Posted on 01/21/2006 2:57:11 AM PST by presidio9
An independent alumni association at the University of California-Los Angeles has offered rewards of up to $100 for students willing to out politically biased professors.
Founded by Andrew Jones, a 2003 graduate of the public university, the Bruin Alumni Association has been formed to curb “an exploding crisis of political radicalism on campus” which is “endangering the very core of UCLA — the undergraduate experience,” according to the association’s website.
Jones, on the group’s website, says he experienced “political harassment, violence, intimidation and biased teaching” during his time at UCLA, adding his experience is “entirely typical for any student who didn’t embrace political extremism.”
Targets of the association, termed “radical professors,” are listed by Jones under the “Dirty Thirty: Ranking the Worst of the Worst.”
Some UCLA professors named on the website have publicly criticized Jones’ actions, equating them with McCarthyism, and, according to University of Wisconsin political science professor Donald Downs, the criticisms are valid.
Jones, a former head of UCLA’s Republican student group, has placed professors with left-of-center political views on this list of problem professors.
“What we have here is a culture clash,” Downs said of Jones’ attack on liberal professors. “A lot of conservatives see UCLA, which is similar to [UW], as being anti-conservative.”
Downs acknowledged the existence of some political bias on college campuses, which he said tends to lean toward the left. This is becoming an issue, he said, because conservatives on campus have “less patience with this sort of thing.”
The conservative website offers rewards to students who are willing to pass on information about any professors who impose their radical political beliefs in the classroom. The website boasts awards of $10 for general tips and a $100 prize in place for students who will provide lecture notes, class handouts and full tape recordings of class sessions. The group offers the use of recording equipment but warns students must obtain permission from the professor upon making the recordings.
Jones’ critics have questioned his approach to the situation.
“This is not the way to deal with it,” Downs said of the group’s attack on UCLA professors. “The ends don’t justify the means.”
According to Downs, more appropriate outlets are available to students for professor-evaluation purposes. Websites offering services for students to rate their professors, for example, are in place on campuses nationwide.
UCLA also expressed its displeasure with Jones’ tactics.
“The UCLA community … finds his methods reprehensible, even as we support every critic’s right to freely express his or her views,” UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale said in a release.
Carnesale also noted that the Bruin Alumni Association does not have an official relationship to either UCLA or the UCLA Alumni Association and said the university is sympathetic to faculty members who have come under attack.
According to Downs, critics putting liberal professors under fire need to approach the situation more fairly and consistently. He cited incidents in the 1990s when speech codes were being enforced at times when conservative critics were silent.
“It’s disturbing that people are only unhappy when it’s their ox being gored,” he said.
As of press time, Jones did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Reminds me of Carville's musing about running a $100 bill through a trailer park and seeing what it attracts.
Downs acknowledged the existence of some political bias on college campuses, which he said tends to lean toward the left. This is becoming an issue, he said, because conservatives on campus have “less patience with this sort of thing.”
Some? Yahh right.......
I'd love to see the stats if they audited Berkeley, NYU, Priceton, and Harvard.
Don't forget the People's University of Michigan either. UM is the home of BAMN (By Any Means Necessary), a predominately africanhyphenamerican group violently opposed to the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative which is a ballot initiative to end discrimination in university admissions and state hiring. It is inconceivable that any group of predominately white people could form a group with the BAMN name and not be tagged racist.
Some guy on local radio last evening was condemning the Bruins alumni because there should be a diversity of ideas on a college campus. I suppose as long as its a diversity of communist ideas its alright.
Just kidding. No I'm not. I want to treat the liberals just as harshly as they have suppressed conservatives for the past 30 years. I want them to feel fear.
We've let these Socialists and Communists have free reign for two long. It's time for them to pay for their crimes against humanity.
rewards of up to $100Wow. So much money. Can they afford it?
Thanks for the morning chuckle, laughed at that one.
"That's the way Carville found Bill Clinton, isn't it?"
That's VERY good!!
This explains the tremendous power of the FreeRepublic collective mind. Conservatives are a more diverse group than leftists.
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.