A growing protest against lib profs
 

You Oughta Be in Pictures

If you're a college student fed up with heavy-handed leftism from the faculty, here's a chance to do something about it, and possibly end up on the silver screen. (If you have kids who're in college, you might want to forward this column to them.) Evan Coyne Maloney, a young New York-based documentarian, is looking for students to help the full-length version of his film "Brainwashing 101." (The preliminary, 46-minute version is available for ordering or downloading.)

Maloney is collecting information about "professors who turn classrooms into their personal political soapboxes." Here's what you do if you want to participate:

1. When a professor voices his or her political views in class--but only when it does not pertain to the subject matter at hand--keep track of how much class time is spent on the political discussion, and to the best of your ability, record the comments made by the professor.

2. Also, record the date of the discussion, the name of your professor, the name and course ID of the class, and the name and location (city and state) of your school.

3. Lastly, you must be able to provide the name of at least one other student who was present at the time and who is willing to corroborate your report.

Maloney's site, AcademicBias.com, provides an e-mail address where you can submit the info. "Based on your reports, we will be visiting a number of schools to see what the administration's official position is on political advertising in class. If you help us, you could end up in our movie!"

Many college professors are under the impression that "academic freedom" gives them the right not only to say whatever they want but also to be insulated from any scrutiny or criticism. It will be fun to watch them squirm when Maloney shines a light on them.

(Opinion Journal)

and somehow it's a problem only from the "liberal" professors :rolleyes: Sorry I've experienced both it from both sides of the aisle - it comes with the territory... and if the instructor crosses the line between academic debate and propaganda then you can always fire off a formal complaint against them...

Liberal profs are a lot worse than conservative profs! They seem to be stuck in the '60s and '70s, only they've become stuffy in an odd, left-winged way. They have a "that's very nice, dear" attitude, and they really don't take what you're saying very seriously.

I had a copy editing instructor who was basically making fun of the National Post (a conservative newspaper), causing me to leave class in a rage. I don't really read the post, but it was upsetting to me, as someone who is kind of conservative. He's made somewhat inappropriate comments about conservative pepole in general as well.

I'd say that it is equally damaging, Liberal or Conservative... having a course with Preston Manning, or Michael Bliss, or David Frum, can be a lot to stomach - espicially when political philosophy outranks academic arguement... which can happen with "liberals" or "conservatives". Now from personal experience I find the conservative ones much less likely to engage in constructive debate - even when their views are in agreement with yours... I just hate to see opinions dismissed out-of-hand simply because it's a different viewpoint.

As for critizing the Post... please I do that all the time, it is a conservtive paper that tends towards sensationalism, and unfortunately predictability about what side they'll take on a topic (ie. military shortcoming is fault of Liberals, while military success is the result of dedicated soldiers or far-reaching Mulroney policies)... although at least the writing is better than the Sun.

Criticizing the Post is not appropriate for a class in copy editing. This isn't a "let's compare the four major papers in Toronto" class, it is a COPY EDITING class. I'm sucking through this class because I have to take it. I'm not a big fan of the Canadian Press Stylebook, and I have to use it for my work :(

FYI: The CP does not like to use honourifics, such as Mr. or Ms. in their writing. I think the lack of it is not very polite, especially when referring to a woman. I'd much rather go a first name route than to refer to a woman only by her last name. It's almost vulgar.

Let me show you a couple conservative profs I know....

Fact is, the prof with the view that conflicts with yours will probably bother you more. There are profs who can't stick to the topic matter on both sides and they can be equally offensive.

edited: because you should really read your posts before posting.

Most academics, especially in this country, tend to be liberal. I think I've only had two that actually respected my views.

Maybe your views are a little "uncharted?"

Sometimes the problem truly lies within the problem. I'll be honest and say that I think some of your views (as to what I've read on GC) are so off the scale it's hard to take you seriously most of the time.

I think that started during the whole "he started talking and blowing in the fan" post

Now I can't speak for your profs because i'm not them, just as much as you can't speak for "how most profs" in your country lean in regards to politics. This would require you to truly hold class with each one of these persons. This would seem very hard to do in my opinion.

Relating to the topic, I've hard trouble from all kinds of profs for all kinds of stuff, liberal, conservative and other.

What exactly do you mean by "off the scale"? You can PM me if you want.

If anyone finds it too odd, then I apologize for it.

Try some classes in UofT's Classics, History, Political Science, International Relations, or Religious Studies :rolleyes:

It's harder getting a cup of Tim's than it is to find a conservative critic in those departments... my recommendation would be to sit (or try) through a lecture by Michael Bliss or Jack Granstein - on any topic: military, politics, foreign relations, monarchy, women's rights, racial equality...

Oh shnap, you went there.


