Jennie Mae Brown is yet another conservative cutie!
Posted on 12/25/2005 4:17:37 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
While attending a Pennsylvania Republican Party picnic, Jennie Mae Brown bumped into her state representative and started venting.
"How could this happen?" Ms. Brown asked Representative Gibson C. Armstrong two summers ago, complaining about a physics professor at the York campus of Pennsylvania State University who she said routinely used class time to belittle President Bush and the war in Iraq. As an Air Force veteran, Ms. Brown said she felt the teacher's comments were inappropriate for the classroom.
The encounter has blossomed into an official legislative inquiry, putting Pennsylvania in the middle of a national debate spurred by conservatives over whether public universities are promoting largely liberal positions and discriminating against students who disagree with them.
A committee held two hearings last month in Pittsburgh and has scheduled another for Jan. 9 in Philadelphia. A final report with any recommendations for legislative remedy is due in June.
The investigation comes at a time when David Horowitz, a conservative commentator and president of the Center for the Study of Popular Culture, has been lobbying more than a dozen state legislatures to pass an "Academic Bill of Rights" that he says would encourage free debate and protect students against discrimination for expressing their political beliefs.
While Mr. Horowitz insists his campaign for intellectual diversity is nonpartisan, it is fueled, in large measure, by studies that show the number of Democratic professors is generally much larger than the number of Republicans. A survey in 2003 by researchers at Santa Clara University found the ratio of Democrats to Republicans on college faculties ranged from 3 to 1 in economics to 30 to 1 in anthropology.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Over due.
Jennie Mae Brown is yet another conservative cutie!
Pennsylvania is the ONLY northeastern state where this COULD happen. Let's hope something comes of this.
If the professor is spewing politics instead of teaching physics, the students should sue the college and professor for breach of contract. The student paid money to learn physics, not listen to left wing diatribes.
Liberals are losing everything right now because of their absolute disregard for the truth...
Great idea in PA. I hope it comes to a successful conslusion. As for the Physics professor spewing politics instead of science, I too would sue the university. You want to get their attention, grab their wallets.
Now, now, I understand you're sentiment, but that's certainly not the way to deal with their incrimination...
When enough of society realizes what harm they do and completely SHUNS them, then that will do much more to allieviate the problem, successfully as well as democratically... What they do to themselves is more destructive to their cause and way of life than anything anyone else could ever do.
"So I'm totally opposed to capitalism, and I think that the majority of the people of this country ought to get together and transform the system," he said. "I think we need to replace capitalism with some kind of democratic socialism."***
War dissent on campus: A problem or not?****Some commentators find the report alarming in a very different way than its authors intended: not as evidence of rot in the ivory tower, but as evidence of a climate in which free speech is threatened and criticism of US policies is labeled unpatriotic. Writing in USA Today, Don Campbell, a lecturer in journalism at Emory University in Atlanta, derides the council for sounding like ''a pack of Joe McCarthy wannabes.''
Critics accuse the council of making a mountain out of a molehill. They point out that antiwar fervor has been notoriously low on most campuses and dismiss the list as a mishmash of vague comments about breaking the cycle of violence and finding alternatives to war.****
Campus Marxists are a funny bunch--until they end up running your country ***Both of my grandfathers were exterminated by Stalinist terror. My father and mother both barely escaped the Gulag. But here I am, with PhD students, being treated to a one-hour discussion about "homophobia" on campus. My colleagues are agonizing about how "Homophobia-Free Zone" pink stickers must be put on every door in the university. "But what if a professor or a teaching assistant refuses to have one put on his door?" one of them asks indignantly. After a few seconds of silence, another answers, "Well, then a committee might just have to be set up where these people will be taken to account." Serious head-nods follow. ***
International educators conference held in Cuba*** HAVANA - President Fidel Castro told a group of educators from around the world that education can create a better world by helping to resolve social problems, such as the nagging racial discrimination that still exists in Cuba. Closing the international educators conference here on Friday night, Castro told hundreds of participants that over four decades his socialist government can boast high marks for its primary school programs. But he said secondary education here needs serious improvement.***
Eco-Crimminal***..... If they took the threat of ecoterrorism seriously, would the University of Oregon permit a conference of unrepentant ex-terrorists and career criminals, all of whom advocate lawbreaking in some form or another, from civil disobedience to murder, to use their taxpayer-funded facilities? If they took the threat of ecoterrorism seriously, would a court in Nebraska, three months after 9/11, shunt three Earth Liberation Front activists charged with felonies into a "diversion" program which allowed them to escape with community service - without even a trial, without even criminal records? Local governments would be wise to listen to radical environmental and animal rights activists and take them at their word; this might prevent future crimes. Would a hundred San Diego firefighters have been needed to put out a three-alarm fire in the middle of San Diego August 1st, a fire that did $50 million in damage and endangered the lives of hundreds, if just a few policemen were monitoring the preparations for the concurrent "Animal Liberation Weekend," attended by many Earth Liberation Front activists?***
They have become ivory towers of nothingness.
Used to happen at the University of Minnesota all the time -- profs used to even point out those of us in ROTC (wearing uniforms) and accuse us of being at the root of all that's wrong in the world.
It's ingrained in the university/college faculty culture...no matter where you go.
By the way, I did point out (on several occasions) to nasty-comment making profs that people like me (in uniform) are who made it possible for people like them to act the fool in public.
Finally...a companion. Lock'n load!
In the NYTimes no less.
Franklu I think you are correct!
Also, when I read this, it is clear that there is action being taken, despite what the article claims. Even the threat of people willing to fight back is enough to smack some sense into these Marxist thugs.
So far, the campaign has produced more debate than action. Colorado and Ohio agreed to suspend legislative efforts to impose an academic bill of rights in favor of pledges by their state schools to uphold standards already in place. Georgia passed a resolution discouraging "political or ideological indoctrination" by teachers, encouraging them to create "an environment conducive to the civil exchange of ideas."
political LEVERAGE
You have hit the nail on the head!
Colleges have forgotten, if they ever knew, that they have a dual contract with the students and parents. The contract with the parents is based on money from the parents to the colleges in exchange for an advanced education for their children. The contract with the students is they will be taught exactly what the course syllabus says - any grades will depend solely on their ability to demonstrate mastery of the subject.
If the professor is paid to teach political science (what an oxymoronic statement that one is) then expression and discussion of political views is very appropriate. But, the down grading of a student for their political views is not.
In all other cases the expression of political view points during class time is inappropriate. For repeated offenses the professor in question should have to repay a percentage of his/her salary. After paying repeated fines the school should start refunding parts of the class’s fees to the students.
Once the colleges have to pay for errant professional behavior by their staff the frequency, duration, and nature of these events will drop drastically.
Mine is on the wall. More quickly and easily available that way.
The key to turning around American Higher Education is to demand accountability from the State.
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