[Cathryn Crawford]

Ping for my latest.

If you want on or off this ping list, let me know via FR mail. Thanks!

[E.G.C.]

Thanks Cathryn for the bump and the article.

[Sir Gawain]

Good job. :-)

[Lazamataz]

making it a law that the governments “investigate” the politics of every professor or administrator on every campus in America.

Thought police, literally!

Good article!

[BOBTHENAILER]

I thought that a professor was supposed to be a professor, not a political theorist.

ALL, I repeat, ALL of my eldest son's professors, are raving liberals who bring their bias into the classroom.

Horowitz's solution at least attempts to address that problem, absent SOME kind of change, education will continue to deteriorate into brainwashing.....NOT education.

[Sloth]

I agree. A quota system might favor conservatives in the short term, but it is a terrible idea.

[Scenic Sounds]

When I was an undergraduate, I majored in economics. I remember the faculty being fairly well balanced politically. I guess I'm just naturally inclined to be a devil's advocate because I remember having a tendency to ask questions and take positions that were adverse to the prejudices of each particular professor. I honestly don't remember ever feeling that I was treated unfairly by any professor for challenging his/her views and actually developed some close and friendly relationships with some of them.

Most of what I learned as an undergraduate came from the books that I read and not from any personal beliefs of professors. In my particular major, the trick was to really master the underlying principles and to understand exactly how they were derived. Once that was accomplished, the peculiar prejudices of any professor became more or less irrelevant.

Another great column, Cathryn!! You're still the best! ;-)

[Dan from Michigan]

Agree to a point, but right now GOVT is hiring based on political beliefs. Since public universities are govt owned, politics is involved in it.

I know one professor that was conservative was run out of UVA based on his beliefs. MSU hired him, and it's known to the lefties as a 'conservative school' because of this one man.

[kesg]

Excellent article. I fully agree with everything you wrote. Horowitz's proposed cure is worse than the disease, but the underlying, fundamental disease is government involvement in education per se, at all levels (not just the university level). It is a violation of my rights (including my First Amendment rights) for the government to seize my property through force (i.e. taxation) and use it to teach and promote ideas and philosophies with which I disagree.

[mrustow]

Excellent column; scary stuff. The courts would strike down any such law on First Amendment grounds.