Lipset admits, however, that the closer one gets to the Government, the less critical one becomes: "you have friends in the Establishment and you realize the problems they face and the goodwill with which they make mistakes." There is no question that excess knowledge may inhibit criticism, and there are times when an outside, critical appraisal can be valuable to the Government in the long-run, he said.
The Institute, however, Lipset argues, is not apt to maintain its policy oriented stance for long. Just as the CFIA has become more and more academic, so Lipset predicts the Kennedy Institute will become more academic. It may, in fact, become the "Institute for American Politics" simply through academic pressure for such a department.
The upshot of these criticisms, with the exception of Lipset's, is that the Institute may foster an uncritical approach to policy-oriented research--and that through its Honorary Associates program it will encourage "political and ceremonial events."
Squeeze Play
Lipset explained the Left's hostility towards the Institute as being the result of a squeeze play. If the University takes up the role of the Establishment through the Institute, then where will the radical base be? But Lipset is convinced that the Left has already made inroads into the Institute and will continue to do so as long as they keep the pressure up.
The Left has a problem, Lipset continues, because they can't have it both ways. They complain first that they don't have any courses which are applicable today-- "We (the Left) are locked up in an Ivory Tower which has no contact with the events of today." But when the Ivory Tower is torn down, and the real world turns out to be the Establishment, then they want to rebuild their fortress--their Ivory Tower. "What the Left really wants is a politicized campus with a Left Penchant," or else they will scream that Theory is their protection against short-sighted, uncritical, policy-oriented education, he says.
The upshot of these criticisms, with the exception of Lipset's, is that the Institute may foster an uncritical approach to policy-oriented research -- and that through its Honorray Associates program, it will encourage "political and ceremonial events" instead of genuine educational debate. The Institute has yet to define its goals and remains in the sacred veil of "experimentation," but the critics are anxious and feel that it must justify itself in academic terms before it receives the blessing of the community.