Editorials

Our View – Neocons ruining university principles

Grade school, for most of us, was the place we learned the basic facts about our government, nature and the world we live in. Now, as college students, we have the opportunity to broaden our scope of knowledge and discuss our understanding of certain facts with people who have specialized knowledge in certain fields.

We may have learned about the U.S. Constitution while in junior high school, reinforced later in high school. But now that we are in college, we have the opportunity to discuss the ideas in this important piece of legislation with professionals, people who have doctorates in certain areas of study and who have devoted extensive amounts of time researching their subject.

How often later in life will we ever have such an opportunity? Picking the brain of an expert is a sacred part of the college experience, right there with the newfound freedoms inherent in college life and the exposure to new ideas.

The opinions of professors are what we are paying for, but a recent movement spearheaded by famous neoconservative David Horowitz is trying to reduce the amount of opinions present in college classrooms by advocating universities across the nation to adopt the “Academic Bill of Rights.”

The Academic Bill of Rights purports to protect students from the indoctrination of professors who wish to push upon their students their own personal beliefs.

While we all may have had the ranting professor who strayed away from photosynthesis to discuss the failures of the current administration, most professors’ opinions pertain to the subject matter discussed in class.

If students simply wanted to hear professors rattle off facts then they’re in the wrong place. Universities are places of diverse thought, where students and professors can discuss the multitudinous ideals that are supposed to be present in an advanced academic setting.

The thing that is getting the goat of neocons like Horowitz is the fact that many professors happen to subscribe to liberal ideals, something inherent in college campuses. The very definition of liberalism is the belief in progress and change, which in turn is the absolute cornerstone of any respectable university.

That is not to say conservative ideas are not welcome in universities, universities being platforms for discussion and a variety of thought, but the fact that many professors have liberal ideals shouldn’t surprise anyone. If professors are devoting their careers to the education of others, they must have a pretty basic belief in the possibility for change.

Rather than trying to save students from the ill-effects of professors’ ideas, conservatives should try to make their presence strongly felt on more college campuses and make more of a contribution to the diversity of ideas present on universities. It can only enhance the education of students who are attending these universities.

As it is, the campuses buying into the “Academic Bill of Rights” are mainly East Coast ones. Hopefully, this trend will stay on the East Coast and leave West Coast schools free to openly discuss different topics without fear of conservatives crying foul.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published.

Daily 49er newsletter

Instagram