Speaking Truth to Power: A Tale of Two Universities

Abstract

This article compares the experiences of resistance and accommodation by the University of South Carolina (USC) and Boğaziçi University to the imposition of a right-wing head of university by government fiat. I begin with a description of the USC case and examine one scholarly response. I offer a critique of that response in terms of the problematics about the gendered subject when involving the principles of free speech and the importance of speaking truth to power. I then turn to the Boğaziçi case and briefly examine two scholarly responses contained in a dossier published in the South Atlantic Quarterly. I conclude with a brief discussion of the differences between the two universities and thoughts about what radicalism entails in practice. JEL Classification: A13, I21, H75, B5