Camille Paglia: 'Universities Are an Absolute Wreck Right Now'

"The universities are an absolute wreck right now," said Camille Paglia. "For decades any graduate student in the humanities who had independent thinking was driven out."

Paglia, the noted cultural critic, university professor, and Salon columnist, sat down with Reason's Nick Gillespie to discuss whether we should still look to universities for cultural production and knowledge. She noted a shift in attitude toward authority on campus: Students used to look for ways to get administrators out of their private lives; today's college kids are calling for more control over their lives.

"It's a nightmare, an outrage, and none of the faculty have fought back. [...] They pretend to be leftists, they're pygmys; they are passive worms; not to fight back against the bureaucrats," says Paglia.

Paglia—who also offered her take on Beyonce's new album, Lemonade, Prince's career, and why she prefers early Madonna—sat down with Gillespie at Reason Weekend 2016, the annual donor event for the nonprofit that publishes Reason.com and Reason magazine. The event took place April 28 through May 1, 2016 in Phliadelphia.