I teach in Radical Left Indoctrination Center (ReLIC), aka a “college.” Here’s the truth about politics on campus—it skews hard centrist. 1/

Yes, I have colleagues who teach varieties of radical left ideas. Which is fine, if they’re good teachers, & most are, which is why they have these jobs. There are a few doctrinaire types. But far more common is the bias of centrism. 2/

At least at so-called elite colleges like the one at which I teach, the implicit politics students encounter most often is that of mild reformism, a faith that the system that has rewarded them can be improved. Radicalism isn’t part of that agenda. 3/

I’m a lefty. I believe in transparency, so if that comes up in class, I’m up front about it — as I am my conviction that students have no more need to agree with my political beliefs than my aesthetic ones. 4/

Like most of my left colleagues, I’ve had some great conservative-ish students as well as great radical ones. Most, tho, are liberals in theory & centrists in practice. If there’s radical indoctrination going on, it’s failing. 5/

I *do* teach great creative writers such as James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, @NifMuhammad, @jesmimi, Saidiya Hartman, Hilton Als, & others who think brilliantly & beautifully, often about race. But I can’t claim that’s “radical.” It’s called “reading.” 6/

Reading is central to most of what we do at college. It doesn’t lend itself well to “indoctrination” of any variety. Not many professors want a syllabus without disagreement within it—that leads to an awkward class in which there is no discussion. 7/

Of course what Trump means by “radical” is the ongoing work of seeing other people, learning from them about how they experience the world, asking questions, learning from mistakes, asking better questions, reaching for empathy: the opposite of “indoctrination.” 8/8

Addendum: I *do* love many radical left ideas and practices. In defending reading & saying college isn’t radical, I don’t mean to say I think “radical” is a dirty word. It’s a great one. It just doesn’t describe colleges, anymore than “sleepy” describes NASCAR.