Free Republic

Up the Academy by: Malcolm A. Kline, October 31, 2008 In-house audits that Academia inflicts upon itself invariably give the Ivory Tower a clean bill of health but a recent study at least attempts to scratch beneath the surface. “Our analysis of 38 private colleges and 6,807 student respondents indicates that, consistent with a number of previous studies, faculty members are predominantly liberal and Democratic,” Mack D. Mariani and Gordon J. Hewitt write in the October 2008 issue of P. S.: Political Science and Politics, a monthly journal. “We find little evidence, however, that faculty ideology is associated with changes...

CSULB: Academic Senate distances itself from Kevin MacDonald's controversial works.LONG BEACH - The Cal State Long Beach Academic Senate has voted to disassociate itself from the writings of a controversial psychology professor who has been accused of having anti-Semitic and white ethnocentric views. "While the Academic Senate defends Dr. Kevin MacDonald's academic freedom and freedom of speech, as it does for all faculty, it firmly and unequivocally disassociates itself from the anti-Semitic and white ethnocentric views he has expressed," according to the resolution Thursday. Responding to the resolution, MacDonald, a tenured professor, said "everyone has ethnic interests." "This is an...

Ward Churchill is baaaaack! by: Deborah Lambert, June 05, 2008 Although Ward Churchill was finally fired by the University of Colorado, Boulder for plagiarism and dishonest scholarship rather than his 9-11 remarks, you'd never know it from his website at www.wardchurchill.net, aka the “Ward Churchill Solidarity Network,” dedicated to “Defending Academic Freedom and Political Dissent.” The site includes a petition to reinstate Ward Churchill, and a statement of support from Noam Chomsky....

Keith John Sampson never thought he could get in trouble for reading a book, especially not on a college campus. But that’s what happened. Sampson is a man in his early 50s. He does janitorial work for the campus facility services at IUPUI, where he’s been gradually accumulating credits for a degree in communications studies. He has 10 credit hours to go. .... The book is about how for two days in May 1924, a group of Notre Dame students got into a street fight with members of the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan was meeting in South Bend for...

Ford Foundation Underwrites Diversicrats by: Malcolm A. Kline, January 30, 2008 Believe it or not, a left-leaning foundation has taken notice of the risk to free speech on American college campuses. “Too often, academic freedom principles have been twisted to defend the freedom of students not to hear views that might cause offense, and the focus has become freedom from hearing rather than a freedom to express controversial perspectives,” the Ford Foundation’s Alison Bernstein said at Harvard last year. Unfortunately, the Foundation’s solution was to offer grants to the very people who make that twist—college administrators. “Of the 2,400 university...

VATICAN CITY — The pope's top aide said Wednesday that Benedict XVI's reason for canceling a visit to a Rome university was that he did not want to create a pretext for further "unpleasant" protests by professors and students opposed to the religious leader speaking at a secular campus. Anti-pope slogans have appeared on banners and posters around buildings at La Sapienza University, where Benedict was to have spoken on Thursday. A group of professors, mainly from the sciences, wrote to the university rector late last year to object to the pope's visit, depicting Benedict as a religious figure opposed...

Chicago, Ill- In arranging a series of panels on academic freedom in the classroom, the Modern Language Assocation (MLA) hosted a panel on French and Francophone studies, Chicano literature, and Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transsexual Queer (LGBTQ) issues to discuss barriers to academic freedom. Largely avoiding discussions of students’ academic freedom, the panel argues that, especially among politicized subjects, professors’ academic freedom is threatened by student evaluations, scarce tenure, and even their own professional code of ethics. Code of Ethics“Professional ethical standards, in other words, can be put into service when an institution deems fit to curtail academic freedom when it...

Deconstructing Universal (Conservative?) Values by: Bethany Stotts, January 03, 2008 Chicago, Illinois- In this uncertain time of global conflict, some professors believe it is time to teach students to reevaluate and deconstruct America’s real enemies—conservatives, science, democracy, and capitalism. “And so what we’re seeing in globalization is just an extension of our universality. And I would argue the three main modern forms of universality are science, democracy, and capitalism. So that’s one [type] of rhetoric that I think we have to unpack for our students,” said English Professor Robert Samuels at the annual Modern Language Association (MLA) Convention. In other...

Rebel Without A Clue by: Malcolm A. Kline, December 04, 2007 It always mystifies the education-for-social-change crowd that no one is quite as excited about their pet causes as they are. “While there is no inopportune time to teach protest art, the present moment, marked by a perpetual ‘war on terror’ and the contraction of civil liberties, dramatic and growing inequality, and a remarkably narrow mainstream political spectrum, offers an especially compelling context in which to explore with students the tradition of artworks that seek to challenge injustice, promote oppositional thinking, and spark counter-hegemonic political activism,” Joseph Entin writes in...

In a surprising act of corporate courage, the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) has dismissed an attempt by Philadelphia-based Campus Watch to place an ad in the program for MESA’s upcoming annual conference in Montreal. The text of the rejected ad read: Campus Watch: Working to Improve Middle East Studies since 2002. The bad news arrived in the form of a terse email from Amy W. Newhall, Ph.D., the executive director of MESA. She wrote from her office at the University of Arizona: MESA's advertising policy states, ‘MESA reserves the right to refuse ads it deems inappropriate or in conflict...

Hoffstra Law & Order by: Malcolm A. Kline, October 30, 2007 What do controversial mouthpiece-of-terrorist-suspects Lynne Stewart and the Law Students for Life have in common? Not much, it turns out, including the right to funding by Hoffstra University. The disbarred barrister was invited to give a lecture on legal ethics at Hoffstra Law paid for by the university. In stark contrast, the pro-life group on campus has yet to secure funds for a one-shot lecture by a speaker who shares the group’s anti-abortion views. “As a duly-recognized student organization, we submitted a budget application in accordance with the rules,...

Listeners must discern among the riffraff From the editors Issue date: 10/24/07 Section: Opinion Known for her mudslinging and immature name calling - she once called Al Gore a "total fag," like a bitter bully in the schoolyard - Ann Coulter comes to campus today as part of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, billed by its organizers as "the biggest conservative campus protest ever." The controversial pundit, whose fame derives almost solely from appearances on cable news networks and a handful of inane, weightless books - is - if not a welcome speaker on our campus, at least a reflection of...

Global warming lecture at CSUF stirs controversy Science weighs against philosophy on campus By: Sylvia Masuda Issue date: 10/18/07 Section: News Posted: 10/18/07 Controversy erupted in the Cal State Fullerton science community over Tuesday's global warming lecture in the Titan Theater. Research professor and climatologist Patrick Michaels presented "Reducing the Effects of Global Warming in Southern California," a presentation which explained why global warming is not an imminent problem. The Economics Association organized the event. Over the years, science organizations have criticized Michaels for exaggerating his credentials and for pushing what they feel is a political agenda. CSUF science...

he average taxpayer and parents who foot the bill know little about the rot on many college campuses. "Indoctrinate U" is a recently released documentary, written and directed by Evan Coyne Maloney, that captures the tip of a disgusting iceberg. The trailer for "Indoctrinate U" can be seen here. "Indoctrinate U" starts out with an interview of Professor David Clemens, at Monterey Peninsula College, who reads an administrative directive regarding new course proposals: "Include a description of how course topics are treated to develop a knowledge and understanding of race, class, and gender issues." Clemens is fighting the directive, which...

The President of Columbia University, Lee Bollinger, really gave it to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He really did. He called Ahmadinejad a "petty and cruel dictator" and many other harsh names. All richly deserved. And it is likely that President Bollinger felt that he had done a good thing. In fact, however, as many of us predicted, it was Ahmadinejad who won. The very moment the Iranian Holocaust-denier was given a university platform, he won. Even the deserved insults gave Ahmadinejad a victory. Most people do not like their leaders publicly insulted abroad, even if they agree with most of...

Patriots need to learn to two words -- "treason" and "traitor." The American people need to hear the truth - that the left has gone far beyond dissent. It betrays America at every turn. Its hatred of our nation - our history and underlying ethos - is visible in word and deed. It slanders the republic, lies about our past, undercuts our warriors, revels in American deaths and consorts with the enemy in time of war (aid and comfort, and all that). These reflections are prompted by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at Columbia University, in the course of his...

Isn't it always? But enough about Iran, let's talk about me! The same university that shouted down an American anti-illegal-immigration activist and the same university culture that just deemed former Harvard honcho Larry Summers too misogynist to be permitted on campus is now congratulating itself over its commitment to "academic freedom." True, renowned Stanford psychology professor Philip Zimbardo is not happy. "They can have any fascist they want there," said professor Zimbardo, "but this seems egregious." But, hey, don't worry: He was protesting not Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presence at Columbia but Donald Rumsfeld's presence at the Hoover Institution.... Lots of prime...

That academic freedom comes with a caveat has perhaps never been so clear. Last week, University of California regents canceled a dinner speech by former Harvard University President Lawrence Summers. The speech was scrapped after more than 350 faculty members objected because of Summers' 2005 comments that women fall short in math and science, which he attributed to genetics. Even more vehement student protests greeted the decision by Columbia University to allow Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak on campus. Time and again, the uproar over controversial speakers and issues has illuminated deep philosophical differences over how free speech applies...

Columbia President Lee Bollinger said it was a question of and academic freedom, he was speaking of the invitation to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at the University of Columbia. But how soon we forget [there are voices not welcome on the Columbia campus and free speech has been stifled there]

...The saga of controversial liberal law professor Erwin Chemerinsky's on-again, off-again deanship at the new UC Irvine law school was highly unusual in two ways. First, the pressure to enforce political orthodoxy at Chemerinsky's expense came from the right, not the left, and second, academic freedom and 1st Amendment values won a resounding victory when Chemerinsky was ultimately rehired ...The regents had invited Summers to be the keynote speaker at a dinner tonight in Sacramento. They then uninvited him last week after some UC faculty protested that "inviting a keynote speaker who has come to symbolize gender and racial prejudice...