In academia, they're supposed to be the intellectual cream of the crop –the individual giants who fought their way to the top. But it's like we've selected for wary herding people instead. And perhaps that's the point. When universities were turned into schools and businesses, and quirky philanthropist funding became predictable Big-Government largess, the mavericks and rebels didn't fit and one by one were expelled, sacked — or just pushed sideways til they fell out. What's left in the wasteland of academia, apparently, are the mid-wit networking climbers. The middling Ordinaires rose into positions above their due and became afraid of losing the sweeter deal than they deserved. If they were the top dogs in their field, and if that mattered, they could speak their mind, get sacked, and still be offered a new position at a competing institution. But second rung players don't have that option. They won't put their head above the parapet and say up is not down, and 3 is not 2.

Clearly universities don't want to employ giants. They can't control them.

And so the mid-wits feed the crocodile:

The Fears of the Elite

By Mark Bauerlein, American Greatness

Here is a story by Heather Mac Donald of a renowned teacher at the Manhattan School of Music accused of racism and homophobia.

This teacher, years ago, worked on something that an anonymous accuser suddenly declared was demeaning to Asians. The teacher's years of service and excellent record counted for nothing. A petition was gathered among students, who were possibly also too afraid to look like closet racists by not signing it. Why would students show the integrity and bravery their teachers lacked? And thus a mob was born. The terms "homophobia" and "body shaming" was added somewhere along the line.  There was no investigation in any meaningful manner. She was cancelled.

Mac Donald puts it this way: "Vaughn's colleagues, cowering from the mob, let her twist in the wind. Almost none came to her defense." … None of her active colleagues in 2020 protested, and the administration didn't bother to investigate the charges.

How is it that the faculty said nothing and that administrators acted so precipitously to satisfy the angry kids?