Posted on 01/19/2006 3:39:57 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
PHILADELPHIA — Christian DeJohn returned from a National Guard tour in Bosnia only to fight his own war with academics at Temple University who he says have held up his master's thesis because of political conflicts in the classroom.To some conservatives, the case represents a national trend by some liberal professors to infringe on conservative students' right to free speech at public colleges and universities.
The debate has reached more than a dozen state legislatures, which dole out the taxpayer funds to those schools, but so far there's been more talk than action.
Legislation modeled after an "academic bill of rights" advocated by conservative activist David Horowitz, founder of Students for Academic Freedom, was introduced in at least 15 states last year, but none has passed it, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Among other things, the document exhorts professors to present a wide spectrum of intellectual views in the classroom and discourages them from basing students' grades on their religious or political beliefs.
Julie Bell, the conference's education program director, said legislatures have not forced the issue because even public universities typically enjoy considerable autonomy in setting academic policies and procedures.
"Most legislatures have backed away because they really do acknowledge that separation," Bell said.
An Ohio state senator suspended his push for legislation last year after state universities approved a resolution requiring them to ensure students are not graded based on political opinions.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
It's not going to be done by legislation. It's going to be done, if at all, by a slow conservative takeover of faculties and administrations.
One of the problems getting in the way is all of the government funding that gets dumped into these schools. The free market isn't allowed to clear out the bad ones.
California University students have put up a website for "outing" leftist radicals on the faculty. Of great interest to cash rich alumns, administrators and tenure committees. Helps students get their tuition's worth and keeps liberal bias under control. A very, very good thing generally.
I think the websites' name is Bruinwatch or something similar but a brief search on FR should bring it up.
Way to go Bruins and may lots of other schools follow your lead!
The free market has more of a chance to work in our universities than in our K-12 system. Universities have to compete with each other for students, while the public school system through high school is a monopoly with a captive enrollment.
High schools don't compete, because you're assigned to one.
This is one reason why American universities are considered world class, while the local school systems are pretty much a failure.
Couldn't agree with you more. Though I have read that more student bodies have grown more and more conservative over the past few years, and that groups like the college republicans are growing as well.
What is it with liberals and poofter cowboys?
Toward Soviet America - 1932 William Z Foster, page 316
“Among the elementary measures the American Soviet government will adopt to further the cultural revolution are the following: the schools, colleges and universities will be coordinated and grouped under the National Department of Education and its state and local branches.”
He wasn't too far off here...
Dumbing Down Education
General attack upon excellence
Toward Soviet America - 1932 William Z Foster, page 316
“Present obsolete methods of teaching will be superseded by a scientific pedagogy.” (method of education)
Ping for TOLA list
I think they're really sheep herders not cowboys.
Well, there still bloody poofters!
The zealots in the institutions which gave so many draft dogers succor in the Viet Nam era will not go quietly into that good night.
There is a real culture war going on, and the a$$holes have been winning for a long time.
If you want to do it quicker just sieze the communications building and flood the campus with Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity 24x7. They'd be running for the exits like rats from a ship. 48 hours and the place would be liberal free ;-)
When I got back I didn't let them know (It was a hopeless cause, and still is. Our universities are very sick. There was more free speech in the military, no question). One benefit - The draft was still in effect at the time. Most professors would end the term by stating that the men could give themselves whatever grade they needed to keep their deferment (Just put your name and the grade needed on a piece of paper in their mailbox.) Sure helped my GPA. As the guy in the cell phone commericial says, "Just my way of sticking it to the man!"
That will help but I like what some UCLA Alumni are doing - offering $100 for tapes of left-wing intimidation in the classroom. They intend to take legal action against flagrant violators of academic freedom.
Sean Hannity is also on this bandwagon. I think its gaining steam across the country!! Long overdue.
That will help but I like what some UCLA Alumni are doing - offering $100 for tapes of left-wing intimidation in the classroom. They intend to take legal action against flagrant violators of academic freedom.
Sean Hannity is also on this bandwagon. I think its gaining steam across the country!! Long overdue.
Yet in our public schools, leftists provide biased "resources" for the teachers to use. Meanwhile, conservative think-tanks publish another paper that nobody reads. The battle for the young minds is being lost without a shot fired from the right.
The delicious irony is that the Critical Theorists, Queerists, Deconstructionalists, New Historicists, etc., can talk up a mean blather using the worse postmodern nonsense terms imaginable about evils of Capitalism, but take away their funding and their insane world of "discourse" shrinks into something quite intelligible like: "You can't do that! We want the money!" Who would ever have thought that they were capable of talking in such a direct, straight forward and matter of fact way! But they tell us that there are no facts and discourse just point to more discourse. So, in other words, avoid reality when it is convenient to impress everybody with meaningless gibberish but address it if the bills need to be paid -- what a Marxist dilemma for the humanities!
True. Even since I've graduated in 1999...it seems my alma mater has more conservative kids now.
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