ENEMY PROFESSOR (No. 11) - Clifton Snider

No Indoctrination dot org ^ | 2-2005 | dfu

[doug from upland]

No. 11 in a series. We enjoy shining a light on the cockroaches who use their podium to engage in brainwashing.
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Record for NoIndoctrination.org entry #436.

California State University, Long Beach (CSULB)

Nov. 16, 2004

http://www.csulb.edu

CA

  Course: ENG 100: Composition

  Course Catalog Description: Writing non-fiction prose, with emphasis on exposition. Readings may be assigned. Satisfies the baccalaureate degree requirement for one course in English composition.

  Professor: Clifton Snider

  Required? Yes, for all students

  Lecture Bias: Excessive

  Comments: Dr. Snider’s English 100 composition course lectures are comprised almost entirely of subject matter pertaining to politics, in particular his hatred for President Bush. Though an English 100 composition course should focus mainly on college level composition and reading, I do understand that any college level class should also encourage critical thought. However, Dr. Snider chooses to use his allotted two and a half hour per week time periods to pound in his own political ideologies into the minds of his students. Dr. Snider makes feeble attempts to disguise his politically charged lectures as an English class by assigning essays and paragraphs to be written on such topics as Fahrenheit 9/11 and the presidential debates. Dr. Snider has dedicated three class meetings to watching Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11". When he was asked by a student why he was showing this film to his ENGLISH class, Dr. Snider cited that it was an example of a well formed argument and will aid us in writing our argument paper. After watching the movie, we were required to write an in-class paragraph on a moral issue that Michael Moore raises in his documentary and then to cite the evidence that he uses to prove his point. I was extremely appalled at the whole situation and chose to write my paragraph as a criticism of the insufficient evidence that Michael Moore used to prove the moral issue of whether or not President Bush rushed into war with Iraq. When I received my paper back, I found it marked up in red ink with comments such as "You miss the point". I received one of the lowest grades in the class (a B minus) despite the fact that I had no grammatical or spelling error corrections on my paper. When I went to collect my paper, I did get to see papers written by other students that were given a perfect score. These papers all had a handful of spelling and mechanical errors that had been corrected in red ink by Dr. Snider. However they were also written in a very anti-Bush tone that praised Michael Moore's film. I am unable to accept that this was just coincidence, especially since I have received A's on all my past assignments in which Dr. Snider has complimented my writing style.
[Upon request, poster sent NoIndoctrination.org a copy of this graded paper.]

  Discussion Bias: Excessive

  Comments: Perhaps the best example of a typical discussion in Dr. Snider’s class took place on the first night of class. After distributing his course syllabus to the class (which can be found at www.csulb.edu/~csnider), Dr. Snider quickly ran through the requirements that each student would be expected to meet in class. Upon finishing the overview of his syllabus, Dr. Snider broke into a tangential rage of his hatred for President Bush. I, like the rest of the class, sat back and watched in amazement as Dr. Snider continued to banter on about his own leftist views for the remainder of the class period. He referred to "President" Bush as a war mongerer who had stolen the election. Dr. Snider has apparently never recovered from the 2000 elections and still can't bring himself to call President Bush the President. He is constantly making the quotation signs with his hands whenever he says the dreaded "P" word. I had wished to remain silent in class as Dr. Snider raged on so as to not create a scene during the first class meeting. However, it was when he stated that in his opinion, President Bush was just as evil as Saddam Hussein, that I could no longer allow my objections to remain unvoiced. It was at this time that a student sitting next to me also spoke up. We asked Dr. Snider how he was able to draw that comparison between a dictator who routinely ordered the mass extermination of his own people, and President Bush. The rest of the class quickly silenced us and Dr. Snider informed us that we were unaware of what was actually going on in the world.

