Posted on 04/25/2005 5:49:36 AM PDT by Constitution Day
Web site stirs up criticism By Natalie Jordan, Rocky Mount Telegram Saturday, April 23, 2005 The Web site of an N.C. Wesleyan College professor has drawn fire from bloggers, columnists and other Internet surfers regarding its content. Jane Christensen, an associate professor of political science at the college, has a home page on the college's Web site that displays links to anti-war groups, alternative ideas about the Sept. 11 attacks, political action networks and pictures of masked people carrying weapons. The site also has links to her syllabi that give full descriptions of the classes she teaches. The site states its content is protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution. But that hasn't stopped criticism from conservative columnists Jon Sanders, a policy analyst at the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, and Mike Adams, who writes for Townhall.com. Both men published columns on conservative Web sites about Christensen's Web page, which attracted complaints from bloggers and other users of the sites. In response to Christensen's site, Adams wrote that "slander and anti-Semitism are permitted by a bigot posing as a scholar." Bridget Skillman, a former Rocky Mount resident who now lives in Sacramento, Calif., said she's appalled at the site and its contents and thinks Christensen is trying to brainwash her students. She said regardless of Christensen's constitutional right to freedom of speech, her views aren't limited to the site. "As disgusting and hate-filled as her speech is, she is free to spew it," Skillman said. "She is not teaching the students, but trying to indoctrinate them to her way of thinking ... I truly think Ms. Christensen crosses the line, and I feel sorry for any students who disagree with her and must sit through her ranting in class. She actually seems like she could be dangerous — just my opinion. "Isn't education about facts and thinking? It's not supposed to be just the opinions of the professor." Christensen said she did not want to comment for this story. "9/11: The road to tyranny," one of the elective courses listed on Christensen's site, studies the events of Sept. 11 and how that day "shaped political future" through "eyewitness accounts and speculation." The course does not require textbooks, but uses alternative news media and Web links such as prisonplanet.com and Infowars.com. It also refers to films like Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" and Alex Jones' "9/11: The Road to Tyranny." Tom Betts, chairman of N.C. Wesleyan's board of trustees, said he thinks the material on the Web site is offensive, but defended the professor's right to display it. "I find what's on her Web site to be distasteful and despicable, and I disagree with everything on it. In the most polite of terms, it is disgraceful," Betts said. "However, this is America, and academic freedom and free speech is what sets us apart from the rest of the world. And I believe and hope most people will see this Web site for what it is — the opinions of a very, very far left person. And any sensible person would see this as a joke — a very bad joke. "Everyone has an opinion, and hearing all sides and drawing one's own conclusions is what college is about. And the last thing we need to do is tell somebody how to think. That's why we have elections." The Web page, called "Megalinks in Political Science," features a picture of black-clad people holding automatic weapons. Underneath the picture reads "Fighting the New World Order." Christensen's accolades — a bachelor's degree from Howard University, a master's degree from Virginia Tech and a doctorate from the State University of New York at Albany — are also listed, along with her contact information at N.C. Wesleyan. The site also provides a list of upcoming course topics, such as health and the war on drugs. Ian Newbould, the college's president, said he supports academic freedom. "Faculty have a right to their views. Some are popular views and some are less popular views, but we can't answer for every item faculty has links to," Newbould said. "There are different opinions about events and politics, and we don't stifle freedom of opinion." Newbould said the United States should uphold its constitutional right to free speech. "I know there are several right-wing Web sites out there trying to create controversy, and it's the media that perpetuates the controversy," he said. "But we don't tell people what they are supposed to think. That's what people like Saddam Hussein do — tell people what to do and what to think. "That's what makes America great, because that doesn't happen here."
Jon Sanders' column: Academic Insanity at North Carolina Wesleyan
Ping.
I think the e-mail address of this "professor" should be posted here, so Freepers can send her a few choice words. We should be polite, refrain from bad language, but point out that this woman is a geopolitical moron. IMHO.
Congressman Billybob
President of Wesleyan College, Ian D.C. Newbould -- INewbould@ncwc.edu
Light dawns on another maggot that has found a warm crack in academe.
The truth is, there is at least one Ward Churchill-type lunatic employed at most every university.
More evidence I could never survive as a college professor. I would last about 5 minutes amongst the 99.9% professors who are radical lefties.
(Monty Python accent) No I didn't.
What concerns ME, is that someone like this is not in a mental ward, much less teaching.
This is all the more reason we need sanity in academics:
What's troubling is that there are folks here at FR whose posts suggest that they share common ground with at least some of what she says.
It would be nice if someone over there actually understood the Constitution, what it says about "free speech" and how it applies. -jw
My email to the Pres:
Luckily no one from my family will ever attend N.C. Wesleyan, because we've learned in advance that you allow the indoctrination of the students through the speculative rantings of Jane Christensen. All people are free to believe whatever idiot notions they may have, but any teacher should be held to the most minimal standards of objective reality in what they choose to teach. More importantly, administrative officials should hold their teachers to a high standard as to what is being taught. We now know that you have no standards.
Ping
Only one ? ;)
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