Dear Editor,
When conservative students such as Will Haun tout something as promising as "academic freedom", as Haun did in his column in The Eagle on October 17, it helps to provide a background on what "academic freedom" exactly is.
The Students for Academic Freedom states that its mission is to provide "balance" to academia: Namely, that college and university professors should provide curricula that contain diverse views, presumably to educate all sides of the matter. This all sounds reasonable and promising, as no one disputes the importance of understanding all sides of an issue. However, the truth reveals something more sinister.
The organization was founded by prominent right-wing activist (and non-student) David Horowitz, who has a penchant for vicious attacks on those he perceives as leftist. True to the Horowitz vision, SAF focus solely on left-wing bias on the part of professors. Apparently, in the interest of balance, neither perceived right-wing biases of nor persecution of left-wing students by professors are not even given a cursory glance.
Furthermore, true to the Horowitz method, allegedly left-wing-biased professors are blacklisted. They are accused of "persecuting" or "harassing" students with conservative views. Haun even cites one such example in his column, without even giving credence to more rational factors explaining the conservative student's failure. Such as, she was violating policy in skipping out on a test. There was even an example that reached national media, where a college student did not follow instructions on a test and was promptly failed. The student complained that he was failed due to the professor's anti-conservative biases, and thus garnered the attention of David Horowitz and eventually reached FOX News.
In my own experiences, I have been under the tutelage of both left-leaning teachers and right-leaning teachers. I have had my share of troubles with both camps. Yet instead of blaming the consequences of what essentially were my own faults on the professors' ideological "biases" and whining to national media, I simply learned my lessons and did better in the future.
What's more, the consequences of such attacks can be staggering. Professors would eventually feel persecuted for simply doing their jobs, and become discouraged from even teaching at all. College curricula would become whitewashed under the eye of a perpetual watchdog on the lookout for any signs of liberal bias.
If we are to truly address the subjects of academic balance, we should do so in a genuine fasion, rather than disingenuously out of a desire to hear views we want to hear, and essentially to get our own way.
I cannot comment on the Kuznick incident. I am simply going to let Dr. Kuznick defend his actions against what essentially amounts to an anti-intellectual McCarthyist attack.
Barnaby Yeh Sophomore, SPA & CAS
