God and Man at Yale by William F. Buckley

Author:William F. Buckley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Regnery Publishing
Published: 2012-01-30T16:00:00+00:00

Although he is listed in the Yale faculty directory as “Pelatiah Professor of Political Science,” Mr. Furniss is a professor of economics and is a member of the Department of Economics.

When the Lorie Tarshis textbook, The Elements of Economics (analyzed at length in connection with the basic course in economics), was published in 1947, it was under the editorship of Mr. Furniss, who said of it in the Introduction, “This book contains the best that the expert economist has to offer regarding the economic problems of our times.”y

This is the book that places total reliance for economic welfare on government. This is the book that decries “inequities” in wealth, that mocks individualist philosophy, that discourages thrift, deplores the gold standard, and encourages deficit spending on the part of government, whose credit is inexhaustible.

When this book, generally classified as “the most frankly Keynesian of all full-length elementary textbooks,”z was published, it was immediately put to use as the basic textbook in Economics 10. It was withdrawn after a year due in large part, I am certain, to the ire its use evoked in so many alumni.aa

But Mr. Furniss’s influence did not lapse with the displacement of Tarshis. He remains the “chief educational officer of Yale after the President”; and, what is of crucial importance, the man who passes on “educational budgets.” This, of course, allows him decisive power to exercise his discretion in faculty appointments and promotions. With his supplementary role as a professor in the Department of Economics, his vise-like grip on Yale economics becomes clear.

Since the outset of Mr. Seymour’s administration (1937), and Mr. Furniss’s appointment as provost, the chairman of the Department of Economics has been appointed by the president. Formerly, he was elected by vote of the full professors of the department. The switch consolidates the domination of the administration.

Today, of the nine full professors in the department, only four are forthright defenders of individualism. Of these four, one (Mr. Westerfield) is about to retire; another (Mr. Hastings) has been transferred to the School of Engineering (where, due to the more technical nature of the subject matter, personal attitudes toward economic philosophy have less sway); and a third (Mr. Saxon), who is himself nearing the retirement age, has been urged to transfer to the School of Engineering. A fourth (Mr. Buck) is hale and hearty and seems likely to survive for some time. Recently, after prolonged absence from the classroom as a result of his duties as Dean of Freshman Year, he decided to teach one section of the basic course. Apparently he refused to adopt the department-prescribed textbooks. Instead, he uses the text that for many years, and in a happier age, was used by the entire department, Economics —a book which he coauthored with Professor Fairchild and, mirabile dictu, Professor Furniss.

The Department of Economics is not alone in deifying collectivism. A complete survey would take us into the departments of political science, history, sociology, and others. But to canvass these fields here, even lightly, is a practical impossibility—for all that the job should be done, and soon.

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