Introduction: Making sense of campus politics -- 1. The politics of professors and students -- Are American professors mostly liberal? -- Why are professors mostly liberal? -- What are the politics of American college students? -- What happened to student protest? -- 2. The question of "political correctness" -- What is political correctness? -- Why did the early PC controversies focus on the humanities? -- So how did we get from the humanities controversy to "PC"? -- Does political correctness even exist? -- Has the PC debate gone away? -- 3. Diversity and its discontents -- Have American universities become more diverse? -- Why did universities become more diverse? -- Why did universities establish speech codes? -- How have universities tried to improve the racial climate on campus? -- Have universities' efforts to improve the racial climate worked? -- 4. Professorial speech and the fate of academic freedom -- What is academic freedom? -- How has academic freedom fared over the past century? -- Did academic freedom come under fire after the 9/11 attacks? -- Did professors' opinions after 9/11 cost them their jobs? -- Is there a "New McCarthyism" on American campuses? -- 5. Student bodies : policing sex on college campuses -- What is in loco parentis? -- What happened to in loco parentis? -- What happened to sex at college after in loco parentis ended? -- When did sexual assault on campus become a problem? -- What is Title IX? -- Are the rights of the accused sufficiently protected? -- So have we entered a new era of in loco parentis? -- 6. How did that make your feel? psychology and campus politics -- When did the psychology of college students become a public issue? -- What are microaggressions? -- How did microaggressions become a focus of campus concern? -- What are trigger warnings? -- Are today's students "coddled?" -- Conclusion: Campus politics at the administrative university.
Summary
In Campus Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know®, Jonathan Zimmerman breaks down the dynamics of what is actually driving this recent wave of discontent. After setting recent events in the context of the last half-century of free speech campus movements, Zimmerman looks at the political beliefs of the US professorate and students. He follows this with chapters on political correctness; debates over the contested curriculum; admissions, faculty hires, and affirmative action; policing students; academic freedom and censorship; in loco parentis administration; and the psychology behind demands for "trigger warnings" and "safe spaces." He concludes with the question of how to best balance the goals of social and racial justice with the commitment to free speech.
