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March 31, 2005
Ward Churchill and The 9/11 Essay
The University of Colorado has released a preliminary review of its internal Ward Churchill Investigation While it argues Churchhill's essay is protected by "academic freedom," the report suggests further investigation into questions of plagarism continue.
Posted by sparks at 9:05 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
PA Representative Wants State to Adopt Academci Bill of Rights
The attacks on academic freedom continues as Rep. Gibson C. Armstrong (R-Lancaster) has released the following statement urging Pennsylvanina to adopt Horowitz's Academic Bill of Rights:
With mid-term and final exams just around the corner, institutes of higher earning across America continue to earn straight A's when it comes to cultivating diversity of race, skin color, ethnicity and gender. However, according to recent studies by both the New York Times and the Washington Times, most of them deserve an F- when it comes to promoting thought diversity or providing for students' academic freedom.
Survey after survey confirms that campus faculties are increasingly polarized politically. One study of voter registrations for 1,000 professors found that professors registered in one party outnumber professors in the other major party seven to one. Another study found a ratio of nine to one. At one university in Pennsylvania, the ratio was an unbelievable 27 to one.
If the Washington Post or New York Times were to look at the faculty of Pennsylvania's state-owned and state-related schools, how much diversity of thought would they find? Based on the following testimony from students at Penn State and elsewhere, one might begin to wonder:
* * "My professor interrupted his lecture.following the presidential election to read a [radio talk show] hoax that made the false accusation that the average intelligence of 'blue' states was higher than that of 'red' states. After passing this list off as factual and making jokes about 'rednecks' and 'uneducated hicks,' he got profane and concluded by saying 'Thanks for messing [expletive deleted] up my country.'"
* * "I had to watch Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9-11 in science class. What does that have to do with science?"
Space constraints do not allow me to cite the numerous other and even more egregious incidents of Pennsylvania students being embarrassed, graded down and harassed because of their worldview. Regardless of their philosophy, these students are entitled to the same academic freedom that their professors enjoy. Our educational institutions should strive for a maximum intellectual diversity, rather than subtly attempting to indoctrinate students into a certain way of thinking.
A Students' Academic Bill of Rights already have been adopted in Colorado and Georgia. Nine other states are on the verge of joining them. Such legislation states that all decisions relating to faculty or students should not be based on political or religious beliefs. Curricula, reading lists and even speakers invited on campus must also reflect a diversity of thought.
Here in Pennsylvania, the Speaker of the House has asked me to introduce a resolution to begin conducting statewide hearings to study the academic environment at our state-owned and state-related institutions. Hopefully, the state where the Declaration of Independence was wrought will someday also adopt an academic "declaration of independence.
Posted by sparks at 8:58 AM | TrackBack
March 13, 2005
Affirming Action: Special Event at CCCC Conference, San Francisco
A Roundtable by Progressive SIG/Caucus Coalition and CCCC Diversity Committee
Wednesday,
March 16, 2005
5:00:00 PM to 7:00:00 PM
Session: PSIG.1
Moscone Center
For the past five years, the PSCC has worked to form a common space where different SIG and Caucus groups can meet to discuss how their different concerns can be wedded into a common agenda. In doing so, the goal has been to foster a sense of communal activism that crosses any particular interest group. The re-election of George Bush and the ascendancy of the Conservative Right has presented a clear challenge for academics committed to progressive coalition politics. “Affirming Action� provides an opportunity for CCCC participants to begin framing an activist agenda for the next four years.
AGENDA
Introduction:
Chair: Jonathan Alexander, University of Cincinnati
Presentation of Rachel Corrie Award
Recepient: Matthew Abrahams
What now? Progressive Academics and Diversity Politics
Scott Lyons, Syracuse University
Akua Duku Anokye, Arizona State University
Respondents/Facilitators
Jonathan Alexander, University of Cincinnati
Damian Baca, Michigan State University
Luisa Rodriguez Connal, Detroit Mercy College
Harriet Malinowitz, Long Island University
James McDonald, Louisiana State University
PSCC Members: Asian/Asian American SIG, Latino SIG, Labor SIG, Lesbian and Gay Professionals Caucus, Native American SIG, Non-Tenure Track SIG, Rhetoricians for Peaach, and the Working Class Culture and Pedagogy SIG
Posted by sparks at 3:59 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
March 3, 2005
More Conservative Attacks on University Professors
John Lovas
To visit John Lovas' website, click here.
Yesterday's Palo Alto Weekly published a Guest Opinion column by Professor Daniel Klein and student Andrew Western of Santa Clara University, focused on the political registrations of professors at Stanford University and UC Berkeley, a piece I'll call Cardinal blue.
Klein is affiliated with the National Association of Scholars, a group of right-wing and libertarian professors and graduate students whose mission is to promote rational discourse in higher education. Ah, language! I happen to believe very strongly in rational discourse in higher education, especially in my own little corner of it here at De Anza. But looking around the NAS site and Klein's web page, one discovers that "rational discourse" has certain expected outcomes, including reading Shakespeare and Dickens, resisting affirmative action based on race, ethnicity and gender (but apparently not in regard to political affiliation), and generally claiming victim status for those who espouse conservative and libertarian views in the academy.
The Klein and Western opinion piece does not meet my standards of rational discourse, but then I'm just a lowly community college professor. No one cares what my colleagues' political affilations might be. The claim that having large percentages of the professors at an institution sharing the same party registration creates a "one-party system" is nonsensical on its face. What would the party registration of Fortune 500 CEOs look like? And if it was lopsided to Republicans, what would that prove?
An even shakier claim is the conclusion of this piece:
At campuses across the country, the lopsided faculty steer political discussions in a predictable direction -- to the left.
What Klein and Western did is get lists of the names of Stanford and Berkeley faculty and then comb voter registration lists in the nine Bay area counties to match names and identify party affiliation. This is a project that conservative activists have been engaged in around the country for the last year or so. That data tells you nothing about what happens in a classroom, or in a scholar's publications. If Klein does his economics that way--cite one set of data to create the appearance of "rational discourse" and then draw a completely unrelated conclusion to fit his ideological bias--we'd probably end up with an economy where taxes are regulary cut while spending is increased without regard to current and future debt levels. Hardly a position any serious conservative would espouse.
But why just select Stanford and Berkeley? Because they have international reputations? Why not include data from their home institution, Santa Clara University? Or nearby San Jose State University? Or equally nearby Mission College, De Anza College and West Valley College? Or would that be too much work for rational inquiry?
As I noted in BLOG ONE and again in Conservative Attacks on Liberal Professors, there's a concerted and growing effort to discredit university professors in the United States by groups that might be described as conservative or right-wing or simply anti-liberal. For over a decade, these efforts have tried to turn words like "multicultural" and "liberal" into pejoratives. Famously, that former history professor, Newt Gingrich, has led this effort, producing lists of words with which to tar the opposition.
Now we get an economist trying to impugn the integrity of scholars at great universities simply on the basis of their political party registration. It's not rational; it's not fair; and it's really not American.
Posted by sparks at 9:34 AM | TrackBack
Maryland Moves to Enact Academic Bill of Rights
The Maryland House is introducing Maryland’s own version of the "so-called" Academic Bill of Rights. For a point by point commentary, click here.