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| Also listed in: Campus Progress Blog | Dispatches From the "Students for Academic Freedom" Conference |
It was 10 in the morning on my fourth day cavorting amongst conservatives at the Omni Shoreham. I was tired, sick, hung over, and the preposterousness of things witnessed had me starting to question my mission. Thankfully, DH had once again provided free food, including much-needed coffee, and though my legs felt like they each weighed 200 pounds, I opened up my notebook and soon thereafter, my eyes.
There was a panel before the debate, but it's not really worth mentioning, because it featured Gib Armstrong talking about the left hating freedom and a few college-age Horowitz minions kissing his ass, bitching about college bureaucracy (not actual cases of political bullying), and plugging their national on-campus right-wing organization. Some guy's cell phone went off (he actually answered it), and I think I saw a couple playing Sudoku. I felt more hungover by the end of the panel.
When the debate began, I counted 43 people in the room. Horowitz once again reiterated his desire for this to be a non- or bi-partisan issue, that all that matters is what abuse goes down in the classroom. It's true--if Horowitz had found a few lefty or non-political students whose feelings had been abused by conservative professors, I would have taken him more seriously. If he had found some professors who could speak to the bullying tactics that some of the colleagues use in the classroom and in intradepartment politics, I would have taken him more seriously.
Instead, the only professor present was his opponent in the debate, Cary Nelson, who obviously also found it very hard to take Horowitz's cause seriously. His opening argument had a sardonic, playful tone that suggested he thought he probably had better things to do, but it came off much more engaging that Horowitz's opening rant about affirmative action, or something.
Indeed, a recurring theme throughout the Conference was whether Horowitz's endeavor was actually relevant, which I thought was funny. Nelson's weakness was that he used his behavior in class as a stand-in for how all profs treat their students, and would dispute polls that found that a majority of professors were liberals. Why try to counter that? As if it's not true? A more important question, an almost philosophical one that would engage my attention, would be WHY are most professors liberal?
But rational discourse was not the call of the day. Horowitz's weakness was his tendency to wear his non-academic politics on his sleeve, and rant about how most CEO's are liberal. My favorite part was when he pleaded that from a profession that prides itself as respecting The Other, college teachers should feel ashamed of themselves for not respecting conservative sudents as The Other. Hilarity.
In Horowitz's defense, it is hard to hear tales like those from the Georgia Tech girl who took a politically abusive teacher to task and received death and rape threats in return. These singular incidents are naturally totally deplorable and deserve to be dealt with legally, if the college is so corrupt that it cannot itself handle the students' complaints. But legal action should be taken by the student him or herself, because I fear that an Academic Bill of Rights would be subject to the very political abuse on the part of Horowitz and his neocon funders that he claims to denounce.
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Apparently, you slept through what was actually said at the debate.
Actually, there was a professor in the audience who spoke at the microphone and, undoubtedly, there were more who just chose not to speak. I am a high school teacher, interested in outing the liberal dogma and agenda pervading our public schools. I had plenty to say, but not enough time and it wasn't the moment.
You admit there is a bias in universities. I submit it is as widespread among K12 public schools, but not discussed as much. The NEA has a stranglehold on teachers--to speak out against its political bullying is to paint a target on one's chest.
There is nothing scary about the Academic Freedom Act. It allows everyone's voice to be heard. But then, you and your cronies don't like that, do ya?
But a systemic bias seems unlikely, because all a professor wants is to work. Just how all the media wants to do is sell papers. If a conservative student, or any student, is unfairly bullied or abused by a professor with an opposite viewpoint, the student should be able to go to a department head, dean, administrator, etc. If all of these people actively pursue a liberal agenda by not listening, that institution is corrupt. But not even at Wesleyan, the most tainted of the tainted liberal institutions, this would never occur.
In the meantime, I'll take Horowitz's claim of bipartisanship seriously when his Conference reception focuses on something other than his personal neocon politics. A conservative's argument that the Left is in bed with terrorists is kind of my litmus test for whether I should listen to them. Horowitz fails.
Apparently, you slept through what was actually said at the debate.
Actually, there was a professor in the audience who spoke at the microphone and, undoubtedly, there were more who just chose not to speak. I am a high school teacher, interested in outing the liberal dogma and agenda pervading our public schools. I had plenty to say, but not enough time and it wasn't the moment.
You admit there is a bias in universities. I submit it is as widespread among K12 public schools, but not discussed as much. The NEA has a stranglehold on teachers--to speak out against its political bullying is to paint a target on one's chest.
There is nothing scary about the Academic Freedom Act. It allows everyone's voice to be heard. But then, you and your cronies don't like that, do ya?
From the pledge of allegiance in the morning through the shallow Ameri-centric curriculum, my high school education was far from "liberal" and trained students too become guardians of the status quo. The education in my opinion is at best center-right in orientation. I think some people are just trying to find new ways to sell books. But what do I know? I still believe the world is older than six thousand years old.