Journalist David Horowitz recently wrote an article on academic freedom in which he included the startling statistic that left-of-center professors outnumber those on the right by a 10-1 ratio at any given U.S. university. This margin grows to as much as 30-1 in "elite schools like Brown and Wesleyan." Such gross inequality in the representation of political ideologies on university faculties creates the potential for the erosion of the essential ingredients of a meaningful education. Based on the anecdotal evidence gathered by AU Students for Academic Freedom, many classes at AU also are hampered by political and ideological bias.
No one can deny that President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft are popular targets of snide remarks in the classroom and around AU. However, professors who often utter politically divisive rhetoric in the classroom do not inherently diminish a student's ability to learn. Good professors will be passionate about what they teach, and while taking shots at the president may be unnecessary and unprofessional, it would also be both impossible and unwise for professors to completely divorce themselves from any beliefs they possess. I expect my professors to give tough answers to tough questions. They cannot speak thoroughly or substantively if they are constantly, in the back of their minds, more concerned with making their comments politically correct rather than meaningful.
I also expect my professors to thoroughly present all sides of arguments being discussed in class. Issues as diverse as economics, the situation in Iraq, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the presidential election deserve a balanced treatment in the classroom. It is essential to a good education that professors give their students as much information as possible from which they may form their own schools of thought, values and beliefs.
The classroom is not the place to proselytize. If students want to be preached to, they can save their $35,000 tuition payments and instead pick up an Ann Coulter book for $20 or tune in to Al Franken's new radio show for free. A biased professor may have more substantive arguments than those of Coulter and Franken, but without balance they are just as useless and dangerous to the educational process. In the classroom, students must have the opportunity to voice, test, affirm, reject, and amend their beliefs. Such opportunities are denied when articulate, vastly knowledgeable professors aim to convert students rather than enlighten them.
Creating a dialogue between professors and students is essential for ensuring the quality of an AU education. Tonight, the AU Students for Academic Freedom are sponsoring a panel of four professors of diverse ideological views to discuss the subject of bias in the classroom. It will take place at 6:15 p.m. in the Letts Formal Lounge. Come to learn what members of the AU community have to say about this subject, as well as to voice your own beliefs. By understanding the concerns of both sides, the AU community can work toward making every class as enriching as possible.
