Customer Reviews

Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel: Confessions of a Conservative College Professor

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Though hardly definitive disections of university life, this book and Ben Shapiro's "Brainwashed" offer enlightening and entertaining glimpses of the experiences of a professor at UNC Wilmington (Adams) and student at UCLA (Shapiro). Of the two, Adams' book is better, but both are worthwhile.

"Ivory Tower" is limited primarily to Adams' own encounters with campus radicalism within the UNC system (mostly Wilmington and Chapel Hill) and doesn't provide the usual laundry list of anecdotes from other schools. This is the book's strong point, I think. Basing his argument on his personal experiences lends greater credibility to his case, and his sense of sarcasm makes the book a fun read along the way. If you're interested in the topic, I think you'll be satisfied.

As for that reviewer from Canada who slammed the book (or, more specifically, the author), once you've finished "Ivory Tower" you'll no doubt be easily able to imagine how Dr. Adams would respond, since this person's supposedly "liberal and open-minded" attitude towards those who think differently is precisely what this book is scrutinizing. Which makes me wonder, O Canada, did you actually read the book? And have you thought through the self-contradiction of claiming that liberals at universities should exclude conservatives because if conservatives are allowed in they will exclude non-conservatives? And what "fringe" ideas does Dr. Adams reveal in his book? Your review says more about you than it does "Ivory Tower," and what it says about you is what makes this book necessary.

This book discusses important free speech issues. Adams writes a lot like Ann Coulter. However, the humorous spin he puts on weighty issues and the serious spin he puts on mundane issues distinguishes him. He is, in many ways, like Dave Barry.

Mike Adams (Professor, UNC-Wilmington) writes in a very entertaining manner, which is simultaneously entertaining and educating (and often very funny). I am the child of a Professor in the UNC system (UNC-Charlotte) and while things have clearly become loonier since I was close to the system I am, unfortunately, completely unsurprised by anything Adams writes.

The book is largely a collection of letters and editorials Adams wrote over a protracted period of time, and culminates in a lengthy recollection of charges of libel from a socialist student (and her parents) that should serve as a cautionary tale to participants in university systems everywhere. The single best thing about this book is how Adams instructs conservative students (and non-tenured faculty members, who really are on the spot) to defeat ridiculous charges of racism, homophobia, and insensitivity. Generally these lessons come from his own experiences (for example, look at the scorn he faced over the California Proposition 187 issue from the other Professors), but in a few cases he offers direct and useful advice to others. He is always well reasoned, and thinks for himself (he's a Republican from Texas who opposes the death penalty, after all) which there should be more of in academia today.

While many on the left will not like this book, I see their charges against Adams and other conservatives to be disingenuous at best, and hypocritical at worst. The left claims they want "diversity," but clearly want no diversity of thought amongst faculty. This book is a must-read for anyone even tangentially interested in higher education in the United States today.

Dr. Mike Adams writes clearly, honestly and in today's educational and political context.

His premise regards the loss of Constitutional rights within the "higher learning" system of today's tax supported university system. His experience as a Criminal Justice Professor at University of North Carolina-Wilmington (UNCW) provides the background and dramatic insight into what is wrong in education today.

He has taken personal experiences, letters, emails, and other correspondence and woven them into a book that should have been published long ago by others involved in higher education.

The content of his book is drawn from his deeply personal experience with students, fellow faculty members and the UNCW administration.

His background, from liberal to conservative, is well and honestly documented.

Dr. Adams provides irrefutable, documented facts demonstrating that the liberal education establishment is actively engaged in promoting the liberal/left-wing agenda, and smothering free speech and open discourse for those who do not adhere to the liberal line. Those free speech rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America. That university students subjected to same are hearing and seeing only one side of their purported education, becomes obvious as one reads his carefully documented references.

Dr. Adams did not, in my opinion, write this book for self aggrandizement, but only to inform the public of what their children are subjected to at university, and how their tax dollars are spent at public institutions. He is sincere in his desire to see that open discourse is allowed for all students, professors and the campus organizations to which they belong. Open and free speech for all, as described in his book, is what I believe is the true meaning of "diversity".

All parents of current or prospective students of higher education and those whose taxes support public colleges and universities should read Dr. Adams book.

This is the funiest book I have ever read. This guy's ability to break down the absurdity of the PC movement is unmatched. I could not put it down!

After reading Mike S. Adams's "Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel: Confessions of a Conservative College Professor," I'm extraordinarily happy I went to school in Nebraska. My state, you see, is pretty darn conservative. Even liberals out here would classify as moderate Republicans nearly anywhere else in the country. My university, dependant on grants from a conservative legislature elected by even more conservative taxpayers, always seemed to avoid the worst of the left-wing pabulum that infects most college campuses across the nation. Oh sure, there were a few radicals on campus that used their classrooms as pulpits from which they spread the diversity/gender/multiculturalist agenda. But they were few and far between. Most professors, even extremely liberal ones, kept their politics out of the classroom. I can think of a few instructors who I absolutely suspected were liberals and/or far left-wing kooks, but to this day I couldn't tell you for sure because they NEVER discussed their beliefs unless the students asked after class. Not bad, eh? I think I received a better education than any Ivy League student since my courses dealt with facts and legitimate theories rather than touchy-feely platitudes about race and gender wrapped up in hate whitey rhetoric.

