Conservative Students Target Liberal Professors

[Placebo]

Traditionally, clashes over academic freedom have pitted politicians or administrators against instructors who wanted to express their opinions and teach as they saw fit. But increasingly, it is students who are invoking academic freedom, claiming biased professors are violating their right to a classroom free from indoctrination.

For example, at the University of North Carolina, three incoming freshmen sued over a reading assignment they said offended their Christian beliefs.

In Colorado and Indiana, a national conservative group publicized student allegations of left-wing bias by professors. Faculty received hate mail and were pictured in mock "wanted" posters; at least one college said teacher received a death threat.

And at Columbia University in New York, a documentary film alleging that teachers intimidate students who support Israel drew the attention of administrators.

More...

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041225/ap_on_re_us/academic_freedom

[blackangrydem]

1. I think we'll see more of this over the next few years.

Liberalism needs a good PR firm.

[Bouncy Ball]

2. Can they just GET LAID for crying out loud

and leave everyone the hell alone???

Will someone PLEASE just give them pity sex or something???

[JI7]

3. shouldn't they be signing up for military service ?

[Bouncy Ball]

6. Something, man SOMETHING.

They obviously have a load of time and pent up energy on their hands and masturbation apparently isn't cutting it, so they either need loads of pity sex or they need to join the military.

Or both. I'm not signing up for the pity sex for them, by the way.

[DieboldMustDie]

7. 'Fraid not! It's against their religion, remember?

:shrug:

[Bouncy Ball]

8. Well

damn they need some kind of outlet for all that pent up hate and energy. They need to masturbate more often, then.

[Ms_Mary]

22. Psst. That doesn't actually stop most of them. Do as I say, not as I do...

[Lenape85]

4. I say, shut up and sit in the corner

Conservative college students are such hypocrites. We were having our election protest, and all these freeper students raided it and claimed they are being shut out (well, duh, its an anti-war protest, your opinions are not welcome), even though this goes against the conservative viewpoint of free association.

[sugarman]

5. let's go after conservatives...

...at the university...

we can beat them at their own game.

once we start fighting with fire, they'll back down...

[PennyK]

9. We'll show those lefties...

"Professor! How DARE you tell me to have an open mind!"

[Ms_Mary]

23. Funny if it weren't so sad.

[Menshevik]

10. my favorite college repubs

are the ones that go to state schools on federally subsidized loans and grants and don't seem to mind that the GOP likes to cut those programs

[opihimoimoi]

11. Power of the Ignorant has no bounds

[gatorboy]

12. No shit! If they have a problem with the school, leave.

I'm sure there are some wonderful Christian Colleges they could apply to...if they can afford it....

[Piperay]

13. If the conservatives beliefs are

so strong, they shouldn't be so afraid to hear something different.

[xerenthar]

14. Liberal Professors often don't allow political dissent in the classroom.

I see it in class all the time -- professors shoot down conservatives without a thought -- they don't allow diversity of ideas.

[Pepperbelly]

15. what do you mean ...

"shooting them down"?

on edit: aren't you the same person who has been preaching against the SS program using Bushie arguments? Verrrrrry interesting.

[xerenthar]

16. I mean...

If someone defends Israel, Arab teachers will call them baby killers or Zionist Nazis. If someone writes a paper defending Bush, it may get a lower grade solely for that reason.

I'm preaching against the SS program using my arguments. Fuck Bush's arguments. Just because I'm not that big of a fan of certain liberal programs, I still can't stand Bush.

http://brain-terminal.com/video/brainwashing-101.html

[Pepperbelly]

17. how can you ...

tell that a paper got a lower grade because it supported Bush rather than because it sucked?

BTW, you are waaaaay wrong about SS. If those papers that get lowered grades contain that sort of argumentation ....

[xerenthar]

18. Well...

In a certain PS class, every week the professor has every student write a short paper on a current event and their opinion on it politically. Anything involving the war and a cookie cutter "Bush lied for oil" thing gets an A, while any support of Bush won't get higher than a B.

As for SS -- if I present a case you disagree with in a research paper and I back up my opinions/beliefs/stated points, would you give me a lower grade?

[Pepperbelly]

19. easily ...

if what you claim "backs" you up is clearly false, footnotes do not compensate for misinformation. Misinformation, no matter who says it, should not be included in scholarship.

For example, if you found some boob who had published findings somewhere that 2 +2 = 5, to include those findings as the real deal is clearly out of bounds and would demonstrate a committment to ignore the truth for the sake of making a point. That is not scholarship; that is propaganda. Should propaganda get a high grade AS scholarship?

[xerenthar]

20. That's sad...

So anything that doesn't agree with your opinion gets a lower grade?

I'm going to sleep now, been good talkin with ya =)

We should AIM sometime.

[Pepperbelly]

21. doesn't have a thing to do with opinion. what is sad ...

is that you seem to think that by snipping quotations, a valid intellectual and scholastic position would be that 2 + 2 = 5 regardless of whether or not it is true.