As I've said in other threads -- while I'm sure that there are some professors who let their politics dictate their teaching, the vast majority on both sides of the spectrum can stay adult about it. If your professors are consistently finding fault with the way your views are expressed, maybe the problem doesn't lie with them . . . If it's just a once-in-a-while thing, you may have a valid argument, but if every professor you've had has an issue with the way you express your politics, it's probably time to take a look inward.

hoosier, would you kindly tell me where I can protest my conservative profs? I'd also like to protest all my non-Catholic profs, I don't pay 25k a year to go here and put money in the hands of Satan. I'd also like to protest the lack of leather recliners in the library while I'm at it.

There are a few articles on the bias against conservative professors in this thread:

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ive+professors

-Rudey

I don't pay free to watch a lot of logical fallacies on GC - clean it up sister, even if it's a Hoosier thread.

NO. I don't go here to get educated, I went to college to be with people just like me. I was too busy learning about the Catholic social workers' movement to pay attention in logic class.

Edited to remove the personal attack in case people didn't realize I was joking, which I was.

As always, lay off personal attacks.

We got an article in our student paper about how liberal our professors are today:

http://badgerherald.com/oped/2005/01...t_in_the_c.php

It was kind of funny, though, because they published about ten opinion articles saying our school is too liberal . . . but the front page was plastered with articles about Pell grant funding being cut and tuition hikes, etc.

I'm really glad he told me Madison is liberal. I just never knew that until his groundbreaking research. I am especially shocked and awed at the fact that some of our state's top educators donated money to a party with a strong emphasis on public education, aren't you, H?

What's wrong with Liberal Proffs? :-)

NeWho, I don't know of any die-hard liberal prof, or ones that force their opinions down our throats...all they do is make sly remarks about the current president that make us laugh.

Other than that, I've had some conservative profs as well and majority of the time, I can understand where their coming from.

This is neither opinionated, biased, or jaded



I can think of three other adjectives if you'd like . . . also, you should re-read your post for the part that's funny.

We've discussed this before on here.

Either way, professors have opinions. College kids aren't 12. One of the things you should learn how to do in college is separate fact from opinion and learn how to deal with people who have opinions opposite from you. Pressure to make everyone objective or cater to student opinion is silly because it undermines this educational objective.

Precisely.



ETA: I think someone is taking a signature a little too serious

Since Rudey's playing language police, I'll jump in too (just because I have a fixation with doing things more quickly than he - insert own joke here) . . .

SerioulsLY. I would be taking it too seriousLY.


Take the joke part as a joke, and then do the serious part. Seriously.

Do I need to put all my standardized test scores involving the English language in my signature just so I can help certain GC morons feel bad, given that I learned their native language after a few other languages? Because I will. Don't make me! Hold me back Rob!

-Rudey

If you have nothing better to do than point out my typos...then why would I feel the need to EVER spellcheck here..since I have my own SPELLCHECKERS on GC :cool:

lol..you know my language? few foreigners ever pick it up!


So tell me..what is my language Rudey?

Well, I was talking about other people and the English language.

But I am so happy you are able to read and comprehend even the most basic of statements.

-Rudey

Oh snap..

I almost got excited for no damn reason...


But I could of sworn that you were talking about me in that previous post...Oh well...

Imagine if you had sworn over some mistake you had made! It would have been awful. Really...you should not SWEAR and take your LORD'S NAME IN VAIN. Now go to www.bonsaikitten.com and buy one to repent.

-Rudey

duder it was a jocular posting to emphasize that the other post similarly contained . . . a split between a jocular portion and the point of the post. laughing! we're laughing!

-RC
--test scores ahoy rudestar

Here's a new Idea:


How about discussing the content of a post, rather than nitpicking on simple spelling errors.

then i'll spell it out more clearly:



It may or may not be indicative of a 'liberal bias' (which I'm taking literally, meaning 'the professors are teaching with a bent toward Democratic policies, beliefs, and actions') to have professors in areas such as history, politics, and journalism (which have all been mentioned in this thread) making 'sly jokes about the current [Republican] President' (as you mentioned). You make the call, sport.

I tend to agree with XOMichelle (and to a lesser extent, only b/c her obtuse tactics were probably misinterpreted by some, GP) in that this might actually be beneficial to some conservative students, and it seems like you started down that path (although there was very little content in your post to discuss). However, I wanted to point out that this is exactly the kind of behavior that some are taking to task.

Is this a problem? I don't think so. Do some people think so? Obviously. It seems innocuous, but there is a fine line between making fun of the President (which is par for the course) and teaching a curriculum in, say, history or journalism that walks clearly on the left side. Can you see the obvious problem with such teaching?

I'll spell it out again: it is simply not complete in any way, shape, or form, just as a completely right-leaning curriculum would be incomplete. With studies showing an increasingly liberal faculty at many schools nationwide (not to contradict everyone's lovely anecdotal evidence), this is more of a concern for many, and not just the far right.

It would be a shame for people to choose their University based primarily on whether the teachings agree with their political beliefs.

That wasn't such a long journey now, was it?