Why Professors Object to Being Recorded

After the election of Donald Trump as president, a professor at Orange Coast College in California, Olga Perez Stable Cox, went into an extended hate-rant against the president-elect. Among other things, she described the Trump election as an “act of terrorism,” labelled him a “white supremacist” and called Vice-President-Elect Mike Pence “one of the most anti-gay humans in this country.”

And this wasn’t even a political science class in which one might expect political talk, no matter how irresponsible. Stable Cox is a professor of human sexuality.

When a student who recorded the diatribe posted the recording on social media, the professor’s union, the Coast Federation of Educators, AFT local chapter 1911, posted this message on Facebook:

“This is an illegal recording without the permission of the instructor. The student will be identified and may be facing legal action.”

According to the union, the recording, “violate[s] the professor's course syllabus, the Coast Community College District Code of Student Conduct, and the California Educational Code, section 78907, which exist to provide a robust, learning environment for all students irrespective of their opinions.”

“The use by any person, including a student, of any electronic listening or recording device in any classroom without the prior consent of the instructor is prohibited. . . .”

The American Association of University Professors has long opposed unauthorized recording and public posting of what professors say in classrooms.

As it happens, I was a college teacher for two years at Brooklyn College. I recall students asking me if they could record my lectures. And I remember thinking, “Why on earth would I say no?”

I wanted whatever I said in a classroom to be heard by more than 50 people. “Who wouldn’t?” I wondered.

Here, then, is my theory as to why most professors who object to their class lectures being recorded do so:

Our colleges, universities, (and an increasing number of high schools and elementary schools) have been transformed from educational institutions into indoctrination institutions. With the left-wing takeover of universities, their primary aim has become graduating as many leftists as possible.

The vast majority of our colleges have become left-wing seminaries. Just as Christian seminaries exist to produce committed Christians, Western universities exist to produce committed leftists. Aside from the Christian-Leftism difference, universities differ in only one respect from Christian seminaries. Christian seminaries admit their goal, whereas the universities deceive the public about theirs.

Thus, in the “social sciences” – disciplines outside the natural sciences and math – a large number of college teachers inject their politics into their classrooms. And if they are recorded, the general public will become aware of just how politicized their classroom lectures are.

Most professors objecting to being recorded know on some level that they are persuasive only when their audience is composed largely of very young people just out of high school. They know that if their ideas are exposed to adults, they may be revealed as intellectual lightweights.

Students, therefore need to understand that when their professor objects to being recorded, it is a statement of contempt for them. The professor is, in effect, saying to his or her students:

“Listen, I can get away with this intellectually shallow, emotion-based, propaganda when you are the only people who actually hear it. You aren’t wise enough to perceive it as such. But if enough people over 21 years of age hear it, I’m toast.”

If a professor meets privately with a student, all rules governing the recording of conversations without permission should apply.

But when a professor stands in front of a class, he or she is in the public domain. Moreover, the public is paying at least part of this professor’s salary at virtually every university. We therefore have a right and even a duty to know what professors say publicly in classrooms.

In fact, I would encourage every student who cares about truth and intellectual honesty to record what their professors say in class. I would also encourage every parent to find out what they are paying for. And I would likewise encourage professors to record themselves in order to protect themselves against doctored material.

Any professor who is not ashamed of what he or she is saying in class should welcome being recorded.

And any student taking a class with a professor who objects to being recorded should know that this objection is almost always equivalent to the professor saying: “I want you to hear what I say in class, because I’m quite confident that you can’t differentiate between instruction and indoctrination. But if what I say goes public, people who do know the difference will expose me as a propagandist.”

Can’t say for Mike, but, his Dad was a Dean at my college and helped me get through some tough scheduling to get my degree.

Mike seems a good straight up guy, and, if he is anything like his dad, he is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Adams_%28columnist%29

IMO, every classroom in a tax-funded institution should be equipped with two cameras, one in the rear of the room focused on the teacher's area, and one in the front of the room focused on the class area. Both should be networked and access available over the interned, either to the general public, or by password to parents of students, and education supervisors.
This would quickly cut down on this sort of liberal crap, AND improve student discipline.

I have proposed this for several years. The NEA and other teachers unions will fight it like crazy. It should be promoted by the state legislatures that are currently controlled by Republicans as a way to improve student performance, while it can also disprove any false allegations of inappropriate touching by high school or elementary school teachers. That, in turn, could perhaps lower insurance costs. Taping could also prevent real child abuse by teachers, and bullying and disruptions by students. Videotapes should be retained for at least two weeks. If teachers and students knew that all classroom lectures and behavior were being recorded, it would make for a much better learning environment.

Absolutely. Every “professor” news to be TAPED so that parents know what ideas these people are injecting into their children. If they try to glorify evil, vile behaviors or evil, slave ideologies like socialism and Marxism, it should be taped. If they are using psychological warfare on the minds of our children, it will be evident-—shaming and isolating children in the “group” peer-pressured environment that this evil Prussian system is designed to actually destroy moral formation and agency.