That is very sad and shows a deep intellectual dishonesty.

Just so you understand: sophistry is not scholarship. It is a game. I am very good at playing that game but still recognize it for what it is.

[Ms_Mary]

24. I'm just going to agree with you here

OK, there's no tactful way to say that a paper written in support of Bush is more than likely based in errors. There isn't really a way to justify what he's doing and all you have to do to see that is use your head. So, I find it likely that I would give a Bush paper a lower grade if I were the teacher b/c it would probably be full of logical fallacies and unreliable sources.

If, on the other hand, it were a well documented and well supported paper, it would be graded well.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

26. Many students don't want an education, they want a diploma

Just finished my degree after several years (OK, decades!) away from academia and I was amazed at the number of students in class that had no desire to learn, participate in class or garner even a modicum of an opposing point of view to ponder in the process.

One especially memorable class in Philosophy was a doozy. The professor was an internationally recognized authority on South African philosophy, gave us a broad and varied reading list, significant writing assignments each week and demanded (yes, demanded) class participation from all students to pass this class. You weren't going to be able to sleep quietly in the back of the room, grab class notes from your buddies, flub you way though the written assignments (no exams in this class) and get a passing grade. In other words you had to think. The protests started with a small group in the class immediately upon receiving the syllabus and continue straight though until the last day of the semester.

The professor was an admitted atheist but certainly did not force his opinion on anyone. The readings were from a wide variety of authors in both support and against religion (among many subjects). Some of the students immediately mutinied reading anything that discussed the possibility there is no God. Flat out refused. (They lost the argument but there were formal protests filed.) Some of us in class tried to reason with them in saying if their faith is so strong how could a simple differing of opinion be so threatening. They could never answer that question just knew they weren't going to open their minds to anything but what they already believed. (Many considered it sinful to even think about it.) Think the concept of an education was lost on them.

The professor stuck to his guns, took a little heat in the process, forced these kids to think for at least three hours a week for a semester. Hopefully they came away with some new critical thinking skills, an appreciation of differing opinions and an even stronger religious faith - or not - but at least one that is their own.

I didn't have to be in school, had waited years for the opportunity and loved every minute of it (well, except the math classes!) but was amazed at the students who were there just so they could make lots of money. That was their goal. Period. They expected the professors to "teach the test" (nothing more, nothing less), get the credit and move on to the next "hurdle." Not all students, of course, but many more than you would think considering the cost of college these days.

And just for the record - I had an extremely, (extremely) neoconservative professor in one of my poly sci classes - we argued constantly over a variety of issues (especially Dim Son - right after the 2000 election) but I got very good grades in that class because I did the work, studied, received excellent exam scores and I wrote my papers well. So many times people want to look for an excuse on why they didn't do better in class - the teacher didn't like me or my views - not because they just didn't do the work well. Granted, writing is subjective but most professors can recognize a well written argument and will grade accordingly - even when it doesn't agree with their own views. Had my share of good, bad, goofy, and anal professors - but I never got a good grade (or a bad one) because of differing of opinions. Maybe I was just lucky or maybe I just didn't look for excuses - IMHO.

Xerenthar - you "talk" a good game - you hate Bushy, but your words are kinda hollow and weak. Is it just liberal professors you have problems with? You support of anything GOP tends to give your the cloak of freeperdom. Fling off that garment and come toward the light.

[Ms_Mary]

25. I once had a student accuse me of ruining his 4.0

HE thought he was doing great work. In all honesty, it was some of the worst work submitted to me in the 4 years I taught part-time. I have no idea how it could have been possible for him to have a 4.0 based on the work I saw in my class. I've seen a lot of work, good and bad. The people turning in the bad work tend to greatly over-estimate their skill.

I was teaching at a 2 year college, not a university, but from my previous experience as a college student, I stand by what I said above. If it's getting a bad grade, there is probably a good reason for that.

[baldguy]

27. These three people aren't required to go to college.

If they do choose to go to college, they aren't required to go to a particular school.

While at college, they aren't generally required to take a particular course.

Freshman courses especially are usually taught by several different instructors, so they aren't required to be evaluated by one whom they believe is prejudiced against them.

Finally, colleges and universities aren't called "institutions of higher learning" without reason. Being able to defend one's beliefs and conclusions IS A REQUIREMENT. A freshman who's unable to do so is, perhaps, not ready for college emotionally.

Thats about five different choices that the STUDENT has made before "suddenly" finding themselves confronted a different viewpoint. After all that, they've accepted the rules of the institution, they've accepted the objective of the course, and they've accepted that the instructor THEY HAVE CHOSEN of the course THEY HAVE CHOSEN will evaluate their work for that course.

My fear is the RW attack industry will use "plants" to draw the ire of politically centrist and left-leaning profs, sue them with money from deep-pocket corporate robber barons, then get sympathetic Bush-appointed judges to eliminate any semblance of academic freedom that remains in this country.