Editor's note: Last spring, the National Association of Scholars published a report by our California affiliate exposing numerous specific instances of the politicization of the University of California, a public institution. The report, A Crisis of Competence, showed a correlation between the introduction of political ideologies and the decline of academic quality. A Crisis of Competence was addressed to the Regents of the university, and it called on them to take up their responsibility "to see that the University remain aloof from politics and never function as an instrument for the advance of partisan interest" (2005 Policy on Course Content of the Regents).
Since the publication of this report, the California Association of Scholars (CAS) authors have exchanged letters with the UC Regents and have requested that they respond to the substantive issues raised therein. The NAS has made this exchange public here on our site, and today we publish the latest from the Regents and from the CAS authors.
In this new series of correspondence, the University of California regents state that "No Regent requested that your report be placed on the agenda for discussion at a Regents meeting." John M. Ellis and Charles Geshekter write that this statement contradicts an earlier letter which indicates that private discussion of the substance of the report has taken place.
Below are the most recent letters, one from the University of California Regents and one from the California Association of Scholars, as well as a pdf of all previous correspondence.
UC Regents letter > (jpg)
CAS letter > (pdf)
