A new program at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro will balance out academia by introducing students to right-of-center political philosophers. Usually, academia consists of left-wing professors who despise capitalism. Their lectures and their required readings reflect that hatred. At MTSU, at least, Karl Marx and other left-wing philosophers will make room for other kinds of thinkers, such as Adam Smith and Milton Friedman, among others. No, it’s not April Fool’s Day. Just Google the Political Economy Research Institute at MTSU. This is real. And, as PERI Director Dan Smith told The Tennessee Star this week, it’s not about one political philosophy reigning supreme over another at a college campus. That’s not what academia, in theory, is about. Academia, Smith went on to say, is about balance. “This is about a well-rounded perspective. For a long time the academy has chased conservative professors or libertarian professors off the campus and there are small numbers, especially in some disciplines, completely unbalanced. This is a disservice, even to the people on the left,” Smith said. “Otherwise how are you going to learn to actually believe in your own ideas unless you’re actually confronted with the best ideas on the opposing side? You…
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