as far as anthropologists or american anthropologists go, i really do feel that there are mixed messages about the extent to which academics are encouraged or expected to express political positions. it’s something i’ve been wondering about lately. in and of itself it’s a political question, of course, because being apolitical is being conservative in the sense that it upholds the status quo. there must be a big range as to how much activism one sees one’s professors engage in from campus to campus and discipline to discipline, but so far i haven’t heard much direct discussion of the issue as a grad student (except in a research ethics class, where it was one of the most engaging conversations we had all semester).