Professor Adams doesn't seem to enjoy the environment I thrived in. A tenured member of the department of criminal justice at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, Adams has had plenty of time to observe the insanity that passes for higher education in this country. It's not a pretty picture. Most of the book takes the form of letters Adams wrote to various officials in and out of the university objecting to the latest outburst of left-wing wackiness. For example, the good professor pens an epistle pointing out his concerns with a recent debate concerning affirmative action. The problem? It wasn't a debate. A debate means two speakers arguing the ins and outs of an issue. Only one speaker, decidedly pro-affirmative action, was given any time to speak. Then there is the letter--actually more than one--describing the influence of feminist scholars on campus. One professor accused a department chairman of sexual harassment before going on to describe how someone kept breaking into her office to vandalize her wristwatch. Whether these ominous events occurred before or after another evildoer attempted to poison a feminist instructor by pumping poison gas into her office is unclear. Other letters cover the problems Adams encountered when he put conservative stickers on his office door, campus "racism," and attempts by the university to squash campus religious organizations.

The second part of the book deals with an unpleasant situation Adams ran into shortly after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. A pro-communist student sent him an e-mail blaming America for the disasters in New York and Washington, D.C. Moreover, she encouraged him to forward the message to others. Adams obliged her request, but not before sending a note back blasting her for such an ignorant view of the world. Regrettably, the student's mother worked as an administrator at the university, and in no time at all the campus authorities were clamoring to read his private e-mails in order to avoid a harassment lawsuit. The author complied, but he also made sure to contact the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), an organization devoted to rolling back unconstitutional speech codes at America's universities. The exchange between Adams and the student soon blossomed into a national news story on free speech and how that right applies to e-mail communications. Most people supported the author's position in the matter, and the university eventually backed down...well, sort of. Maybe. O.k., nothing much changed in the long run. The best part of the incident is how the university can't go after Adams in the future for speaking his mind. This book, along with his massively entertaining website, is the result.

What to say about Adams's wonderful book? Anyone remotely familiar with the chaotic nature of our universities today, with the rampant anti-American hatemongering that passes as serious scholarship, has already seen or heard many of the things the author brings to our attention. Crackpot professors charging colleagues and the university with harassment and/or racism? You don't say? Wow, what a surprise there! Administrators bowing and scraping to accommodate instructors and minority public officials who take every opportunity to spew hate whitey rhetoric? Again, you could knock me over with a feather! Who knew such evil goes on in the hallowed halls of academia! Universities censoring what students and employees can say and write? Did I wake up in China this morning? Surely, such nonsense could never happen here! Alas, it does. All of this crud, and more we don't hear about, occurs on a daily basis in America's institutions of higher learning. I've heard some of it personally, but Adams obviously has a front row seat to the madness. The book is worth reading because of the insider view he offers as well as the sarcasm he uses to expose these dolts for the kooks that they really are.

I think Mike Adams should consider quitting his job. Seriously. Not because he's a conservative fish trapped in a left-wing pond, but because he ought to run for a seat in the North Carolina legislature. Then he can put his inside knowledge to work crafting bills that will cut funding to the university unless they undertake serious administrative changes, including but not limited to a fair hiring process for administrators and professors, full disclosure and accountability regarding the distribution of student fees, and a crackdown on spending tens of thousands of tax dollars the university uses to bring to campus racist and discriminatory left-wing speakers. "Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel" is a book that conservatives should proudly display on their bookshelf.

But I was disappointed by the fact that I had already read almost the entire thing on townhall.com. Had I known that the book was simply a collection of Dr. Adams' articles from his website, I definitely would have waited for the paperback.

For anyone who is not familiar with Dr. Adams, but finds the topic interesting, I would recommend the book.

I am a true classical liberal. First about the book: This is a collection of observations of true to life happenings at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. Some of it truly seems stranger than fiction (such as the liberal black woman administrator who thinks the Wilmington police followed her to Hawaii just to put fecal matter on the sheets). It gives a vivid and often disturbing picture as to how the paranoid liberals in the university system are squelching dissenting opinion and using thug-like tactics to shut out any conservative voice. The worst of this is that in this environment, it is the student that suffers.

(...)

I purchased this book together with Brainwashed. I pick this one to read first and when I sit down to read it I did not put it down till the last page. This book is a must read, its fun and funny, real life descriptions of life on modern day American University campus. This book shows the curious phenomenon that occurs when a group of people lose ideological contact with the majority of people. A person or group of people on the far left (or far right) cannot communicate with the vast majority of people that reside in the middle of society. It's like their minds never reach any understanding of the other. Today on the American University campus, most Professors have lost ideological contact with the American people that pay their wages and permit Professors to teach. What a sad day this is.

When I was in college, students on campus referred to our college life as "the bubble" because very little in the ouside world influenced our lives. Mike Adams shows in this book that this bubble applies to most of the faculty and administration as well. The absurd ideals and hypocricy exhibited by the administration and faculty are brought to light in a humorous and readable (albeit scary) way by Mr. Adams.
Students heading to college should read this book as a primer on what they may face in the classroom--especially students who want to think for themselves--instead of buying into the mantra of their professors. A great read!