Posted on 12/04/2004 8:37:25 AM PST by freespirited
LOS ALTOS HILLS, CA –Dec 02, 2004. Yesterday, Foothill College Political-Science Professor Joseph Woolcock tried to intimidate student Ahmad Al-Qloushi into seeing a therapist because of a Pro-American essay he wrote in Woolcock's class. The thesis of Al-Qloushi's essay is that the US constitution was a very progressive document, which has contributed to freedom beyond America's borders. The Foothill College Republicans are using this opportunity to make sure that intellectual diversity is respected on campus, by lobbying to have the “Academic Bill of Rights” as an official Foothill College policy.
"This is not an isolated case," said Cori Jenab, Vice-President of Foothill College Republicans. "Foothill’s faculty has disrespected students because of their political and religious beliefs in the past."
"Intellectual diversity must be respected at Foothill College," said Ahmad Al-Qloushi. "The only way to guarantee this is to have Foothill adopt the “Academic Bill of Rights.”
The Academic Bill of Rights was drawn up by an organization called Students for Academic Freedom. In March of 2004 Presidents of Colorado’s major public Universities adopted a memorandum of understanding. It included provisions of the Academic Bill of Rights that their regulations did not already cover. The universities pledged to provide protections to students of all political viewpoints, emphasizing “Colorado’s institutions of higher education are committed to valuing and respecting diversity, including respect for diverse political viewpoints.” To learn more about the Academic Bill of Rights and Colorado's memorandum of understanding, visit http://www.studentsforacademicfreedom.org
About Us: The Foothill College Republicans are a broad-based organization for conservative, libertarian, and moderate students at Foothill Community College. FCR boasts a membership that is over 70% minority.
Cori Jenab and Ahmad Al-Qloushi are available for immediate interview.
Press Contact: Ahmad Al-Qloushi ahmadalqloushi@sbcglobal.net
To contact the Foothill College Board of Trustees, click here.
A serious house-cleaning needs to take place at a lot of our universities.
Perhaps the "warm unit" should do some nude skiing to cool down.
I cna honestly say that in Britain when I did my Politics degree a couple of years ago NONE of my teachers tried to convince us or sway us to any political position.
It simply is not their job. They are meant to let us do the debating and act as an impartial guide. I foud all my British teachers objective and thorough. It is a pity that there are those who do not respect people's right to free thought.
True, very true. But just to be clear, Foothill College is far from a "university." It's actually a pretty good community college, as community colleges go. But that's all it is.
I would like to read the essay. I wonder if we can get a copy and post it here. That would be poetic justice. We could even let the Prof know that his intolerance insured that the essay would have an audience of hundreds of thousands.
Universities are becoming "no-go zones".
Search for "Woolcock" on this page and you may begin to get an idea of the foundation of Dr. Woolcock's political leanings.
http://www.foothill.edu/news/releases/aahmevents02.html
Let's see, here are some quotes from that "Rate my professors" site. To be fair, I'm not posting the favorable ratings, of which there are several. But that wouldn't be fun :) If you want to see them, check out the site yourself.
"If your views are not his, don't expect to get a good grade. Your paper must be written to reflect his beliefs--else you fail. He blatantly favors minorities while blaming the rest of the class for slavery. He is a biggot. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. "
"Words cannot describe how closedminded, arrogant, and unhelpful Dr. Woolcock is. Makes me wish that Senator McCarthy was still in power..."
"i haven't taken any of his classes but i know this professor personally. all i can say is that he is biased, arrogant & only helps those students he likes. he grades ppl, not work. If u take the class, be ready to flatter him. "
"looked at the ratings before I signed for his class and figured it couldn't be THAT bad, it was. They say unless you're carrying a hammer in one hand and a sickle in the other, do not take the class."
"This guy is completely self-absorbed. During office hours, he offered no helpful advice and cut me off before listening to my ideas. TIP: Flattery will get you everywhere with this guy... a good paper, maybe not as much."
