A CLASS STRUGGLE: Tenure of Avowed Marxist Controversy jolts College

Houston Chronicle ^ | March 24, 2002 | KEVIN MORAN

[Check6]

Can't dump an avowed communist...and we wonder how we got here.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Exactly.

[End Times Sentinel]

Opponents of Smith, an assistant government professor who joined the faculty in August 1998, say he has violated academic principles by pushing his political agenda in his classes.

In my considerable experience in “Higher Academia” this is the rule rather than the exception. A wonderful precedent to have the young minds of this country shaped by those who benefit from the freedoms this country provides yet detest America.

Owl _ Eagle
“Guns before butter.”

[TxBec]

"I think we need deep-seated, fundamental, systemic social change," he said. "But I believe it has to be done by a vast majority of the people, using a combination of electoral and (other) tactics."

makes ya wonder what he means by "other"...

[Cincinatus' Wife]

A wonderful precedent to have the young minds of this country shaped by those who benefit from the freedoms this country provides yet detest America.

War dissent on campus: A problem or not?****Some commentators find the report alarming in a very different way than its authors intended: not as evidence of rot in the ivory tower, but as evidence of a climate in which free speech is threatened and criticism of US policies is labeled unpatriotic. Writing in USA Today, Don Campbell, a lecturer in journalism at Emory University in Atlanta, derides the council for sounding like ''a pack of Joe McCarthy wannabes.''

Critics accuse the council of making a mountain out of a molehill. They point out that antiwar fervor has been notoriously low on most campuses and dismiss the list as a mishmash of vague comments about breaking the cycle of violence and finding alternatives to war.****

Defending Civilization: How Our Universities Are Failing America and What Can Be Done About It---"At a time of national crisis, I think it is particularly apparent that we need to encourage the study of our past. Our children and grandchildren-indeed, all of us-need to know the idea and ideals on which our nation has been built. We need to understand that living in liberty is such a precious thing that generations of men and women have been willing to sacrifice everything for it. We need to know, in a war, exactly what is at stake." Lynn Cheney, October 5, 2001

[Cincinatus' Wife]

(other) tactics."

Did the columnist edit them out? It seems (other) indicates an edit.
Perhaps the editor cut out what the "other" tactics are.

[patj]

He is disingenuous in citing authorities, and these authorities are only the ones supporting his views," said Katz, a former police officer who taught criminal justice courses at the college. "That is known, by any standard, as intellectual dishonesty and deceit."

This describes most of the major newspapers and tv networks, intellectualy dishonest and deceitful.

Tenure is a longtime, and often controversial, policy in American higher education.

Just in higher education? I don't think so. Has this person checked on elementary school teachers?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I agree with you great remark about elementary schools and I'll add middle and high schools to that list of indoctrination places.

Communists Should Not Teach In American Colleges - 1949--[Excerpt] The question of whether a member of the Communist Party should be allowed to teach in an American college is by no means a simple one. Despite the fact that many persons in educational circles appear to find easy answers to this question, those of us who have examined the question most carefully perhaps find the answers more difficult.

The general outlines of the examination of this problem in the recent cases at the University of Washington are probably well enough known that they need not be reviewed in detail here. Suffice it to say that the question was surveyed from every angle and with every facility available to the administration and faculty of the University of Washington. The decision, while it may not be fully satisfactory to everyone concerned, is in my opinion the most thoroughly considered and best documented study of the relationship between Communism and higher education yet attempted in America.

