From the intro: The new, alternative view, was that college and universities should be places where fresh ideas untrammeled by hidden connections to the established structures of power in American society should have the chance to develop themselves. In practice this meant a hearty welcome to neo-Marxism, radical feminism, historicism, post-colonialism, deconstructionism, post-modernism, liberation theology, and a host of other ideologies.

Also from the intro: The National Association of Scholars (NAS) has long been interested in the politicization of science.