Hi, all. I'm a former UIUC staff member (and a former editor at the Daily Illini), now working at The Point in Chicago. The problem with this new academy should be obvious: It was created to espouse a specific political view under the university's aegis. This would be unusual for any university, moreso for a publicly funded one founded as a land-grant college in the proto-progressive vein. The norm is to allow and even encourage professors to advance their own political views, and not to censor a particular view. But a department such as this, by its definition, would necessarily be hostile to, or even be required to squelch, a social liberal or progressive position. It doesn't make much sense for an academy to do this.
I've created a "problem" area on The Point to help crack this nut:
www.thepoint.com/problems/uiuc-academy-on-capitalism
This can lead to a campaign by those of you who are interested in this issue.