Out of this long and painstaking examination I have come reluctantly to the conclusion that members of the Communist Party should not be allowed to teach in American colleges. I am now convinced that a member of the Communist Party is not a free man. Freedom, I believe is the most essential ingredient of American civilization and democracy. In the American scheme educational institutions are the foundation stones upon which real freedom rests. Educational institutions can prosper only as they maintain free teaching and research. To maintain free teaching and research the personnel of higher education must accept grave responsibilities and duties as well as the rights and privileges of the academic profession. A teacher must, therefore, be a free seeker after the truth. If, as Jefferson taught, the real purpose of education is to seek out and teach the truth wherever it may lead, then the first obligation and duty of the teacher is to be a free man. Any restraint on the teacher's freedom is an obstacle to the accomplishment of the most important purposes of education. [End Excerpt]

[HDawg]

When are these Marxist losers in academia going to realize they lost? I know; it's a rhetorical question. Marxism should be in the museum next to Fuedalism and Divine Right rule.

[pt17]

Tenure is a longtime, and often controversial, policy in American higher education

Tenure is, IMHO, one of the main failings of the American educational system. It removes, or greatly diminishes, accountability, competition, motivation and incentives to excel. Many of the best and the brightest go elsewhere, leaving a parking lot for the inept, unstable, unable and/or disenfranchised.

This was the case when I taught mathematics many decades ago and I suspect it hasn't changed much for the better.

[Steve Eisenberg]

This is not the scandal. The scandal is that surveys show something like 6% of U.S. university professors are republicans, with most of those in departments like engineering. And more than that, the scandal is that the liberal majority tends to grant tenure to liberals like themselves.

Professors should challenge students' beliefs. In a conservative state like Texas, it's probably a good thing for a few poly sci profs to be up front with their leftism; this may, in the long run, sharpen students' belief in capitalism by making it more self-aware. Similarly, black colleges and institutions in liberal states (i.e. most) should be seeking out conservatives to challenge dominent leftist views.

[Dan De Quille]

"I think that capitalism is a system based on exploitation and oppression and domination and racism and war and lots of other things.

If you have a basic problem with "winners" being generally more effective at the art of living than "losers", then Economic Liberty (which is what Capitalism is) will look a lot like this man's description to you. The Left is, in some basic sense, a revolt against reality---especially the reality of human difference.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

When are these Marxist losers in academia going to realize they lost?

Have they? They've never stopped.
They usually aren't so blatant about their agenda. Parents don't pay attention and colleagues are usually like-minded
so they're with "the program." They're in the schools, in government and in the media. We must be vigilent and speak out.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The Left is, in some basic sense, a revolt against reality---especially the reality of human difference.

Yes. To realize their dream they will have to change the very nature of mankind, which they can't but they will continue
to pursue this sick doctrine by hook or by crook and regardless of how many people suffer because of their beliefs.

Look at Castro, he's had a nation locked up for 40 years trying to make it "work" and still he won't stop his insane experiment.

[abclily]

David Michael Smith is a modern-day example of the 'useful idiots' that Communist hardliners laughed at when Communism was fashionable among American intelligentsia. We don't need more idiots in our colleges; our institutions of higher learning are already overrun by these fools.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Professors should challenge students' beliefs. In a conservative state like Texas, it's probably a good thing for a few poly sci profs to be up front with their leftism; this may, in the long run, sharpen students' belief in capitalism by making it more self-aware. Similarly, black colleges and institutions in liberal states (i.e. most) should be seeking out conservatives to challenge dominent leftist views.

Why would they seek out conservatives when they are so content with the LIBERALS? Texas may be a conservative state but academia and institutions of higher, lower and inbetween learning are islands of LIBERAL group-think. Of course it's good to challenge kids to think but often a differing viewpoint is ridiculed and besides most of these students have been brought up on PC history and wouldn't know how to frame an opposing view point even if given the opportunity. They're like sponges soaking up these anti-American ideas.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Tenure is, IMHO, one of the main failings of the American educational system. It removes, or greatly diminishes, accountability, competition, motivation and incentives to excel. Many of the best and the brightest go elsewhere, leaving a parking lot for the inept, unstable, unable and/or disenfranchised.

Bump!!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

. We don't need more idiots in our colleges; our institutions of higher learning are already overrun by these fools.

Time to draw the line.