What seems to lie behind all this is an anxiety that addressing unfairness and social imbalance will undermine academic achievement.
But Mark Ungar, a political science professor, issued a statement signed by 10 professors in the department, saying the provost's decision "undermines academic freedom and departmental governance".
A number of civil libertarian groups signed a letter written by the National Coalition Against Censorship saying that the move undermines academic freedom and "invites future attempts at intellectual blackmail".
But we were told that they undermined academic credibility and, worse still, evoked associations that feminists had fought long and hard to challenge.
Amelia Brown, the principal of the kindergarten through eighth grade school, said that deplorable diets caused headaches and stomachaches that undermine academic achievement, and that older students showed a steady progression of flab.
Before I became a manager I thought I knew why: it is fiendishly difficult for a manager to write a message that cannot be read as a some kind of cynical attempt to undermine academic values.
In exposing this tomfoolery, Ms. Heifetz, who has an English degree from Harvard, wanted people to see what she believes: that the standardized tests so many politicians now worship are hardly rigorous and actually undermine academic excellence.
The vice-chancellor, Professor Mike Thorne, worries the attack on the system will undermine academic quality, the economy of universities, which rely on overseas staff and students, and the country's science base.
If not carefully integrated into the curriculum, these officials say, technology can undermine academic traditions that have come to define the most prestigious schools: small discussion groups, close personal relationships with professors and the time-honored Socratic method of inquiry.
