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Vail Daily letter: Mazzuca off-base in his criticism of academia

Having worked in academia for over 25 years I take issue with Mr. Mazzuca’s column in the Vail Daily on June 19. In his article he talks of “research” that indicates “academia itself…has stopped short in both the understanding and practice of true diversity.” Essentially blaming the educational system for the unhinged rhetoric in today’s politics.

He is right, there are studies out there, and they indicate that the more education one has the more liberal one’s perspective. This would immediately make it difficult to find hires with the proper political leaning at any university. With only 6 percent of scientists identifying as Republican, his suggestion that universities hire on ideological grounds is impossible on many levels. And if we go toward diversity is it just political or is it also religious, ethnic, gender? It’s a slippery slope.

After blaming the academics, he singles out MSNBC and The New York Times for their coverage of Trump. Mr. Mazzuca, it is called the Fourth Estate for a reason — to serve as an additional check on the three branches of government. With executive orders ruled unconstitutional, a possible obstruction of justice investigation, irrational middle-of-the-night tweets, and alternative facts, criticism of the current Republican administration is richly deserved. Mazzuca’s posture of impartiality is discredited when he fails to call out conservative media outlets such as Brietbart, InfoWars, or Fox News — arguably the vanguard of the deterioration of civility in America.



Mazzuca thinks he and Trump have been treated unfairly. He calls the attacks on Trump “mean-spirited” and “vicious,” which are precisely the words that could be employed to describe how Trump speaks of anyone who disagrees with or criticizes him, and it was in fine form during the campaign.

As Mazzuca seems to have a penchant for sayings and adages he would do well to keep in mind (as would Trump) this bromide, “If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.”

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Catherine Blaser

Gypsum


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