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Posted on 04/02/2004 8:01:40 AM PST by momfirst
I would like help with my letter of complaint to the school board of the college I attend. The sociology instructor I had last term continually bashed the Bush administration and anything conservative. I know, nothing new there. I did, however, find a school board policy that he may have violated. I have drafted a letter, but I know there are so many well-educated people on this board I hoped someone may look it over and give me feedback before I send it. Here's the letter:
Dear Members of the School Board;
I am currently a Portland Community College student and am writing this letter to lodge a formal complaint against Andrew Butz, Sociology instructor. This issue is not regarding my grade, in contrast I received an ‘A’ grade in his Sociology 103 class last term. Despite the letter grade I received, I was extremely uncomfortable and dreaded attending each class. I realize that Sociology is the study of societies and that is what drew me to the class in the first place. I did not realize, however, that I was going to be subject to political propaganda each and every morning that only served his personal agenda, not two sides, only the liberal side. I also realize that the general aura of college life is liberal. Any conservative view is considered bigotry and thus those of us that have those views are refrained from sharing them and basically just keep quiet in fear of being ridiculed. I have learned to adjust and I do accept the fact that everyone is entitled to their views and freedom of speech. This does not mean, however, that the enforcement of certain political views are to be taught in a class where I paid tuition to learn about sociology as a whole.
According to School Board Policy B 702 - Political Activities, it states "No public employee shall solicit any money, influence service or other thing of value or otherwise aid or promote any political committee and aid, promote or oppose the nomination or election of a candidate, the adoption of a measure or the recall of a public office holder while on the job during working h ours. However, this section does not restrict the right of a public employee to express personal political views." It also states that employees may not use college telephones, rooms, offices or equipment for political activity, except in designated ‘free speech’ areas.
It is in this policy that Andrew Butz has crossed the line between expressing his personal political views and has used class time and equipment to solicit support of various political activities as well as oppose the reelection of our current president, George W. Bush. To be specific in how this line was crossed, I will outline some examples:
1. In the beginning of each class he reads off announcements. These announcements included activities on campus, but it also included a number of anti-corporate and anti-war protests. This issue is borderline and could be considered him expressing his own views. Others on this list clearly violate the policy, but this will help get the picture of the depth and saturation of the propaganda.
2. Beyond the announcements, he continued the start of class by reading statistics that that were in opposition of the war, in opposition of the president, and in opposition to capitalism.
3. During the last two classes, he circulated a large folder that contained his personal mail (with address removed) and strongly encouraged everyone to take information and "get involved". This folder consisted of political material including, but not limited to, solicitations for donations to organizations such as abortion rights groups and groups intent on defeating president Bush in the reelection. I will admit that I flipped though a few papers and since everything I saw was considerably liberal and against my personal values, I passed it on. The folder remained thick by the second time around and Mr. Butz again strongly encouraged us to take information and "get involved", passing it around again.
4. During our final class, our assignments were to give a 3-4 minute presentation. Figuring the number of people in class, this was a time-crunch as it was. To that extent, Mr. Butz arrived 5 minutes before class and got angry that students would use class time to cue their video’s, stating that was to be done before class. I repeat, he arrived 5 minutes before class start and had the video’s in his possession. He stated that since they would need to take class time to do this, we may need to stay late to get through all the presentations. Despite this fact, he used the first 20 minutes of class (I watched the clock) to do several things. He recited a mock "Pledge of Allegiance" that slammed corporate America and apologized for not having us repeat this from the start of term. He played a video from MoveOn.org that produced a negative ad against the Bush administration. Then he continued reading statistics he presumably got off the show Dateline the evening before regarding the war in Iraq. I also watched the Dateline episode and was familiar with the statistics he was reciting, only I noticed he omitted the statistics showing anything positive about U.S. occupation and rebuilding of the nation or anything positive about the ousting of Saddam Hussein. He focused purely on the statistics he thought proved that the war was wrong. This all took 20 minutes of class time. Subsequently, we were unable to get through all the presentations before class was over. Some students were required to stay late, one of whom I know had another final exam in her next class 10 minutes later. As I left on time, I am unsure what happened with that student or the others.
5. The final exam, a take-home exam, included a photocopy of a comic depicting our president in extremely negative light. No questions were pertaining to this comic, it was added as an enhancement to the test. I have enclosed a copy of this comic. I did not find it funny, I found it offensive.
