The Two Front War on Science
The University of Washington, like research universities around the country, now faces a two-front war against both MAGA broadside attacks that threaten vital research funding and WOKE authoritarian post-modern ideology, both of which undermine the pursuit of truth and the advancement and dissemination of knowledge – the core functions of universities. Renown physicist Lawrence Krauss’ new book, The War on Science, and his 20 podcast series of interviews with the book’s contributors https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPCzRWmSZTU, describe how postmodernist/woke ideology and practices are undermining science at our academic institutions and, in the podcasts, how Trump’s broadsides have turned this into a two front war.”
It’s not that Republicans have been reliable supporters of science over the years. In 2005, PBS reporter Chris Mooney’s characterized Republican climate change denial and opposition to stem cell research as “The Republican War on Science.” Chris Mooney, 'The Republican War On Science' : NPR (11.11.2005). With the advent of the Trump administration, vaccine skepticism and a broad range withdrawal of funding for scientific research have opened a new front in the attack on science the comes from the right. As the contributors to Krauss’s The War on Science make clear there are serious problems in the conduct of scientific research within the academy, but the massive, untargeted cuts instituted by Trump are not the remedy. They cause real harm, threatening vital ongoing research projects. For example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I32vt_JaxyM [CBS News Interview with Steven Pinker regarding the danger and negative impacts on science of Trump’s attacks on Harvard.]
Husky Alumni & Friends agree with Professor Pinker. Universities, including the University of Washington, need to reform and refocus on scientific research that is governed by reason and evidence rather than ideology. But we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath.