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Squeezing Traditional Education Back into Liberal Universities
from the September 23, 2008 eNews issue
When a professor instructs students to write a criticism of Sarah Palin's "fairy tale image", or when another instructor offers students course credit to campaign for Obama, then balance has obviously been booted out the door of American higher education.
The liberal domination of American universities has been more than obvious for several decades. Liberal professors have had great freedom to promote their agendas, and have done so boldly. After years of concern, and after pouring their efforts into think tanks, conservative groups are now focused on funding efforts to bring balance back to school. It will be long hard battle, though, before true freedom of thought is allowed on college campuses.
Denver, Colorado
Janna Barber's English professor had been open about his political views before. The Metropolitan State College instructor had reportedly told students that Bush-bashing was one of his favorite things to do. Barber was shocked, though, when Professor Andrew Hallam told students to write an essay comparing Sarah Palin's life to a fairy tale like Sleeping Beauty. In the written instructions, Hallam said, "...Using clear reasoning, explain how these sources may undermine or otherwise paint a different picture of Palin as a person and as a politician than what she or the Republican Party wish the American public to believe."
Hallam said he would give the Republicans in class a chance to speak. "And he asked who in the class was a Republican," Barber said. "Five of us in the classroom raised our hands. And when that happened, one of the kids in the class said 'F-you' to all of us, and the teacher just kind of laughed about it."
Metropolitan State College spokeswoman Cathy Lucas told FOXNews.com that the college has not received a formal complaint against Hallam, but said the college would take seriously all complaints of bullying and harassment.
Boston, Massachusetts
The University of Massachusetts put the kibosh on an Amherst campus chaplain's offer of two-credits for students who campaigned for Barack Obama. Chaplain Ken Higgins told students in an email that they could do an independent study through the History Department if they campaigned for Obama in New Hampshire. Once the Associated Press asked the college about it, officials said that no campaign-credit-earning would go on. Higgins responded to criticisms by saying he would have permitted McCain supporters to earn credit too.
New York, NY
Columbia University's Middle East studies department has been long known for its anti-Israel leadership. In former years, anti-Israel activist Edward Said strolled Columbia's halls, when he wasn't in Lebanon throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers. Rashid Khalidi now sits in Said's powerful seat. Khalidi is an internationally known for his scholarship, as well as his pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel views. Now, Columbia's announced a new addition to its Middle Eastern studies department – Timothy Mitchell. Mitchell is a professor of Arab studies and the head of the graduate studies program in the department. Mitchell doesn’t look like he'll change the tenor of the department; he's signed a letter pushing for the boycott of Israeli academics.
Conservatives Answer
These sorts of examples are not new trends in American academics. Conservative groups have long sought to fight the overt liberalization of the universities by forming conservative think tanks and other organizations. Within the past few years, however, wealthy conservative philanthropists have worked to take traditional education back into the actual universities. They have found tenured professors who, while fewer and farther between, have conservative viewpoints, and are funding projects to return pro-American ideas back into American education. Within just the past few years, millions of dollars have gone into building academic centers for truly non-partisan thinking on major campuses.
"These are not ideological courses," said James Piereson, a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, which created the Veritas Fund for Higher Education. The Veritas Fund pushes money through to projects, like the Program in Western Civilization and American Institutions at the University of Texas, or the Program for Constitutionalism and Democracy at the University of Virginia.
There are now 37 of these academic centers, according to the National Association of Scholars. Some of the programs promote capitalism and democratic ideals, or teach about the Constitution. Others promote the great classics of Western literature. Rather than indoctrinating students against the ideas of "dead white men," these programs simply offer a more traditional Western education.
"The kind of thing that we're proposing and developing transcends all those political differences whether you're right, left or center," said Robert Koons, the director of Texas' program. University education is not supposed to indoctrinate students to follow one ideological view, after all. It's supposed to give students information, teach them critical thinking, and provide a forum for the exchange of ideas.
Related Links:
- Prof Tells Students: 'Undermine' Palin - WorldNetDaily
- Student Objects To Task Of Refuting GOPs Sarah Palin Fairy Tale Image - AP
- UMass Officials Quash Credit-For-Campaigning Offer - The Boston Herald
- More Anti-Israel Bias at Columbia - American Thinker
- Conservatives Try New Tack on Campuses - The Herald Tribune
- The Search for Conservative Profs. - The New York Times
- About The National Association of Scholars - NAS
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