EDITORS' CORNER
OPINION
Update: On Thursday, a Georgia College & State University spokesperson told The College Fix that the job description was “posted in error” and has been revised. “It included a long outdated position description, and the page has since been updated on our Careers page,” spokesperson Mike Cavaliere said in an email. The new job post no longer includes the phrase “feminist and queer perspectives.” The university also removed the sentence encouraging applicants “who will further our goal of cultural, ethnic, racial, and gender diversity” from the job ad.
One of Georgia’s public universities is looking for someone to teach students about “Abrahamic studies” in its philosophy department this fall. Bonus points if the candidate will teach the subject from “feminist and queer perspectives.”
It’s an interesting qualifier, especially with all the complaints coming from progressive scholars right now about academic freedom.
When universities rule out scholars in a job description based on their not-far-left views, it’s a bit harder to sympathize with the tenured professors who are upset about conservative lawmakers’ crackdown on DEI, the closures of women and gender studies departments, or syllabus review and transparency measures.
The job opening at Georgia College & State University is for a non-tenured lecturer, at a starting salary of $56,000. He or she will teach courses in the Department of Philosophy, Religion, and Interdisciplinary Studies, starting in August.
The ad suggests candidates’ race and gender will be considered: “In keeping with the University’s mission, we especially encourage applicants who will further our goal of cultural, ethnic, racial, and gender diversity.”
Notably, the university also wants someone who will “include diverse perspectives, related to the US and globally” in their classes, according to the job description.
It doesn’t take much guessing to get an idea about what the university considers “diverse perspectives”:
We are seeking a candidate with one or more of the following Areas of Specialization (AOS):
· Philosophy of Law with the ability to mentor pre-Law students.
· Philosophy of Technology with the ability to speak to issues such as AI Ethics.
· Philosophy of Film
· Philosophy and Literature
· Abrahamic Traditions with the ability to incorporate feminist and queer perspectives
This type of language is designed to weed out conservative applicants. It’s no wonder there’s such a political imbalance in higher ed.
The university didn’t have to add that qualifier. It could have just said Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). Instead, it purposefully limited scholars’ academic freedom by specifying that they teach from a certain perspective.
Brandon Warmke, a philosophy professor at the University of Florida, recently drew attention to the job on X.
“If you can’t even teach an ancient religious tradition without shoehorning in the moral and political projects of the 21st century professoriate, you might be doing some lite activism,” he wrote.
James Shuls, a scholar at the Institute for Governance and Civics at Florida State University, summed it up more simply: “Conservatives need not apply.”
It is precisely this type of double standard that American taxpayers are growing tired of. Academic freedom for me but not for thee.
As Duke University Professor Timur Kuran wrote:
Conservative scholars deserve the freedom to teach, too. And bans on faculty DEI pledges and reviews of ideology-based degree programs — contrary to what progressive professors say about squashing their academic freedom — are a step in the right direction.
MORE: College cannot force Calif. professor to embed DEI practices in classroom, judge rules
