virtue. Finally, his poetry was no more than whining. So muchrnfor poetry and for culture and history and the professionrnthereof.rnThe campus has become all too often the place where thernmaintenance of distinctions is repudiated rather than affirmed,rnwhere the hierarchies of cultural achievement are flattenedrnby those who supposedly uphold them, and where thernprofessed subject is itself dismissed by the professor of it. Thisrnis more than a matter of ideology, and more than a matter ofrnthe replacement of one generation by another. It is a matterrnof the replacement of ladies and gentlemen by trash. The resultrnis gangsta rap replacing Glenn Gould, but that is not thernonly one.rnWere we to look for a Lionel Trilling today, a professor withrnsomething of his sense of irony and his knowledge could indeedrnbe identified. But we would first have to go through many arnmug shot of incompetents and frauds. The spectacle, for example,rnof persons of no dignity or gravitas at all occupying thernprofessor’s chair is a curious one, and amounts to a revolution inrnitself. The image of such a person would not suggest the elegantrnand sober presence of Lionel Trilling, but rather of a tennis-rnshoed and bulbous female in tights, such as the one calledrndisaffectionately, “Flab Blob.” Her subsidized right to presentrnthe grossness of her person in questionable sportsclothes, asrnwell as to express in a babble of unarticulated words the grossnessrnof her mind, is a mark of redoubled degradation. Thournlast conquered, O bloated Andrea Dworkin.rnI keep away from Flab Blob, myself. In particular, I do notrnget in an elevator with her or any of the others of her configuration.rnAbove all, I try to avoid the damage that might accruernfrom actually listening to her run her mouth. But it is a dangerousrnworld, and you have to take it as it comes.rnFor my own part, though I have noticed in the young peoplernI have encountered an increasing lack of general knowledge,rnthis same lack encountered in credentialed adults has been arncause of frustration and embarrassment. One particular formrnof this lack is the curious case of the English professor who cannotrnwrite. Such an individual must prove the wisdom of thernadage, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” The lackrnI am referring to has several dimensions: the lack of informationrnor substance, the lack of discretion or common sense, the lackrnof grammatical (not to mention rhetorical) command, and sornon. The result is a virtual illiteracy which we might expect fromrna befuddled freshman, but not from a professor. Yet there it is.rnWhat to do about it? The answer is, give such an individualrntenure, in the best spirit of democracy. When a “challenged”rnprofessor realizes that he or she has a “problem,” that individualrnis ever more likely to embrace progressive politics as a substituternprofession. Thus, students are taught that thought isrnpatellar, that resentment is both argument and proof, and thatrngrammar is tyranny. Writing becomes fingerprinting, the personalrnis the political, and, after tenure, how about a male hairdornfor the she, and a couple of studs in the earlobe of the he?rnThus are faculties formed, and our nation’s youth led to enlightenment.rnSo much for standards in a multicultural academy. “Multiculturalism,”rna deceptive name, means little of what it denotes.rnIt refers rather to a monolithic relativism that is subscribed to asrna common denominator of the resentful and aggrieved, manyrnof whom “profess” traditional subjects for a position of securityrnand even wealth. Our local postmodernist adept of Gramscirnhas a sports car and a sail boat to complement his neo-rnMarxism.rnWhat has essentially happened since the I960’s in thernacademy (and in the nation) is the adoption, by the liberal establishmentrnof America, of radial assumptions and language.rnThe definition of education has gone by the board. The studentsrnwere recognized as prophets and sages. How could theyrn”learn” or be “taught” when they already knew everything?rnThe “black experience,” the “female experience,” and homosexualrngnosis have been the base of theory, the formulation ofrncareers, and the source of knowledge. The Wizard of Oz memorablyrndispensed a diploma, among other goodies. Today, he isrnhanding out grants and endowed chairs. The Wordsworthianrnmighty prophet and seer blessed already knows that his or herrnpersonal shortcomings or ethnic truculence is more than sufficientrnclaim to authority, and has been sanctioned by all our socialrnand educational mechanisms. The “red diaper” babies imposedrnan alien vision on America, rewrote the history, andrnachieved that “cultural hegemony” about which we hear sornmuch these days. Egalitarianism applied to education mustrnhave a grotesque result. Democracy means today (not to Jefferson)rnthe decentering of knowledge itself. No wonder thatrnOprah Winfrey has established a reading list. The Internet willrnfurther subvert the meaning of study, so that finally educationrnwill occur on campus, as I think it chiefly does now, byrnaccident.rnThe ‘red diaper’ babies imposedrnan alien vision on America,rnrewrote the history, and achieved thatrn’cultural hegemony’ about which wernhear so much these days.rnThe children of the Old Left now have gray hair to go alongrnwith tenure, as the vultures come home to roost. Of course, Irnhave had the experiences, thank God, for which I remained onrncampus—access to individuals of accomplishment and knowledgernand talent, and exposure to culture itself—and for this, Irnhave been grateful. But I cannot forget that too often the giftedrnwere dismissed in favor of “safe” radicals and submediocrernminds. A knowledgeable but incoherent lady, only the otherrnday, in trying to explicate the latest imported fraud, could onlyrnsputter, “There’s nothing.” How right she was, not about reality,rnbut about the smug nihilism of multicultural imposturesrnand deconstructionist rant which have turned the Ivory Towerrninto a Formica Sump.rnAnd how wrong she was, as well. The academy still hasrnits reasons for existence. There are still fine students, worthyrnprofessors, and noble topics. The problem is to find them.rnAnd there is still the Goldberg Variations. That’s not so hard tornfind.rnrnSEPTEMBER 1997/25rnrnrn