Word: bok
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Should a University be used as a weapon against injustice? President Bok posed this question in a statement that appeared on the doorsteps of undergraduates and the offices of Faculty and administrators last Friday...
...Bok answered the question with a qualified no, saying Harvard imperils its academic independence in taking up arms for moral or political causes...
...last Bok pulls his final card. Sadly, he commiserates that misfortunes exist in society," and resignedly he laments that nothing can really be changed, that Harvard--its hundreds of renowned names, thousands of students, millions of dollars--really has only symbolic influence...
Throughout his contorted argument, Bok assumes a trade-off between academic freedom and moral freedom. He creates the "real administrative burdens" by his resistance to change and all his apologetic propoganda. Finally he is left with the one remaining issue that rings of truth: real financial losses. And despite his disclaimer, university corporations are individuals under the law. His financial ethic is one of private greed, not public responsibility...
...most insidious is Bok's pat on the head and counsel to mind our studies: "Individual scholars will occasionally have an influence through the persuasive power of their knowledge and ideas." Social change has only occurred in this country through organized protest, persistence, and practice. Carol Lynn Dornbrand...