ABSOLUTELY.
Though I wonder, firing all the liberal idiot profs . . .
could we find enough authentic, earnest conservative profs to replace them???
Maybe overseas! LOL.
It was common practice in the Soviet Union to send dissidents to psychiatric hospitals for brainwashing, on the basis that opposition to Communism could only be caused by mental illness.
Professor Woolcock's Marxist attitudes are showing all too clearly here.
Eliminate tenure first. That will remove the leftists security blanket.
I wonder why the "good" prof tried to make this student see a shrink in the first place? I don't know the student's race, but he does seem to have a Muslim name. I guess he seems to think that if you are Muslim, you cannot possibly be pro-America without suffering from some kind of mental disorder.
Idiot.
This type of behavior makes me glad I've never gone to college.
Sure we could. These are high dollar, heavily sought after positions. If people didn't have to pass through a PC gauntlet to get there, we would have plenty of conservative profs already.
Be that as it may, I don't want to subvert the rule of law by firing all of them summarily. Let us enact the "Academic Bill of Rights" as a good first step to prevent bias and brainwashing in the classroom, and to assist in the establishment of a free discourse of ideas.
Agreed.
Though I think a summer 'sabbatical' in the Chilean copper mines might do the lot of them a world of good.
Or perhaps digging sewer lines in Siberia?
Maybe chasing Osama in Pakistan?
How about protecting underground church pastors in China?
Perhaps taking the alcoholic homeless into their homes for 6 months to dry them out with 24 hour care?
Here's my msg to Woolcock:
Hello Professor Coolcock,
I understand you had the immoral idiocy to pressure an
Arab student who'd written an essay supportive of the
USA to visit a therapist.
As a shrink, if he'd have come to me, I'd have
immediately supported his going to the school
administration to have had you removed from your job
and barred from the campus.
You may be stupid enough to support the raging
Communist puppet masters hell bent to force a global
government on the world's citizens.
You may be blind enough to cheer the advance of tyrany
across the USA in the name of such liberal treason.
But you have no right to pressure your students to
join your insanity.
God have mercy on your soul. It's clear your brain is
already long gone.
Most Sincerely,
Attempt to stop mandatory mental screening fails
An attempt by Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, to add language to the omnibus spending bill in Congress to require parental consent for any mental-health screening done to children with federal money has failed.A few years back, my middle daughter was having some problems in school (which, much later, we discovered to be due to hypoglycemia). The school wanted her to be seen by a (school selected) doctor. My wife's friend, a special ed teacher, warned us that this is almost always just a formality before a Ritalin prescription. We refused.The language was proposed to blunt the effect of a program proposed by the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, which President Bush established in 2002. The New Freedom Initiative recommends screening not only for children but eventually for every American.
The principal asked we sign a form saying we refused. I didn't want to sign anything. They sent us home with a large "info" packet of legalese and psychobabble. Buried in the fine print near the end was a tidbit that if parents refused to let their kids be examined, the school could ask a judge to let them bring the kid to the doc ANYWAY (of course, this would be done during school hours and without parent knowledge)
The next day, instead of the form they expected, I handed in my home-schooling paperwork.
Now, visualize what happens to a young child with a strong Conservative streak, who shows signs for high intelligence and leadership potential, who meets up with a Leftist school counselor
We used to have lots of conservative profs. Their weakness was that they would approve a left-wing candidate for tenure if the candidate was academically excellent, while the left-wingers thus approved would NOT approve a conservative for tenure, no matter how academically excellent, in the following academic generation. This creates a rachet-effect to the left
Exactly. Conservatives believe in morality, ethics, and freedom of expression and academic freedom. Leftists don't, they only see these things as ploys to advance socialism. Once this is generally acknowledged by most in the culture, we will be able to overcome the problem.
It could not be overcome when the major source of information for the population was the leftist dominated old media.
BUMP
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.