Scholars Leaving the University for Activism

After reading Ellen Cushman's article "The Rhetorician as an Anget of Social Change," I began to wonder: should scholars be leaving the universities to be more active within the community? Part of me says that it's a great idea. Who else would be more perfect? Certainly, those who spend their lives at study, especially in the field of rhetoric, have something to contribute to the issues that trouble the communities around the university. This had me fantasizing about a return to the days when orators stood in public squares grandly lecturing over charged issues. I pictured various professors on soap boxes barely viewable over the heads of the mob while eloquently speaking about city zoning laws and other fantastic sights circling a great uprise led by bookish dorks. The nerds now the leaders. Of course, after I snapped out of my hallucination, I had to stare intently into my coffee cup and wonder was in there besides coffee.

Now, I jest by playing around with extreme ideas, but I think that Cushman is not exempt from taking similar approach when she compares scholars isolation from the community with "Un-seeing Indians." I believe that the reason for the lack of activism with the communities by scholars from the university is not attributed to study-induced, or even purposeful, isolationism. It could be that university scholars fear reprisal from government bodies. Now I'm sure this isn't the only reason, nor am I suggesting that it is the main reason, but it is a reason, nonetheless. Those employed by the universities, for the most part, are employed by the state, and those seeking tenure track positions are at greater risk in drawing a lot of heat for the sake of activism. Of course, this does not stop opinions from being created, nor does it stop opinions from being expounded in the offices as well as the classroom. But to take these opinions public puts those who seek a career in academia in a difficult position should they create a lot of attention for their cause. Certainly, we don't believe it to be beyond government officials to put pressure on those state employees that rally enough attention contrary to their politics. So what would stop these officials from bringing the hammer down on a lowly bookworm with a cause? It's just something to think about.