  Readings Bias: Excessive

  Comments: Dr. Snider has assigned 5 essays to be turned in over the course of the semester. One essay is to be written in the form of an argument paper. Dr. Snider has included a list of "suggested topics" which includes many issues pertaining to President Bush and the Iraqi War. This list can be found at: http://www.csulb.edu/~csnider/argument.html. [Note from NoIndoctrination.org: When we were evaluating this posting, we printed off the 9 pages of this URL that corroborate the poster's comments that follow. Dr. Snider has now removed most of these pages from his website.] (Check out #'s 3, 8, 34, 40, 44, 45, and 52 in particular.) In addition, Dr. Snider has included a list of topics that he considers off limits for writing an argument paper because they are "Topics on which there is, in my opinion, no other side apart from chauvinistic, religious, or bigoted opinions and pseudo-science (for example, female circumcision, prayer in public schools, same-sex marriage, the so-called faith-based initiative, abortion, hate crime laws, the existence of the Holocaust, and so-called creationism." I am outraged that because this professor is unable to view any other side but his own on topics such as abortion, religion, and same-sex marriage, he has banned his student from writing on them. These are all issues that obviously have multiple sides, and would force any student to think critically. However, Dr. Snider's own political biases blind him from being able to acknowledge their existence. Yet another essay is to be written in the form of a book report, however the book must appear on Dr. Snider's approved reading list (http://www.csulb.edu/~csnider/book.list.2004.html). This list of books has a predominant theme: homosexuality and anti-Bush rhetoric. The "approved reading list" contains very few classics; however Dr. Snider has taken the liberty of including three of his own novels [as Dr. Snider describes them on his webpage]: "_Loud Whisper_ (the story of a 1980s rock band from Long Beach, CA, whose bisexual, drug-addicted leader falls from stage during a concert and becomes paralyzed); _Bare Roots_ (the coming out/coming of age story of an only child of divorced parents, born in Wisconsin and raised from the age of seven in Southern California; despite the constraints of fundamentalist Christian religion, the protagonist is able to find himself through a relationship with his college roommate); _Wrestling with Angels: A Tale of Two Brothers_ (two gay Pentecostal preacher's sons become friends; then one disappears under ominous circumstances; based on a true story)".

  General Comments: Dr. Snider is obviously much more concerned with teaching his students about his sexuality and political views than he is about teaching English. He has recently included a disclaimer on his web page stating that he "believes in and practices academic freedom." He then includes a link that describes students who feel that their academic freedom has been imposed upon by a professor as "watchdogs of classroom" who try to destroy the "very idea of liberal education". I do not oppose Dr. Snider's freedom as a professor to express his own views. However, when these views do not relate to the subject matter listed in the course description, I feel that it is my responsibility as a student to object to the fact that my classmates and I are not receiving a proper education in the course that we have all paid for. Furthermore, the 2004 Cal State Long Beach Faculty Handbook (http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/aa/personnel/documents/CSULB2004HANDBOOK-REV8-16-04_000.pdf) states on page 30, "we (faculty) do not have the right to teach a class that does not meet the catalog description or the department's objectives for the class." Dr. Snider's class routinely strays off the topic of English as is described in the course description and turns the class into a political soap box in which he can spread his own views to a captive audience. Yet another excerpt from the faculty handbook states that "we (faculty) certainly do not have the right to insist that students agree with all our ideas. We must allow them, too, the freedom to examine all sides of a question, to question assumptions, and to come to conclusions based on the evidence, even if those conclusions are different form our own." Dr. Snider has already demonstrated his inability to abide by these faculty rules. Not only does he refuse to acknowledge the existence of another valid opinion on topics such as abortion and same sex marriage, he has unjustly graded an assignment that I wrote because in his own words I "miss the point" of the film. This "point" was Dr. Snider's own interpretation, not my own, yet I have been graded to a standard that must apparently agree with his own ideas and viewpoints. Dr. Snider preaches tolerance and critical thought. However, he himself is unable to tolerate viewpoints that conflict with his own. It amazes me how an educated man, who holds a PhD, is completely incapable of accepting properly formed arguments involving critical thought that negate his own beliefs. Dr. Snider is a practitioner of insurmountable hypocrisy which compromises his ability to teach.

Rebuttal

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[franksolich]

That "noindoctrination" web-site is pretty good, in showing the rampant intolerance on American college campuses--I started reading it shortly after the web-site was created a couple or so years ago. Good reading; informative.

