Posted on 01/20/2006 11:31:22 AM PST by flixxx
lucky for me, my degree is in engineering. probably the only place on campus where politics don't routinely come into play as a major source of discussion. and probably far below the 7:1 ratio of lib:conserv at other areas of study
You are overlooking some important points, particularly in undergraduate courses. Those students are generally coming from public schools which teach less and less about anything. Such students know little about US history and government. They are ripe for anything the college profs feed them. Your statement about changing courses doesn't work either. Degrees require mandantory courses taught by the same instructors. There is no escape that way. Brainwashing by liberal professors and CYA by weak administrators is being exposed and challenged. Taping in classrooms has been an acceptable for a long time. The current opposition comes from those guilty of abusing the power of grading to stifle dissent.
I'm not worried about the smart ones; I'm worried about the ones with mush in their brains that can vote....
I still think it sucks. I think people should be able to say what ever they want without some body saying I will tape what you say and then give it to people who want to control what you say. There was an quote by a guy who said I don't aggree with what you say but I will defend the right to say it. I believe that. If the professor says a lie then call him on it.
bump
I disagree respectfully. We need to target 'them' the same way that 'they' target us conservatives (through ridicule, public exposure, and outright lies, if need be). Whether you agree with it or not makes no difference. There's a war going on, albeit relatively peacefully, about ideas, decency, morality, and the right to live your life without intrusion from others. They use the tactics for which they profess abhorrence, but nonetheless they use them. 'They' are the number one terrorists, in my opinion.....
I don't get how you can think they are the number one terrorists if all they do is talk. I neve rheard of a professor flying a plane full of people into a building or doing a suicide bomb. I get that you are worked up but thats a crazy thing to say.
There is an old saying...
Those who can, do.
Those who can't, teach.
Those who can't teach, teach teachers
Why the hell doesn't someone create conservative universities? There must be a market for kids and parents who don't want to line the pockets of these commies and subject themselves or their kids to this crap.
I hold a BS in Biology at MIT that I earned in 1974. During my course of study I was required to take exactly two Humanities classes; i.e., two classes that didn't have equations in the books. I actually ended up taking 3. I started a Kierkegaard class and dumped it after 3 weeks because it was likely the most depressing stuff I ever read and my fraternity brother and I decided that the guy was crazy and made no sense at all. Music theory was a good one for me because I sang in the MIT Concert Choir; these days singing in the Choir (plus preparing two works for solo presentation) counts as a Humanities class. I also took a class on Fantasy and Science Fiction that the instructor, after reading our first sets of papers, decided to turn into a writing course. It's probably the one class whose content I still use of all the ones I took at MIT.
I was also required to take two Phys Ed classes. I passed one of them by taking a semester of Pistol Shooting. I got pretty good at it.
So, says Estrich.....well, ain't that sweet. So, if I want to discuss her lectures with someone else, or a parent, or the Republican Party, she forbids it? My My My, and she considers THAT freedom of speech???? HA.
If a professor says something in a classroom, he or she should be able to defend it both from a factual viewpoint and from the viewpoint of it's applicability to the subject being taught. That's their job! Especially if this is being done at a public university where the professors are being paid in part from tax money.
Anything that a professor says to students should be able to stand the light of day. There should be no secrets in the classroom. I as a taxpayer have every right to know what's going on in public university classrooms.
Estrich needs to read a dictionary and look up the word "censor".
Censorship occurs when a governmental authority prevents the dissemination of information. This involves neither government action nor the prevention of dissemination of information. Therefore it fails on both counts and is not censorship.
Now, if the statements of these professors being made public causes them to be ridiculed, or challenged to back up their assertions with logic and facts, and if they then feel inhibited from voicing opinions they can't support in such a fashion; that's the essence of free speech, the antithesis of censorship!
Correct...the word 'censorship' is thrown around by the Left as much as 'diversity'...the goverment is not part of this backlash...it is business and the students and parents who pay tuition...
I have sent the following e-mail as a letter to the Editors at Newsmax:
Ms. Estrich titled her 1/20/06 column "Censoring Liberal Professors". I suggest that she read a dictionary and look up the word "censor".
Censorship occurs when a governmental authority prevents the dissemination of information. The act of taping professors' lectures and publishing them involves neither government action nor the prevention of dissemination of information. Therefore it fails on both counts and is not censorship.
Now, if the statements of these professors being made public causes them to be ridiculed, or challenged to back up their assertions with logic and facts, and if they then feel inhibited from voicing opinions they can't support in such a fashion; that's the essence of free speech! That's how the marketplace of ideas is supposed to work. This is the antithesis of censorship!
It seems Ms. Estrich would hold that the only people who have a right to challenge the ideas presented in a classroom would be the students in it. Why? Why should only the youngest and most inexperienced of us have a right to evaluate and comment on what's being presented to teach the best and the brightest of our youngest generation? Why shouldn't the taxpayers have a right to evaluate what a professor at a state-supported institution have to say? Why should a professor have a right to present their opinions as facts without intellectual challenge from the public?
Ms. Estrich says that the professors' lectures are copyrighted by them and that they cannot be legally disseminated in this fashion. Seems that what she's looking to do is to use government action to block the dissemination of information. Now THAT'S censorship! Perhaps someone should look into this. It seems to me that if the taxpayers pay for these lectures, then the taxpayers own the rights to them, not the professors.
She has "Vegas Rules" in her classrooms, but the complains about people coming back on professors who engage in political hate speech and racism. She so crazy.
I have NEVER heard it stated that you can't record a lecture without the speaker's expressed written consent. We often recorded lectures, it's a very good thing to do if you want to get all the material down. You can't take it all down verbatim, for pete's sake.
They just don't like the way it's being used. Tant pis pour leur, je dit.
Only the deaf could stand more than a couple weeks of her lectures.
She lies about rape, why wouldn't she lie about academic freedom?
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