At college, I majored in Political Science. This turned out to be fairly worthless as an academic pursuit and for future employment- a Poli. Sci. degree is like a pyramid scheme, where it's only useful when you can become a teacher and pass the virus on to another crop of willing dupes. It did, however, afford me a glimpse into the way academia works, and, it turned out, it worked like this: they wanted all of us to be Communists. OK, maybe that's too general. SOME professors wanted us to be communists. The rest wanted us to be Democrats. (I did NOT say that it's the same thing. How DARE you.)
I swear this happened: I was at some kind of gathering at a professor's house, and one of my Poli. Sci. professors came up to me and asked- seriously- "where's your 'Marx-Engels Reader'?"
Uh, well, the dog ate it? I sent it to the cleaners? Someone borrowed it? That's it, someone borrowed it, sorry, professor. Truth was, I never owned one. Oh, I'd read the Manifesto and the rest of the writings on which Communism and Socialism were based, but I didn't feel the need to carry it around with me like Mao's Little Red Book. And that's what was expected of me.
I was reminded of all of this today when I read about the University of Texas and its "liberal professor list" controversy. Let's see, how can I make this simple? A conservative student group spearheaded the compilation and posting of a list of professors who espouse politics, mostly leftist, to students and expect those students to conform to that ideology. Let's make this simpler:
1. Many professors are leftist ideologues.
2. These professors teach their students that ideology.
3. The same professors do not tolerate dissent.
4. A guy and his group pointed this out, by name.
That's it. That's all there was. Naturally, people on campus went berserk over it.
The Washington Post ran a story on this:
The list, published on the group's Web site, www.yct.org, and distributed on campus, criticizes 10 professors -- nine of them liberals, in (List compiler Austin) Kinghorn's view -- for using their classrooms to promote personal agendas and "indoctrinate" students. Kinghorn insists the list is a tool for students to make informed course choices. Critics call it a blacklist whose goal is to intimidate liberal professors and cramp academic freedom.
You knew this was coming from the moment you heard the basic story. Whenever anyone criticizes a leftist, the cries of McCarthyism ring out. Academic freedom's also a tried-and-true rallying cry. Here's why they're bull: nowhere in the list is it suggested that these professors be fired for their views. All it does is point those views out.
The list censures Jensen, for instance, for subjecting "the unsuspecting student to a crash course in socialism, white privilege, the 'truth' " and "using class time . . . to 'come out' and analogize gay rights with the civil rights movement."
In response, Jensen, who said he is bisexual, said the list could have an ominous effect on the faculty: "If professors are constantly worried about being branded liberal, and not just liberal but inappropriately executing their duties, then it's going to make people a little nervous and there's a self-censorship effect."
He's worried about being branded liberal? "Branded" liberal? He IS liberal. What, isn't he proud of that? (And how about that "Jensen, who said he is bisexual" note? Is that supposed to explain and excuse his curricular focus?)
The list bashes government professor Jennifer Suchland and sociology professor Gretchen Webber for focusing on inequalities in American gender, race and class. Clement Henry, a government professor, is criticized for alleged pro-Palestinian views. Thomas Garza, a professor of Slavic languages, is named for criticizing American foreign policy and the Bush administration. Government professor David Edwards earned a place on the list for his "hatred of conservatism and capitalism." Edmund T. Gordon, a black professor of anthropology, is accused of overemphasizing white oppression of blacks. Economics professor Harry Cleaver is singled out for an anti-free-market, "postmodernist agenda." Penne Restad, a history professor, is accused of embracing a "far left interpretation of American history."
"Bashes"? "Accused of"? "Singled out"? Why doesn't the reporter just come right out and say what she's trying to not-so-subtly communicate here?
"Regardless of whether they want to or not, they have sent us a message," said Suchland, one of three professors on the list who do not have tenure. "I'm feeling like anything is possible. That at some point, someone can say, 'We think you're anti-American and we think you should shut up' -- that it's not appropriate to talk about these things."
He's upset that someone might say "We think you're anti-American and we think you should shut up." Do they not have the right to say that? Does he not have the right to ignore them? Why is this a necessarily bad thing?
"This is part of a trend of blacklisting us, of making sure that we know we're under surveillance," said Gordon, the anthropology professor, who teaches a course on African American culture. "I do worry that what this is moving towards is some sort of censoring."
And there it is again- blacklisting, censoring. All I remember is that when you had an ideologue professor, you couldn't disagree with his or her position. You want blacklisting and censorship? There it was, and there it still is.
Here's another story about a professor I had- I was doing very well in a particular class when someone gave me a pass to go see the Pope. I'm not Catholic, I really don't care much either way, but, well, how many times does the Pope get to Philadelphia? So I asked the professor if I could leave early to go down to Center City to see the Pope, and he looked at me with utter disdain, saying "you want... you... uh, fine." But he didn't LOOK fine.
I went from an A to a C in that class at that moment. My final was a well-researched, well-written paper that was very much like the papers he'd given an A. But he was an atheist, and he thought I was a religious Catholic, so I went from Golden Boy to idiot in the flash of a yellow Pope ticket.
I learned a lot from that class, but it wasn't from the curriculum.
So I'm glad someone's standing up to the brainwashing. I wish I had, but I didn't care to fight- I wanted to get through the four years, get my degree, and never look back. And that I did, but I wish I'd have been even more of a pain in the ass to the school than I was. It wouldn't have changed anything, though. And when my alma mater sponsored an anti-war, anti-Jew... er, anti-Israel forum last summer, it didn't surprise me in the least.
I guess they can't count on me for their next fund drive.
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