Professor David Decosimo is part of the theology department at Boston University. His online bio says the studies “theology, ethics, religion and politics, and philosophy and theory of religion.” Monday, Decosimo announced that it had been two years since he was granted tenure after what he described as 15 years of “exhausting” labor. He promised that to mark the occasion he would be offering some thoughts about what he learned.

At the time, precisely because I was not yet tenured, I was not on social media at all. It seemed far too risky.

In honor of the occasion, I'm going to offer a few thoughts this week on the journey & what I've learned & seen along the way. 2/2

— David Decosimo (@DavidDecosimo) May 17, 2021

Jump forward to today and Prof. Decosimo has posted a thread about the ways in which progressive ideologues within academia play Calvinball with the careers of any non-conformist scholars who seek entry into their universities, either as graduate students or faculty. The jumping off point for this discussion was the decision about tenure for Nikole Hannah Jones at the University of North Carolina. Decosimo argues this sort of thing happens all the time, nearly always harming those deemed insufficiently progressive.

Now that so many people seem to care about viewpoint discrimination in academia, let's talk about it.

It's common, unethical, intellectually dishonest, & betrays the whole purpose of a university.

And it almost always runs one way: against those seen as not 'progressive.'
🧵1/

— David Decosimo (@DavidDecosimo) May 20, 2021

But these days, the most effective enforcers of viewpoint discrimination are militantly 'progressive' and *internal* to academia: the faculty. 3/

— David Decosimo (@DavidDecosimo) May 20, 2021

I don’t think this would surprise anyone. In fact, I doubt anyone would even argue that most academics cover an ideological range from left to hard left. But according to Decosimo that often results in the most outspoken ideologues working to block the advancement of those who might dare to disagree.

The winnowing begins at PhD admissions.

It's easiest to defeat the 'enemy' by not even letting them in the room.

They'll try to block admission of an excellent but non-conformist candidate.

Failing that, they'll try to block progress & badmouth her in the field. 5/

— David Decosimo (@DavidDecosimo) May 20, 2021

This is easy to do

Working with admin, they keep open-minded faculty off the search committee.

And if someone proposes the 'wrong' language or focus, they publicly attack or privately say: "Those sort of people don't belong here. By the way, when is your tenure decision?" 7/

— David Decosimo (@DavidDecosimo) May 20, 2021

Blocking new hires isn’t hard in a competitive environment and denying tenure is even easier.

Denying tenure is the easiest.

If the non-conformist gets the job, that's the move.

If her scholarship is anything less than clearly the strongest in memory, that's enough.

Still, they'll put fellow ideologues on the tenure referee list to game it.

Even one 'no' will do. 9/

— David Decosimo (@DavidDecosimo) May 20, 2021

Critical theorists can come up with 12 ways to call someone a racist or sexist without breaking a sweat. By applying these tools to nonconformists, they make sure those people’s careers are not allowed to advance.

Students will have felt 'unsafe & unwelcome.'
She was 'defensive' when confronted in class for 'centering whiteness' by lecturing on John Brown.
She didn't deploy 'trauma-informed pedagogy' in the Lolita seminar.
Discussing closed borders created a 'non-inclusive classroom.' 11/

— David Decosimo (@DavidDecosimo) May 20, 2021

And unlike Nikole Hannah Jones, none of these people whose careers are being tarnished will be written about by the NY Times.

She'll need to spend well over $30,000 & years in court. Even then, she'll likely lose. No one will know or care.

So, take viewpoint discrimination seriously.

But be real about how & to whom it usually happens.

They're rarely famous, powerful, & still employed at NYT.
/fin

— David Decosimo (@DavidDecosimo) May 20, 2021

I wish Prof. Decosimo had said more about the results but then I guess we call all see the results when we look at almost any college or university. They all seem to be run as progressive one-party states with the possible exception of some in the business departments. Those without tenure would have to be either very crazy or very brave to challenge the woke orthodoxy. As we’ve seen recently, even private high schools are doing their best to punish dissent, leaving both students and parents who pay exorbitant tuition afraid to speak for fear of being canceled.