Instructor Placed on Leave Over Letters (College teacher gave extra credit to war protesters)

Los Angeles Times ^ | 3-8-2003 | Rebecca Trounson

[Cagey]

A speech instructor at Citrus College has been placed on administrative leave after students complained that she told them they could earn extra credit by writing to President Bush to protest a possible war with Iraq, a college official said Friday.

Rosalyn Kahn, a part-time instructor at the two-year college in Glendora, told students in January that they would not receive extra credit if they used their letters to express other political views, including support for the war, said Samuel T. Lee, associate dean for language arts and foreign languages at the college.

In a separate extra-credit assignment, Kahn also asked her students to write to their state Senate representatives, discussing the state's budget crisis and cuts that have been proposed for community colleges. In particular, Lee said, Kahn asked her students to "protest the cuts on the grounds that adjunct faculty would lose their jobs and students would suffer." Kahn is an adjunct faculty member.

[Question_Assumptions]

And this is why leftists cannot be left in charge. There is a little dictator waiting inside of many of them that will come right up to the surface as soon as they are given any power.

[AnAmericanMother]

The key words in this article:

Kahn is an adjunct faculty member.

She is as good as gone. Adjuncts have no tenure and no particular "pull" with the administration. They are usually professionals in whatever area they're teaching, working for free or a small honorarium either to help their alma mater or pad the resume a little. Unless she has some serious political clout in the community, it's easier for the school just to dump her rather than deal with the controversy.

[alnick]

Oh I'd write a letter all right. I'd write a letter that spelled out exactly what this professor was up to, I'd express my support for the president, and at the bottom I'd cc every news organization that I could think of, and then I'd turn the letter in to the professor.

[nicmarlo]

My sister went to that college when we lived in Glendora.....it's a very nice town, and, IMHO, fairly conservative......the College's actions do not surprise me, at all. Good for them, too; this is outrageous!

[mhking]

Just on leave? Fire her!

"Hold muh beer 'n watch this!" PING....

If you want on or off this list, please let me know!

[Salvation]

Shall we FReep the lady and tell her she is out of touch with reality here?

[pabianice]

"Campus bias? What campus bias?"

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for posting this.

This suckup to Saddamn, the mass murdering and mass rapist thug should be terminated for cause.

This leave thing is just a trick to buy her time to back later to poison the well of knowledge at that university.

[tracer]

Since this little piss-ant clearly was acting outside the scope of her official duties, it might be fun for some enterprising student(s) to bring legal action against her as a private individual.

Win, lose, or draw, said enterprising student(s) could file such a lawsuit for a small amount of money compared to the "professor's" cost of defending her contempt for free speech. And the university should be named as a co-defendant and given the opportunity to rectify this situation and perhaps be dropped as a defendant from the complaint.

What's good for the legal goose is good for the gander. Libs are best reached through their wallets.

BTW, I wonder when the ACLU-less will weigh in on this matter in favor of students who would have been penalized on the grade curve there.......

[COBOL2Java]

She is as good as gone.

Checked the college's webpage. She was only scheduled to teach one class this semester. If I interpret the strikethrough on her schedule and the 'CLOSED' indication, she might not be around anymore. FWIW, other classes are still open:

SPCH 106 SMALL GROUP COMMUNICATION 3.0 Units
Strongly recommended: Reading 099 if reading score is below level 2.
Principles, techniques, and uses of discussion in contemporary society.
Training and practice in informal group discussion, panel discussion,
symposium, and forum. Emphasis on collaborative decision-making.
CSU;UC
5157 KAHN, R. TTH 1230P 150P TB 314 CLOSED

[Salvation]

Good sleuthing there!

[Mr. Silverback]

Well, he just inspired me to send another letter of support to our President.

[lainie]

The college's decision to place Kahn on leave followed a letter to administrators from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a Philadelphia-based civil rights group. Kahn's students had written to the group to request its intervention, said Thor Halvorssen, the group's executive director.

These students went over her head, AND went over the college administration's heads. How great is that!

FIRE.org