> Chomsky and Michael Albert have often noted this distinction between another
> technical/ideological pair, MIT and Harvard. Chomsky:
>
> "By conventional measures, the Harvard faculty is much more liberal,
> in fact left-liberal. MIT faculty are very conservative often, even
> reactionary. I get along fine with MIT faculty, even when we disagree
> about everything (which is the usual case). If I show up at the Harvard
> faculty club, you can feel the chill settle; it's as if Satan entered
> the room." ("Disciplined Minds," Jeff Schmidt, Rowan and Littlefield, 2000,
> p. 14).
I wonder what departments he's comparing. It wouldn't suprise me if, say, Harvard left-liberal political scientists disdain Chomsky's political forays while his MIT linguistics colleagues are willing to indulge him: the former know more about politics (or at least think they do) and have a bigger stake in being right than the latter.
-- Luke