ABSTRACT
Authoritarian movements and ideologies with racist, xenophobic, and misogynistic overtones are back in America. The institutions and public spaces that create informed citizens are in disarray as education has collapsed into training in many public schools and knowledge production in higher education is instrumentalized and wedded to the dictates of a business culture. In addition, as a culture of hate, bigotry, and humiliation is now sanctioned at the highest levels of government, many students live in fear of being targeted and harassed by white racist students. In an age of intellectual and spiritual debasement, thinking is vilified as an act of subversion and ignorance translates into a political and cultural virtue. Ignorance breeds corruption and endears to falsehoods, venality, and carnival barking. Under such circumstances, higher education has lost its critical mission as a civically minded institution, and has been transformed into a commercial sphere organized by market-driven values, social relations, and financial incentives.
