Group Criticizes Horowitz’s Book on ‘Dangerous’ Professors
The Chronicle of Higher Education
May 9, 2006
David Horowitz’s new book, The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America, contains numerous errors, misrepresentations, and distortions, according to a report released by Free Exchange on Campus, a coalition of student, faculty, and civil-liberties groups that opposes the conservative activist and his "academic bill of rights."
The report, "Facts Count," rebuts the argument made in The Professors, released in February by Regnery Publishing Inc., that the academics profiled in the book indoctrinate their students with left-wing political views. Free Exchange will formally release its findings at a news conference today at the University of Chicago, where Mr. Horowitz is separately scheduled to speak about academic freedom.
"We think his writings and a lot of his remarks have been filled with mischaracterizations and outright deceptions," said Jamie Horwitz, a spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers, which is one of the 11 members of Free Exchange. "Normally, we’d write them off as just the rantings of a political ideologue." But given that some version of Mr. Horowitz’s academic-rights bill—a proposal that he says will help to make colleges more intellectually diverse and protect students from being indoctrinated in the classroom—has been introduced in more than 20 state legislatures, Free Exchange felt compelled to respond, Mr. Horwitz said. "We can’t allow these charges to go unrefuted."
Mr. Horowitz called the report "stupid."
"This is a union operation," he said. "I think they’re a discredited source from the beginning."
According to the report, which is based on interviews with the academics in The Professors, Mr. Horowitz’s book "condemns professors for actions that are entirely within their rights and entirely appropriate in an atmosphere that promotes the free exchange of ideas." His research is "sloppy in the extreme" and "manipulated to fit his arguments," it says. And his conclusions, the report further states, are based on two faulty premises: "that America’s colleges and universities are failing to ensure students’ academic freedom, and that students lack the critical-thinking skills they need to engage with controversial ideas and decide what they believe for themselves."
The report cites several "problems of argumentation" in the book, saying Mr. Horowitz takes quotations out of context, misstates professors’ intended meanings, and ignores facts that don’t support his position.
While the report accuses Mr. Horowitz of numerous factual errors, he contends such mistakes are trivial. Especially with a book as long as his, roughly 400 pages, and with as many facts, it’s bound to have some errors, he said.
Mr. Horwitz, of Free Exchange, said the group would send its report to newspapers across the country and disseminate it wherever Mr. Horowitz plans to speak. "When we hear of him going some place or a committee considering his academic bill of rights, we think it’s going to be important to put this in their hands," he said.
Mr. Horowitz decried such a tactic. "It’s a political campaign," he said. "This is fine for when you’re electing candidates or something, but it’s really inappropriate for an academic discussion."
Transgender Woman Files Lawsuit Against NYPD, Claiming Abuse
Uproar After Florida Denies In-State Tuition to Citizen Students
JC Penney CEO Backs Ellen Degeneres After Conservative Group Calls for Boycott