[doug from upland]

I did a search at the Cal State Long Beach site and found his email. Perhaps I should send this to him and give him the opportunity to refute it in a public forum. :)

[metesky]

I didn't find Snider listed, but here's a good place to get the money scoop on college profs.

It goes back to the '99 election cycle and lists the contributions of over 17,000 profs.

Their money leans heavily left. (As if I really needed to add that.)

[doug from upland]

Thanks for the link.

[hosepipe]

Snider is a poster boy for many of David Horowitz's articles..
Americas colleges are leftist re-education camps..

[Cicero]

Hmm. I know a few professors like this at NYU, but I must admit that these guys are worse than anything I've seen in real life since a couple of my most malevolent younger colleagues were let go during the early 70s for such activities as egging on the students who firebombed the library.

Evidently that was too much even for the more orthodox liberal professors who ran the department back then, old-line Democrats.

We have some lifelong Marxists here still, but I don't believe that any of them are this stupid and clumsy in their brainwashing methods.

[doug from upland]

NYU

[Cicero]

Ah. Yes. I hadn't heard about that summer program, but it doesn't entirely surprise me.

NYU is awash with LGBT and other gender-bending stuff. But if you sign up for a course on that sort of swill, you deserve what you get.

Probably the source of this is my colleage Carolyn Dinshaw. Here's a link to her sex and gender institute, which is worth a look:

http://www.ncrw.org/digest/nyu.htm

Here's just one of their upcoming items:

Tuesday, March 4, 2003, 12:30 - 1:45 p.m.
CREATING A QUEER VISION OF ISLAM Rusmir Music (Draper Program, NYU) and Faisal Alam (Founder & Director, Al-Fatiha) A presentation on the complex relationship of Islam and homosexuality, the history of the queer Muslim movement, and issues facing Muslims who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT). Co-sponsored by the Office of Student Activities, NYU.

[doug from upland]

That event must have been just lovely.

[jwalburg]

This announcement might cause some interest if posted on the site that the Jersey Coptic Christian family man used to post on.

[AmishDude]

Yeah, mix Islam and gay issues and see what you get, NYU. Just for security purposes, keep it away from me.

The problem with this nonsense is that it satisfies a made-up "diversity requirement" which exists for the purposes of employing more of these professors and bumping up the number of minorites and women. Furthermore, they bring more students to them by having average grades somewhere between an A and an A+.

[LiveBait]

This is disgusting. While the vast majority of professors are liberal, most of them either keep it to themselves or let you know, but keep it light and non-confrontational and allow for dissent. Those who can't respect their students enough to do that shouldn't teach.

[doug from upland]

We have heard so many of these stories. The series will continue. No Indoctrination dot org has provided a great service and allowed the students to pass along the word about some of these professors who should not have their podium because they abuse it.

[struggle]

Let me just boast that one of the first noindoctrination posts about my beloved professor, Clifton Snider, was posted by yours truly. I attended his class in 2000, before the Bush victory, but my Literary Criticism class was still slanted towards gay issues.

In fact, 4 of the 4 main texts were heavily slanted towards gay issues. Conrad's "Secret Sharer" was supposedly about gay man love (it is not), Wolfe's "Orlando" became less about gender differences and more about transsexuality, Auden's poetry needs no comment, and Mann's "Death in Venice" speaks for itself (man/boy love).

The professor wasted my time and made his books required (apparently, no one else was interested in them). Perhaps he will read this thread and angerly harrumph about how I am being biased. No, Mr. Snider, all I wanted was a class where I learned something. EVEN POST-MODERNISM WOULD BE FINE.


And Sir, if you are reading this, I had a great lecturer who shared an office with you, a one Mr. Finney. The man taught with composure and balance, and forced me to research and write my best. I received an A+ from him, for a challenging 20 page term comparison paper about Yeats and Byzantine, and I knew I deserved that A. I only ask you to extend the same curriculum to your students. We don't like half assed professors.

[doug from upland]

Great to hear from you, struggle. The way you say "beloved," I get the idea that it is not sincere. :) Nope, we don't need half-assed professors indeed.

[struggle]

The only positive thing about his class is that it provided MORE than enough time to study Japanese.

[God luvs America]

bump