Posted on 08/25/2015 11:51:07 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Sara Goldrick-Rab, a sociology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, caused a firestorm last month when she publicly compared her governor, Republican Scott Walker, to Adolf Hitler in a tweet.
She poured fuel on the flames by tweeting at incoming freshmen who were Walker supporters, encouraging them not to attend the school because of Walker’s education funding policies. Then, she apologized.
Now she’s promoting a class she’s teaching this fall on “scholar activism.”
The graduate seminar will “explore the biographies and narratives of a diverse array of scholar activists, examine the sociopolitical and economic forces shaping their work, and consider what they have achieved and why,” according to the syllabus.
Students will be required to create a Twitter account if they don’t have one and follow a class-specific hashtag. Goldrick-Rab includes this ominous warning about “commitment”:
You are enrolled for reasons that are both clear and unclear, and you’ll discover more about your own objectives as we move through the semester. All I require of you is honesty and commitment. … If your commitment wavers, we will all feel it and I will ask you about it.
Students will “take turns leading” interactions with guest speakers, write blog posts and interview a scholar activist of their choosing for the class project. Though Goldrick-Rab described the scholars the class will consider as “diverse,” the academics she suggests for the class project all appear to be politically progressive.
And though the guest speaker list includes the celebrated UW-Madison Professor Donald Downs, a champion of academic free speech against politically progressive predations, it has a notable absence: Professor John McAdams of nearby Marquette University.
For more than a decade McAdams has run the conservative blog Marquette Warrior, which aims to expose what he sees as the underlying rot at the Jesuit school. He’s currently fighting for his job after exposing a fellow instructor who told a student he wasn’t allowed to openly disagree with gay marriage – at a Jesuit school – in class.
McAdams is a “scholar activist” by any definition. Professor Downs has even publicly defended McAdams as Marquette tries to revoke his tenure without due process:
>>>Third, the topic addressed in Professor McAdams’ blog commentary addresses an important issue in higher education today: the status of intellectual diversity and free thought on campus. Numerous supporters and practitioners of higher education have expressed serious misgivings about the way in which improperly expansive harassment policies can stifle free discussion of sensitive intellectual and moral topics. Professor McAdams’ critique in this case dealt with this important concern.<<<
Considering that several of Goldrick-Rab’s guest speakers are coming from as far away as San Francisco and New York, getting a prominent conservative scholar less than two hours away would seem eminently doable – and a great opportunity for students to hear a lesser-known perspective.
We’ve reached out to Goldrick-Rab and McAdams to see if an offer was made, or if McAdams would accept an offer to speak to Goldrick-Rab’s class.
UPDATE: Goldrick-Rab told The College Fix that she wasn’t aware of McAdams and his plight at Marquette, and agreed he would be good example of a conservative scholar-activist to address her class. She has personally reached out to him with an invitation to speak.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Why is it that when you hear something that you think is the dumbest or most asinine thing you have heard in a long while it is some how associated with this school? Is it run by communists, or just morons......
Yeah, because de-funding teachers unions is the same as killing 6 million Jews
Sounds good, for a start. With all the crazy news we hear about from that front, I’ve just been wondering how many sociologists a sane society needs. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands?
“Idle hands are the devil’s workshop” as the saying goes.
And the taxpayers have to pay to have their kids’ minds polluted by this harpy?
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this wisconsin interest ping list.
Just so you know who this woman is:
From Wikipedia
Goldrick-Rab grew up in Fairfax, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. She describes herself as an “East Coast Jewish woman” who was “taught to be outspoken and forthright.” Goldrick-Rab graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Ph.D. in sociology in 2004. She intended to pursue a career in applied research until she was encouraged to apply for a position in higher education policy and sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Goldrick-Rab accepted the position in 2004 with the intent to make Wisconsin colleges more accessible. She married Liam Goldrick, who also works in education policy, in 2005. They have two children, a son and a daughter.
I guess being “outspoken and forthright” means you get to “compare” your governor to Hitler!
“Is it run by communists, or just morons......”
Like virtually all public universities and colleges in this country the answer is both!
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