More Academic Freedom Victories and Another Case of Media Misrepresentation · 21 March 2005
At Middle Tennessee State University, the student government association passed a resolution by a nearly unanimous vote to adopt an academic freedom policy to protect students' rights. Inspired by our Academic Bill of Rights and Tennessee House Bill 432 which is currently being considered in the state's General Assembly, the MTSU resolution states that students' academic freedom should not be infringed upon by "instructors who create a hostile environment toward their political or religious beliefs, or who introduce controversial matter as part of course work that is substantially unrelated to the subject of study." It also states that students have a right to "expect that they will be graded solely on the basis of their reasoned answers and appropriate knowledge of the subjects they study, and that they shall not by discriminated against on the basis of their political or religious beliefs," and asks that the university create a grievance procedure to enable students to appeal violations of these rights.
MTSU Senator Justin Owen who wrote the legislation noted that the legislation, like our Academic Bill of Rights, is "not partisan" and would protect both liberals and conservatives alike from political propaganda and abuses in the classroom. An article on the resolution from the school newspaper can be read here .
Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania where legislation is expected to be introduced later this spring, the student government at Pennsylvania State University passed a resolution by a vote of 11-to-1 formally endorsing the Student Bill of Rights and applauding the efforts of Students for Academic Freedom in Pennsylvania. Student Senator Vicky Cangelosi who introduced the resolution told the body that this legislation is necessary because students are regularly abused for their political views in the classroom. She described one incident where a professor called a student a "f-ing idiot" because she expressed a conservative opinion in the classroom.
Vicky has written up a short account of her experiences at Penn State which can be viewed along with the legislation here .
While student government resolutions often do not have binding legal authority on a university, these remain key victories in our battle for academic freedom. The passage of an academic freedom resolution sends a signal to university professors and administrators that current protections for students' rights are inadequate and need to be addressed. Even when such resolutions fail, they often spark intense debate on campus about the nature of academic freedom and provide opportunities for further discussion and debate. For more information and advice on introducing a campus academic freedom resolution, please see our SAF Handbook (link) page 18.
A Hostile Media Strikes Again
Our organization has been attacked in recent days by members of the media and others who questioned the validity of the story of a University of Northern Colorado student who was asked to write an essay on her criminology exam explaining "why President Bush is a war criminal." According to our original report, the student wrote instead about why Saddam Hussein is a war criminal and was given a failing grade. These attacks were initiated by Prof. Mano Singham in a March 3 column in the Cleveland Plain Dealer and were quickly picked up by mediamatters.org and other news sources who implied that we had made the whole thing up.
We have confirmed the existence of the student, the professor, and the exam .
Unfortunately, there is no hard evidence in this case because when this story first emerged in the Fall of 2003 and the student filed a grievance with the university the professor claimed back that he had destroyed all copies of the actual exam, and refused to allow the student access to her exam paper.
If the professor in fact destroyed the student's exam, he explicitly violated the UNC Board of Trustees Manual for Faculty which states in section 2-3-409 that "Faculty will maintain student records for at least one calendar year from the date the class ended …Such records include grade books or other documentation for assigning grades; and include exams, papers, projects, etc., which have not been returned to students. The department chair is responsible for collecting this material and having it available upon request. Records need to be collected and retained only to cover the period of time in which a grievance could still be filed, at least one calendar year from the date the last class ended."
Now, a year-and-half later, this professor is claiming that the student did not fail (both he and the university have left vague whether she did not fail the exam or just the course). He says that she was given a bad grade (which he cannot release due to federal privacy laws) but only because she handed in only two pages instead of the required three for her exam paper. Yet if he in fact destroyed the exam papers as he previously claimed when the student attempted to obtain them, how is he able to assert this?
UNC President Kay Norton has now released to the media the question which she claims was on the student's exam. It is unclear how she was able to obtain this document, given that the professor had previously stated that all exam papers had been destroyed. Furthermore, though the text of the question differs from the version the student recalls, the intent is the same. It forces students to take a pre-determined stand on a highly controversial issue. This is indoctrination, not education, and confirms the student's story rather than discredits it.
The exam question released by UNC President Kay Norton reads:
"The American government campaign to attack Iraq was in part based on the assumptions that the Iraqi government has 'Weapons of Mass Destruction.' This was never proven prior to the U.S. police action/war and even President Bush, after the capture of Baghdad, stated: 'we may never find such weapons.' Cohen's research on deviance discussed this process of how the media and various moral entrepreneurs and government enforcers can conspire to create a panic. How does Cohen define this process? Explain it in depth. Where does the social meaning of deviance come from? Argue that the attack on Iraq was deviance based on negotiable statuses. Make the argument that the military action of the U.S. attacking Iraq was criminal."
The student has not once altered her story since it first came to our attention in the Fall of 2003. She maintains that the original exam question was phrased differently than the one now provided by the University and suspects that the question given to the media was a reconstruction of the original. She has been very upset by these attacks, but since she is due to start graduate school in the Fall, she is fearful that if she comes forward it will affect her future academic career. Students for Academic Freedom has pledged to maintain her anonymity.
A series of reports on this case is available on our website here .
For more information on Students for Academic Freedom or to start a chapter on your campus, please contact Sara Dogan at 202-393-0123 or at Sara@studentsforacademicfreedom.org.
Yours in Freedom,
Sara Dogan
National Campus Director
Students for Academic Freedom
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