That ad sounds right on to me.
Posted on 09/27/2004 2:47:11 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
After a series of ads in the University of Arizona newspaper railed against left-wing professors, a student allegedly reported Professor David Gibbs to the FBI for being "an anti-American communist who hates America."
A series of ads have been running in student newspapers across the country charging that universities are dominated by liberal or left-wing professors. The ads are paid for by well-funded groups like Students for Academic Freedom and the Independent Women's Forum. Some of the ads encourage students to report any so-called anti-American faculty or statements made by professors. And that is apparently what happened to David Gibbs, an Associate professor of History and Sociology at the University of Arizona. After his Spring course "What is Politics?", a student wrote the following on an anonymous evaluation form:
"I believe that the university should check into David Gibbs. He is an anti-American communist who hates America and is trying to brainwash young people into thinking America sucks. He needs to go and live in a Third World country to appreciate what he has here. Have him investigated by the FBI. FBI has been contacted."
David Gibbs is an associate professor of History and Sociology at the University of Arizona. He has an article in the journal New Political Science called "Pretexts and U.S. Foreign Policy: The War on Terrorism in Historical Perspective."
AMY GOODMAN: We're joined by professor David Gibbs. Associate Professor of History and Sociology at the University of Arizona. David Gibbs, this will be the first part of our conversation in the last few minutes. What happened in your class? What did you say and what did your student do?
PROFESSOR DAVID GIBBS: Well, I teach a class, a large freshman class called, “What is Politics?” that focuses on propaganda and deception, and I emphasize incidents of the government lying and things like that. The semester that I taught it, which was last spring, the Independent Women's Forum being a -- the conservative activist group put into the local newspaper, a local student newspaper, an advertisement that basically argued that there's a kind of left wing domination of the universities and students should fight that with the strong implication they should monitor their professors and report them, at least that’s how I read it. And that semester I began getting instances of that happening, specifically on my evaluation. I got, for example, a student who said I’m anti-American communist who hates America and is trying to brainwash young people into thinking that America sucks. I should be investigated by the FBI, and the FBI has been contacted. Another student on a weblog during the summer said he took my class and also said that he didn't like my politics and suggests that students shouldn't take my class but should drop by and try to disrupt it. There have been a number of instances like that which I hadn't had before.
AMY GOODMAN: What does it mean if a student were to report you? What happens then?
PROFESSOR DAVID GIBBS: I don't really know whether or not the FBI was in fact contacted, I cannot say. I'm not particularly losing sleep over the prospect of an 18-year-old calling the FBI about my politics. I think, though, it’s indicative of a larger national trend, which is conservative activist groups with lots of money and connections to the Republican Party trying to encourage and even to some extent orchestrate students and local conservative groups like those at the University of Arizona to go and basically harass faculty if they don't like their politics.
AMY GOODMAN: Does it change what you do?
PROFESSOR DAVID GIBBS: It hasn't changed what I do, no. Whether it does with other faculty, I cannot say. Yeah, this is a group Independent Women's Forum. I looked on the website, and they're putting these ads similar to the one put in the University of Arizona Wildcat and student newspapers across the country.
AMY GOODMAN: It's a full-page ad that says, “Top ten things your professors do to skew you. They push their political views, liberal opinions dominate, they don't present both sides of the debate, conservative viewpoints practically non-existent. Classrooms are for learning, not brainwashing. They force you to check your intellectual honesty at the door. They make you uncomfortable if you disagree. Grading should be based on facts not opinion. Education? More like indoctrination.” That’s the ad. We'll continue our conversation after the show and broadcast it later on Democracy Now! Professor Gibbs, thank you for being with us.
PROFESSOR DAVID GIBBS: Thank you.
Amy Goodman, eh?
This thread won't last long.
They recommend documenting their behavior so it can be argued against.
Struck a nerve. Keep on punching.
What propaganda in the headline.
The professor even admits that he is unaware if the student did in fact report him to the FBI, and dismisses any report if it actually occurred.
But given the chance to whine about IWF and Republicans I'm sure he couldn't wait to speak with Ms. Goodman.
I have nothing against blacklisting America hating CommuNazis professors. However, I don't think this is true. The professor could be just making it up to get attention.
By that reasoning, John F'n should be reported.
HEY, that's an excellent idea, I like it! jk
This guy has probably bullied students with conservative views time and time again. Turn about is fair play in my view.
This whole thing stinks of a setup. No proof of anything, just hearsay. These people would thrive at CBS.
That ad sounds right on to me.
Talk about a waste of a tub-thumping over nothing.
The word allegedly just means it may or may not have happened.
"...a student wrote the following on an anonymous evaluation form:..."
Impossible to verify or check. This sounds like another self-inflicted "hate" crime. Seems to be a rash of that lately.
Hating America can quickly evolve into criminal behavior (i.e. Treason).
Seems to me that every terrorist probably started out just talking about how much they Hate America. The Hateful actions grew from there. The Univeristy shareholders, students and parents should have some influence to ensure the classrooms are not becoming terrorist breeding grounds.
Now students have to be careful what they say in ANONYMOUS evaluations.
If this fascist hasn't been contacted by the FBI, how does he know they really were called?
Communists in our schools? No, tell me it isn't so!
Headline should really be: "Leftist Professor upset at challenge to the status quo."
"(A)n anti-American communist who hates America" is a redundancy; this is the way you write a hate-letter to yourself if you want the "perpetrator" to appear irrational, which is probably the way he views most conservatives. He may have been paraphrasing, but if this was verbatim, then I don't believe it's genuine.
Probably paints swastika symbols on his car with Tempura paint, too.
Ahhh. We've finally arrived. Free speech makes inroads into the university.
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