1981: A Denunciation of ‘Doctrinaire Egalitarianism’

A couple of articles on a front page in early May carried headlines that resonate three decades later. At a conference held by the International Council on the Future of the University, speakers described what they saw as “unhealthy pressures on universities to abandon their traditional goals.” They criticized a campus influx of “second-rate individuals” who preferred “the delights of political agitation” over academic life. And we reported on a lawsuit filed by Sidney M. Peck, a sociologist at Clark University, who was accused of sexual harassment by female colleagues. The accusations injured his reputation, he said. The litigation, including countersuits, was settled two years later.