Excerpts from:

Academic Freedom in the Classroom: When ‘Freedom’ Becomes ‘License’

Luann Wright, President and Founder, NoIndoctrination.org

 

Posted on BC-SAF by kind permission of the author.

For the entire article click here. (pdf)

 

"Academic freedom, the foundation of higher education in a free society, can be a double-edged

sword. Faculty members must be free to express their opinions in the classroom on

issues relevant to their courses. However, some professors misuse the ideals of academic

freedom; they view the classroom as a pulpit for personal opinion and socio-political

propaganda. Many students report having been ideologically browbeaten, intimidated,

and/or forced to endure inappropriately politicized courses. When does academic

freedom become a license to “indoctrinate,” and what are the consequences to students?"

 

"This paper discusses how faculty’s academic freedom in the classroom can infringe upon

students’ rights and upon the learning process itself. Through an analysis of current cases,

this study explores issues of academic freedom relating to classroom conflicts between

faculty members and students. The freedom to research and publish without fear of

reprisal is at the core of acquiring and disseminating knowledge. But how does academic

freedom apply within the confines of the classroom? Can an overly expansive

understanding of professors' academic freedom actually impede learning? The

conclusion reached here is that successful higher education requires a balance between

the rights of professors and the rights of students."

 

"A campus newspaper article describes a student’s experience with a University of

Colorado-Boulder course titled “U.S. History Since 1865.” According to the student, her

Republican professor would, “often spout his little notions about dissolving social

security and castrating our then president [Clinton].” But what the student found even

more interesting was the reading material assigned by her Fundamentalist Christian

professor: Charles Sheldon’s In His Steps, the “What Would Jesus Do?” book. The

student commented, “…and who doesn’t love a little evangelism once in a while?”

Evangelism has no place in an academic curriculum."

 

"As a student who attempts to evaluate academic material through a

critical, independent perspective, it was difficult and, at times, even

intellectually insulting, to sit through ten whole weeks of such lectures,

dumbstruck at the non-stop blatant bias the professor so openly exhibited

each day. Concerning her actual interaction with students during the

course, in general she openly encouraged, through soft condescending

tones, knowing smiles and nods of affirmation, students who parroted her

own beliefs and ideas, yet grilled the occasional student who dared to even

remotely challenge the material in a critical way, with abrupt, defensive

remarks of "How do you know that?”. If students chose to openly

challenge her intellectual assumptions, her soft, "nurturing" style would

promptly transform into one of antagonism. Clearly, the critical thinking

her course description encouraged was only welcomed if it reflected the

proper ideological direction of the professor."

 

"I spent the first half of the class avoiding trouble by keeping my mouth

shut. We read many articles on victimization, oppression, etc. of

minorities. But I had no choice when an activity called for full

participation; we had to go around and talk about at least one way in

which we have been/are oppressed. When my turn came up, and I

answered that I have never been oppressed, the instructor corrected me,

saying that I must have been, as I'm female. I persisted, saying that

being female has never been anything short of a blessing for me. The

instructor was relentless, insisting that I was necessarily oppressed at

one point in my life. The instructor asked to speak with me after class.

He was visibly shaken and angry. He told me that my classroom

behavior was disruptive in the least (although I was never voluntarily

disagreeing), and that I would be kicked out of class and would thereby

lose my job and my housing for the next year unless I learned to be

more cooperative.

 

Thanks to her instructor, she now has an example of oppression to share."

 

"Academic freedom should be a street running both ways, but it isn’t.

There have been times when I have not only known a professor was

wrong, but have been bullied into keeping my mouth shut knowing it

would be held against me… At 18, I was unprepared to debate a man

who held a doctorate degree in the field. A passionate professor, he

yelled at, cursed at and mocked me in full view of the class and used the

‘you haven’t seen enough life to hold such views’ defense of his own

bankrupt ideals - I had the audacity to state that it’s not my fault that

other people live and die in ghettos. A professor winning a debate with

an undergraduate student is about as impressive as beating a six-year old

in a game of basketball."