6. Though the school policy didn’t specify religion, I do have to point out a statement he made in class that I will never forget and took great offense to. While on the subject of violence in America, he correlated that with the high rate of church going Christians we have in America. As a Christian, I couldn’t believe that he tied the two together, feeling like my religious beliefs were the cause of violence in this country.
My goal in drawing your attention to this issue is to take this opportunity to inform your instructors, namely Andrew Butz, that class time is just that, class time. Students have paid tuition to learn the subject at hand. This time is not to be used to solicit your personal political agenda nor foster the feeling of hatred for America and their current president. I was not alone in my feeling of dread of going to these classes. A fellow student commented on how she has never taken such a negative class and also felt like she and her views were being belittled. If bringing this issue to your attention prevents other students from being subjected to one-sided political speeches and message of disdain for their personal views, I will be satisfied.
Please take these issues seriously. Campus life is supposed to be a safe and comfortable place for all students. In this class, I felt like my way values were being labeled as ‘wrong’. I felt basically harassed, though I was not comfortable voicing my opinion, thus could not really be singled out. There is a time and a place for these activities, instruction time is not one of them. I would appreciate a reply to ensure this issue has been addressed.
Sincerely,
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It makes me sick they way the suck money out of young people promising to make them wise and wealthy.
I would minimize the stuff about the professor coming to class 5-minutes early with the videos, I am pretty sure that other professors will not take that the right way.
I think that, unless this is a "contemporary politics" class or something along those lines, that showing moveon.org ads during class is your best selling point and should be emphasized. Showing the ad is not so bad if other, contrasting ads are shown - you should make it clearer that only those ads were shown.
Good luck with this, you have a good case, but academics circle the wagons in this kind of situation.
Complement the prof on something to make it appear a balanced critique. Perhaps say "he presented this sociology issue well, but the daily politicing got in the way".
And perhaps don't use the word "propaganda". That's a bit to antagonistic, and liable to get your letter dismissed as being of in the far fringes of the right. You can assume that the people you send the letter to will agree with the prof about Bush, so you have to get him on the facts.
Hope that wasn't to critical for you. Just trying to help you really stick it to them. My daughter is in the same boat in college now, and I'm trying to help her fight the same fight.
That might help to get their attention.
That is perhaps the worst piece of advice I have ever hear. IF people followed your advice, the USA would not sink, we would plunge to the depths of the other 3rd world countries. The USA doesn't excell because of blue collar workers. You can find them in every country on the face of the earth. Mexico, China, India, Ireland, Russia, Cuba ... you name it; there is no shortage of Blue Collar workers.
The White Collar workers are the engine that keeps America strong. Doctors, Nurses, Technicians, Engineers, Software programmers, Physists, Aeronautical Engineers, NASA, and even lawyers are necessary.
Telling someone to drop their dream, to forfeit a relatively comfortable salary, a stable income in a field that helps mankind is simply cutting off your nose, to spite your face.
That said, colleges are festering sewers of liberalism. Why? Because college instructors are the 'favored few', who cannot be fired, have little or no supervision, have little responsiblity for what they do. I think the letter was very well written, however I must also be fair to warn the author "You will not change a thing, you will only incur the wrath of the 'elite' for daring to question their methods". Personally, my revenge was quite different. I endured the liberal rantings (in the college of engineering, we only had to endure this noise with the pre-requisite 'Humanities' and 'Social Sciences' cirriculm). When you graduate, and the Alumni goon squad asks for donations, you can respond as I did "I endured what I had to, in order to obtain my degee; I now have my degree. Cease and desist all contact with me". They will never see another penny of my hard earned money, and when I feel the need to give to charity, there is always the University of Texas (NOT my alma matter).
In its current state, the article comes off whiny. This is why: you state that your prof violated a particular rule, but don't offer specific evidence of the violation. Yes, you throw in sprinklings of evidence, but you need to take the language of the rule and put it side by side with that evidence (and cut out the extaneous stuff).
For instance, the fact that he pontificated on the day of your final and held people over is irrelevant to your overall message, and it detracts from the message. Also, you need to conceed that some of his rantings may have been within the bounds of the rule (personal opinion), yet irrelevant to the class and objectionable.
I guess my point is that you need to go one way or the other....either complain that he was too liberal, or complain that he violated a rule...to say that he violated a rule because he was too liberal detracts from the message.
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