And then, it should be easy to fire anyone who promotes lies and disinformation (which is all of Marxism where Slavery if Freedom and Boys are Girls). All Marxist programming into irrationality has to be removed from US schools and only Classical Christian curricula-—that based on Reason and Logic (Natural Law (science) is allowed. All other “ideologies are irrational and programming into idiocy (non-critical “thinking”).

If Trump’s Dept. of Education can’t force publicly-funded schools to record all classroom lectures, then the states controlled by Republican legislatures and Governors ought to require all schools receiving public monies to record all classes and have the tapes available for two weeks, for the following reasons:
1. keep teachers doing their job. Not talk about things (ie. politics) that aren’t part of class subject matter
2. prevent elementary, middle & high school teachers from doing inappropriate touching
3. prevent teachers from being falsely accused of inappropriate touching or inappropriate teaching
4. document student bullying and disruptions, so it’s easier to suspend or expel disruptors
5. create a better learning environment since disruptive students know they’re being recorded
6. students can review class lectures to improve their learning and grades
5. perhaps lower insurance costs because of fewer false/frivolous lawsuits against teachers

If regular public schools still can’t be forced to adopt policies that require recording of all classroom lectures, then charter schools and private schools should lead the way.

Private schools should also provide internet access to parents of their students, so that parents can watch the classroom lectures, via the internet, at any time. This could become a marketing point for those individual schools that will be reassuring to the parents.

Any good teacher or proffesor welcomes recordings so that students can listen to the lecture and learn—only Fake Professors who do not teach and spout off propaganda fear exposure. ALL Classrooms should be monitored all the time—and every lecture monitored for a neutral stand. The class room is no place for Propaganda as teaching! The classroom is for thought not opinion.

Point two: GET RID OF TENURE!

I agree except for one thing: No tenure encourages the firing of long employed, higher paid teachers to be replaced by lower paid new teachers. Cuts 'em loose a little short of retirement. Saves money for the system and may (or may not) affect the quality of education for the students. Unfair and unacceptable.

‘Encourages the firing of long employed, higher paid teachers in favor of lower paid teachers’

You mean like in every other job in the country? Name me a job where there is a guarantee that you will be able to stay until retirement. I retired early a couple of years ago because the younger manager made the ‘elders’ life miserable. Management loved her. It was worth it to lower my blood pressure and take a lesser SS payment. I paid in for 40+ years and will not get out of SS all that I put in. But hey, at least I likely lengthened my lifespan, not having to deal with that B**** anymore.

"I have proposed this for several years. The NEA and other teachers unions will fight it like crazy."

I think this will happen. It is just a matter of how quickly. But it is also inevitable that the "factory school environment" will disappear. There is absolutely no reason that the knowledge base of any and every subject cannot be taught over the internet. The physical school will evolve into the place where one goes to get hands-on practice (labs, shops, etc). You can see the beginnings of this with the "makerlab" movement.

There is a difference between firing and choosing to leave for personal reasons. Did the work you performed have a company-paid pension plan? That's a reason to be less concerned with SS. Or perhaps you are fully vested, just awaiting the age at which you can collect.

I might have done the same as you under similar circumstances and similar employment. But I work on commissions with no guaranteed income except my SS and occasional paid valuation jobs. Who do you know thinking of selling or buying a home, anywhere in the world? My referral service is top-notch, and my local (coastal central NJ) service as well!

8^)

We all know what tenure is "supposed" to do, but what it actually does these days:— well, that's different. In one column where the subject came up, Professor Mike cited the case of a "colleague" of his at UNCW. Upon receiving tenure, this individual, whom Mike did not name, and whose office was down the hall from his, apparently disappeared from campus. Non-attendance? No way! Can't be fired for any reason...who wouldn't like a job like that?

Tough for the students that are paying for it, but, maybe, in such cases they're better off.

Btw, if you're really a librarian, with a name like that, I'm making *real* sure not to have an overdue book! (/me nervously checks nightstand)

No, no and no. I had no pension ever from any job. I was told be other supervisors that she was trying to get in a younger workforce. Period. The first guy left before me and I was the second. Since then 10 techs, mostly older, left because of her ‘management style’. And upper management loved her as she ‘rode herd’ on ALL the people under her (and the younger ones didn't have the experience to realize this was wrong). I had had enough. And my blood pressure thanks me for leaving. No, I would have done much better financially, if I had stayed. So, I do not have a lot of empathy when people think bad teachers should be able to stay, on the off chance that a handful of Conservative teachers might be able to stay. Conservatives aren't usually hired in the first place. And my manager was a big Lib.....you know, one of those oh so tolerant people who think they are a gift to everyone around them? I didn't talk politics in the lab, but I'm sure people were aware of where my allegiance was.

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