Conservative Students in Texas Place Liberal professors on Watch List
By Steve Brown
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
November 06, 2003
(CNSNews.com) - Fed up with what it views as "an overwhelming liberal bias in higher education," a group of conservative students at the University of Texas has begun compiling a list of professors who allegedly use their classes for the liberal indoctrination of students.
"There's a lot of professors out there who don't just teach the facts, but also mold the curriculum in a way that attempts to produce a certain mindset in their students," said Austin Kinghorn, chairman of the university's chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas. "These are the kinds of professors that the Professor Watch List was designed to identify, and the idea is that we can give a little bit of control back to students in how they're going to determine their own education."
The group distributed the list at a table on campus last week as students were registering for classes next spring. Students may also find the list on the UTYCT's (University of Texas chapter of Young Conservatives of Texas) website.
Kinghorn noted that students were already able to access information about the level of difficulty in which a particular professor taught his or her class. The Professor Watch List adds another element to the mix, he said. UTYCT members provided the information for the list from class visits or from taking the classes themselves.
Sample entries include one for Robert Jensen, who teaches "Critical Issues in Journalism." According to the Professor Watch List, Jensen introduces the "unsuspecting" student to a crash course in "socialism, white privilege, the truth about the Persian Gulf War and the role of America as the world's prominent sponsor of terrorism.
"Jensen half-heartedly attempts to tie his rants to 'critical issues' in journalism, insisting his lessons are valid under the guise of teaching potential journalists to 'think' about the world around them. Jensen is also renowned for using class time when he teaches Media Law and Ethics to 'come out' and analogize gay rights with the civil rights movement," the list entry for Jensen reads.
Speaking to the Austin American-Statesman, Jensen described himself as "left-progressive" and said he wasn't surprised to be on the list.
"There are students who thank me for bringing up these issues and being straightforward. I've also had complaints and comments from those who think I'm pushing a certain political agenda in class," Jensen told the Statesman.
Jim Eltringham, public relations director for the Arlington, Va.-based Leadership Institute's Campus Leadership Program, which fosters conservative campus organizations nationwide, said the watch list is "a fantastic idea." He said it would benefit students who come to the realization after a couple of weeks in class that "this isn't an educational experience, this is indoctrination. This is someone telling you what their views are and making that the course curriculum."
"That's not what college is supposed to be about. It's a gross misuse of the opportunity a professor has to educate the next generation," Eltringham told CNSNews.com.
Edmund T. Gordon, another professor profiled on the watch list, teaches African and African-American Studies. The list notes that a black student once asked Gordon in class what was wrong with being black and conservative.
"Gordon implied that if you're black and conservative, you're not black enough, and you're not doing what's in the best interest of the black community," the watch list states.
But Kinghorn pointed out that far-left professors aren't the only ones on the list.
"There's also an honor roll on there, and the idea is it's not about your politics. If a professor runs an intellectually fair class and deals with important subjects without letting their politics get in the way, we think that's worth noting, and we think there's a lot of students who'd be interested in knowing who those professors are," Kinghorn said. "We're not out here to target every liberal professor in the world."
Eltringham agreed, acknowledging that not all liberal professors are bad.
"We're talking about the ones who turn their spot at the front of the classroom into a bully pulpit...and letting ideology affect grades," Eltringham said.
Larry Faulkner, president of the University of Texas, told the Statesman that UTYCT members "have the right to make the list." He said the school's 30-year-old academic freedom policy allows professors "freedom to explore ideas on their own merits," so long as they do not "give undue weight" to their own political or moral judgments.
"The magic word there is 'undue,'" Faulkner told the Statesman. "That's going to be, to some extent, in the eye of the beholder."
While Kinghorn said his group's list was unique at the University of Texas, he pointed to NoIndoctrination.org, a site providing ratings on professors at campuses across the country. The Texas list will continue to grow and is something UTYCT plans to keep offering during fall and spring registration periods, Kinghorn said.
"The professors seem to be taking the watch list seriously in that they want to dedicate time to it in their classrooms, to discuss it," Kinghorn said.
