they’re fat and they’re discriminated against

So we as a society need to “de-stigmatize” the obese. So, naturally, there should be entire university departments devoted to the study of those who have a lot of adipose tissue.

Right? Maybe, maybe not, says the New York Times:

“Why should I be ashamed?” said Ms. Director, 22, a graduate student in women’s studies at San Diego State University, who wields the word with both defiance and pride, the way the gay community uses queer. “I’m fat. So what?”

During her sophomore year at Smith College, Ms. Director attended a discussion on fat discrimination: the way the super-sized are marginalized, the way excessive girth is seen as a moral failing rather than the result of complicated factors. But the academic community, she felt, didn’t really give the topic proper consideration. She decided to do something about it.

In December 2004, she helped found the organization Size Matters, whose goal was to promote size acceptance and positive body image. In April, the group sponsored a conference called Fat and the Academy, a three-day event at Smith of panel discussions and performances by academics, researchers, activists and artists. Nearly 150 people attended.

Even as science, medicine and government have defined obesity as a threat to the nation’s health and treasury, fat studies is emerging as a new interdisciplinary area of study on campuses across the country and is gaining interest in Australia and Britain. Nestled within the humanities and social sciences fields, fat studies explores the social and political consequences of being fat.

When the larger issue—i.e., which subjects warrant in-depth academic research and study?—is addressed, however, we get an alternative view from Stephen H. Balch, president of the National Association of Scholars:

“Ethnic studies, women’s studies, queer studies — they’re all about vindicating the grievances of some particular group. That’s not what the academy should be about.

“Obviously in the classroom you can look at issues of right and wrong and justice and injustice,” he added, “But if the purpose is to vindicate fatness, to make fatness seem better in the eyes of society, then that purpose begs a fundamental intellectual question.”

And that question is

[w]hether activism is an appropriate goal for academia.

Which is

a controversial notion.

And I’m going to all this trouble to quote the New York Times phrase by phrase because this issue of activism by academics and in academia is sure to raise its head again.