Agree completely. I am not a conservative, but I am a free-speech absolutist. I found myself nodding along with some of what the professor was saying, until he endorsed DeSantis. You believe in principled discussion and freedom of speech, and you endorse this guy? DeSantis is an Ivy-League-educated lawyer who spouts populist riffs that he knows would violate the First Amendment if enacted. And it should be a hoot when the courts get done dealing with his punishing Disney because he didn't like their speech. I guess the good professor can ignore Florida's statute controlling what website providers can, and cannot, say on their sites; another First Amendment violation. And I don't wonder that he admires Ben Sasse; Sasse says a lot of high-minded things too, and he voted along with Trump 85% of the time. Principles in the abstract are nice; having the courage to act on them is nicer. Really disappointed that another supposed paragon of virtue had such clay feet.

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    Gabrielle G

    This was such a great conversation

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  10. McGoogles

    I was shocked at some of what Professor George was saying.

    His assertion that DeSanti's downfall is because the Democrats indicted Trump is ludicrous. His assertion that DeSantis would have been a great president is hard to believe. He could have at least provided some realistic support for that assertion.

    And his insistence that his side wants people to seek and discover the truth seems dishonest, especially with what we've seen from Republicans for the last 8 or so years. How does banning books get us to the truth? How does accepting election lies get us to the truth? How does forcing Catholic and evangelical Christian beliefs on us get us to the truth? The list goes on and on.

    I've long thought conservatives are afraid of people learning the truth, because if people are educated enough, they will realize that conservatism is a rotten, failed political ideology. Much as liberals are afraid of people learning the truth, because it too is a rotten, failed political ideology.

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