T.L. Welsh wrote:
> For those still interested in the topic, this is an alternative view
> suggesting the "card-carriers" are not the only ones in academe.
>
> http://www.thefire.org/

Okay, having yet to see a response to this or the first message on RAVEN, I'll
bite :)

Does anyone out there in RAVEN land -- liberal, conservative, libertarian,
whatever -- have anything *against* free speech on campus?  Seems to me we
should all be for that by virtue of being Americans.  I love the First
Amendment.  (I love all ten of the Bill of Rights:  First, Second (the one that
defends all the others!) ... etc. ... and especially the Ninth and Tenth (the
ones most people forget about).)  But the freedom to speak one's mind,
guaranteed by the First Amendment  ... that has to be a winner with just about
all Americans, right?

Or do any folks on campus approve of only "politically correct" speech?  Is only
speech that doesn't offend anyone worthy of constitutional protection?  My view
is that speech that doesn't offend anyone doesn't *need* protection; it is
exactly the controversial, or even repugnant, speech that needs protection.  It
seems to me that if there are stupid, wrong, obnoxious, or even reprehensible
ideas out there, the way to combat them is not to repress their expression but
to hear them out in public and refute them with persuasive arguments.  So,
basically you were saying that FIRE is a good thing, right?

> While not detailed in his bill, Mumper believes that bias currently
> exists [on campuses] and is leaning a bit too far towards the liberal left.

Gee, you think :)  I don't know how much "bias" actually makes it into the
classroom (how many of you faculty discuss politics in the classroom?  I find it
rather difficult to work into computer science classes :) ... but as far as the
*distribution* of political opinions among faculty is concerned, I would have a
hard time arguing with him.

> Mumper, in an interview with The Columbus Dispatch, said he believes
> many professors undermine students' values because "80 percent or so of
> them are Democrats, liberals or socialists or card-carrying Communists"

I would say he is conservative in his estimate, as well as his politics ...

UTC is one of the *more conservative* campuses in the U.S. in my experience, and
given 12 years of getting to know my colleagues, I would estimate the
approximate political distribution of our faculty as ...

330 liberals (I don't know how many might be outright socialists or communists :)
30 conservatives (I couldn't actually *name* 30, but I'm giving it the benefit
of the doubt)
3 libertarians (I can name three including myself; any others out there who are
"in the closet" can reply by private e-mail and I'll update the count :)

The staff are another matter entirely, being IMHO much more representative than
faculty of the "red state" (s) (TN, GA, AL) we live in.

Regardless of one's opinion of the other points of Mumper's bill, I hope we all
can agree that not having "political, ideological, religious or anti-religious
indoctrination" masquerading as course material and prohibiting "professors from
discriminating against students based on their beliefs" are worthwhile goals.

--
"One man with courage is a majority." -- Thomas Jefferson