February 18, 2004
Boulder Controversy Round-up
Goddamit. It seems that juicy Boulder news has a way of surfacing when I'm out of the country.
First of all the College Republicans are making a lot of noise this year, after being practically invisible (for all I knew) last year. They put up a website where students can report any incidents of anti-conservative bias they encounter with faculty, which even made the news here in Germany. In principle, I have nothing against this......
I think liberal bias can be a legitimate problem at CU. I remember two idiotic French TAs (from France) who actually devoted class time for discussion of the Iraq war, as if this was a burning issue for anyone interested in French culture. Then they got quoted by the local newspaper saying American students don't think very hard about world affairs.
But these were stupid grad students. It seems more unlikely that grown-up professors would display insensitive bias in the classroom, but then again it's certainly possible. One of my Sociology professors was an outspoken Marxist and certain undergraduates didn't like her much. Personally I found her bias refreshing and I don't think she would disrespect conservatives (though I don't know, since there were none in my class!). For me the important thing is keeping in mind the difference between a healthy normative bias and disrespecting students.
In any case, I don't think it's good for education if professors avoid linking subject matter to current events for fear of getting complaints. Sure, universities need to hold professors accountable, but it would be tragic if this comes at the expense of vigorous self-expression and debate. Michael Berube blogs a lot about this issue, though I don't always agree with him.
Additionally, the College Republicans are now having an affirmative action bake sale, which is also a way to mock the many leftist/hippie groups who sell baked goods. Especially the "Meet New Buds" group which organizes a weekly smoke-out and promotes pot legalization. When I bought their cookies, I would always be sure to ask if there was bud in the baked goods, as I was often on the way to class.
And even better, new sexual assault scandals are emerging.
The conservative-bias-in-academia discussion has been raging for months now on many of the blogs I read. I'm sure you've seen Sullivan's new running item of people reporting bias, no? I've read a number of interesting posts discussing the phenomenon and its possible sources, but don't care to look up the links now. I'm sure you could find them easily with a little googling though.
As for the affirmative action bake sales and other similar publicity stunts, I think they're entirely valid ways for the college Republicans to express their viewpoints. I may disagree with them (or not, I'm not 100% decided in my affirmative action opinions), but there's nothing wrong with what they're doing.
The Meet New Buds club sounds pretty cool. They actively sold pot-brownies and stuff on campus without getting busted? How did they do that?
It's difficult for me to swallow many of the affirmative action protests, since so many of them seem so pointedly designed to offend and infuriate. The AA bake sale concept isn't even the worst culprit, but I could totally understand someone flying off the handle and turning over their table or something - I've never seen one of these things firsthand, but when I conceptualize the scene, I find it deeply repugnant. Of course, that doesn't mean they should be stopped, but they're certainly not forcing me to ask profound questions about my stance on affirmative action - they're just reinforcing my worst impulses to view all conservatives as backwards, racist dipshits. Not, mind you, because of their views - just due to their method of expression.
There are worse cases, though, which elude me at the moment, but which I remember thinking skirted dangerously close to reenacting and reinforcing the very barriers that anti-affirmative action protestors claim no longer exist. More on those later, as I remember what they were . . .
As for conservative bias on campus, I would throw into the discussion schools like A&M or SMU - I've never been there, but my impression is that the student bodies of both these schools, and I'm sure many schools like them, skew strongly conservative. These were the two schools in Texas where the Young Conservatives held bake sales. Is this reflected in their faculties? Well, apparently the YCT did not see a need to compose "watch lists" of liberal professors at these institutions, as they did for UT.
Also, there's a hilarious quote from the YCT regarding their public enemy #1, Robert Jensen (who's predictably a bit of a hero to me and my friends). They named Jensen to the list in part for subjecting "the unsuspecting student to a crash course in socialism, white privilege," and "the 'truth'".
Well, we can't have college professors running around talking about the truth, can we?
Well, just because you find the bake sales offensive doesn't mean everyone will. Sure, most people who already disagree with them aren't going to listen to their arguments, but I don't think that's their problem, really, but of their opponents. Offending and infuriating are not always bad things when you're trying to point out something you disagree with. Maybe it's not the most effective way for them to get their point across, but there's nothing inherently wrong with it.
Actually, I don't think Meet New Buds actually sells cookies with pot in them--a rumor just got spread around about them and I can't imagine it hindered sales.
Hehehe.. they could have some secret batches that they only sell to obvious potheads maybe. Keep the clean stuff on the table. :)