Conservatives are angry that the educational institutions are too "liberal." Thus, given their political successes in recent years, they have been emboldened into proposing that Congress legislate an academic bill of rights protecting all points of view on college campuses. Many conservatives believe that students with right-wing views are punished by being given poorer grades for their political views. Below is a brief article from FrontPageMag.com discussing the issue. http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=18643 Political Bias in College Classes By CSMonitor.com CSMonitor.com | July 1, 2005 Debates on intellectual diversity, academic freedom, and support for pluralism routinely convulse college and university campuses like periodic tremors along a geologic fault line. This is a normal and healthy trait of higher education. But of late, the needle on the academic seismograph has been trembling more than usual from charges, many well founded, that over the past decade the ideological balance on campus has tipped too far leftward. Openly conservative students feel their grades are compromised by overly liberal professors - so much so that many state legislatures and the US Congress indicate they may take up the matter with legislation on an academic bill of rights. This would be disastrous. US higher education is the envy of the world and is fully capable of reforming itself. The open discussion of faculty bias already under way is sowing the seeds for its solution. A recent statement issued by a consortium of 27 higher-ed groups, entitled Academic Rights and Responsibilities, makes clear the reforms needed: No student or faculty member should be put at a disadvantage because of his or her political views; grading and degree granting should be based solely on matters academically relevant to the subject matter of a given course; those who feel they have been unfairly treated should have access to a grievance process. The modern university is grounded on the ideas that there is no human truth that cannot be challenged and no point of view that has a monopoly on wisdom. At a time when debate in Congress routinely reaches impasse, when media treat the term civility like a quaint Victorian sentiment, college students have a right to learn in a climate that fosters respect for all points of view.
LOL. have you bothered to look at what else the corporate puppets are up to in legislature around the nation in relation to higher education? To start ... initiating the same type of no child left standardized testing or no funding for state schools, mandatory minimum tuition fees(i.e. you take one class you pay the same as someone taking a full load), increased breadth for the privatization of state school research facilities (i.e. students pay tuition to do research for a company who will profit off of their research), require changes in textbooks to reflect 'one man one woman' or prof gets no books ...... So, do you mean traditional conservative of the antiquated and seldom seen type or the 'neo con' or 'neo liberal' polarities/same boat? If you're speaking in contemporary coin phrases then at least give reference to PC and put this thing into context as just another ploy.
** Many conservatives believe that students with right-wing views are punished by being given poorer grades for their political views The problem is that so many of the views put forward by the right don’t stand up to scrutiny. For example in the thread "Why Democrats (Liberals) Piss Me Off" http://www.hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99297 LSD put forward certain reasons for disliking liberals and lefties but whenever his views were examined they didn’t stand up to even the mildest scrutiny and the funny thing was that LSD also seemed unable to defend them. In fact he ran away from that thread to begin this one. And what does this thread say? Well it seems to be arguing that views like his own must be seen as valid even if they are shown to be wrong or deeply flawed. ** "No student or faculty member should be put at a disadvantage because of his or her political views" This is in the context of right wingers seeming to get lower grades! Think about that, to me it is not only the dumbest thing I’ve heard but it is also dangerous. For example we have had people on these forums that claim their political viewpoint is based on the ‘fact’ that world leaders are seven-foot reptiles. Others have claimed that communism and socialism were inventions of a generation spanning conspiracy of Jews and the rich, which now runs the world. Still others political viewpoint involves them believing a god created the world in six days and the very literal belief in ancient religious texts. Are you honestly saying that you would support these views being accepted as valid as any other? That if expressed in a students essay they could not be challenged or be given a lower grade? To me this sounds like the right realises they are loosing the argument so they are trying to fix the game so that their deeply flawed ideas must be accepted as valid as other more worthy ideas. Many conservatives believe that students with right-wing views are punished by being given poorer grades for their political views. As I’ve said of LSD maybe the reason why certain right wingers get poor grades is that their ideas do not stand up to scrutiny and they are unable to defend them. **
Man, I seem to have had quite an impact on Balbus. He is taking arguments from another thread into a new thread I started. Free clue to Balbus: that is also an infraction of accepted netiquette. If there is a dispute on a thread, it should stay on that thread. If you feel I ran away from a thread, you can go ahead (as you have a tendency to do anyway) and declare your victory on that thread. What views like my own? I pulled that article from a Web site I don't even like. I posted that article so that it could be discussed for its merits, not because I supported it or was against it. Moreover, from your comments it's clear you did not even grasp what the article was about. Because if you did, you'd know that the article is not about whether or not a certain view is "valid" but whether it should be respected like other views and not unfairly discriminated against. The article actually opposes such legislation. Balbus, I can understand that you are dyslexic, but that's no excuse for poor reading comprehension.
I posted that article so that it could be discussed for its merits, not because I supported it or was against it. Oh my dear LSD I’m so sorry please tell us what your views are on the subject are? Do you agree with me that this right wing sponsored ‘Academic Bill of Rights’ is dumb and dangerous or do you think it has merit? You say that certain views “should be respected like other views and not unfairly discriminated against”. Can you give some examples? Would you think that being marked down for championing creationism in a biology exam and giving as proof the bible is being unfairly discriminated against, if someone said that was part of their right wing political viewpoint and their religion? ** The idea of a ‘Academic Bill of Rights’ comes from the right wing pundit David Horowitz and the right wing group he founded the Students for Academic Freedom. This is one of their goals taken from the SAF website - Students will be graded solely on the basis of their reasoned answers and appropriate knowledge of the subjects and disciplines they study, not on the basis of their political or religious beliefs. But what in those circumstances is ‘appropriate knowledge of the subject’ I mean if someone did right a creationist biology test and showed knowledge of all the bits in the bible and theological tracts that supported that view is that showing appropriate knowledge of the subject? And if pulled up on it by a teacher that thought it was inappropriate, as it was theological doctrine not biology, couldn’t the student claim that this was discrimination on religious grounds? ** In the end who would be the arbiter of what was political or religious discrimination? Even if this was not taken up as state or federal law but as just University regulations are we going to get the spectacle of the courts deciding what is historical or scientific fact based on political or religious grounds? ** It is interesting that this subject came up at this time as I’ve just started reading Niall Ferguson’s Colossus and the professor is talking about how he got criticised by both the left and the right in the US. By the ‘liberals’ for saying empires can be beneficial and by the right for saying that the US’s policies were imperial.
I agree with the article. Universities should run their own affairs, rather than having the federal government dictating how they should be run. They seem capable of getting the job done without federal oversight.
