Letters from the National Campus Director

Lots of News to Begin a New Semester · 14 January 2005

SAF in the Headlines:

As the new semester gets underway, the academic freedom movement is making headlines in publications across the nation. A string of editorials in papers ranging from the Indianapolis Star to the Detroit Free Press acknowledged the problem of partisan indoctrination and abuse on college campuses but argued that the Academic Bill of Rights is not the solution. You can read these editorials and responses to them from myself and David Horowitz in our new "Replies to Critics" section here .

We have also received much positive news coverage in recent weeks, including an Associated Press article by Justin Pope titled "Conservatives Take Up Academic Freedom Cause" which was printed in papers across the country including USA Today and the Washington Times and was carried on the CNN and MSNBC websites. The article chronicled the academic freedom movement and the efforts of students across the country to fight partisan teaching and indoctrination in the classroom and promote greater intellectual diversity on campus.

"Leading the movement is the group Students for Academic Freedom, with chapters on 135 campuses and close ties to David Horowitz - a Marxist radical activist as a college student in the '60s, but now a prominent conservative commentator," the article states. "The group posts student complaints on its Web site about reputed episodes of grading bias and unbalanced, anti-American propaganda by professors - often in classes, such as literature, in which it's off-topic."

Also praising SAF was the City Journal which published a lengthy article this week on the issue of academic freedom. "Such self-censorship may become rarer, thanks in large part to several national organizations whose efforts to bring diversity of thought to academe are starting to pay off, stated the Journal. "Perhaps most significant is Students for Academic Freedom (SAF), founded in 2003 and already boasting 130 campus chapters. Its key initiative is a campaign for an "Academic Bill of Rights," which enjoins universities not to deny tenure or fail to hire teachers solely because of their "retrograde" conservative politics, and to ensure that teachers keep their classes from becoming left-wing propaganda sessions. " The full article can be read here .

Discrimination at Foothill College:

The end of the semester has also brought a number of student complaints of indoctrination and partisan abuse in the classroom. One of the most severe cases happened to Ahmad Al-Qloushi, a Kuwaiti Muslim and student at Foothill College .

Ahmad was born and raised in Al-Shaab, Kuwait where he attended an English language school. He was three years old in 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait and he and his family are thankful to the American troops who liberated his country and expelled Saddam's forces. He arrived in America for the first time only 5 months ago at the age of 17 to study at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California.

Eager to study American politics and history, Ahmad enrolled in a course on "Introduction to American Government and Politics" taught by Professor Joseph Woolcock, but was shocked to find that the course was taught from a consistently anti-American perspective.

In an article he wrote for Frontpage Magazine, Ahmad describes his experience in Woolcock's class, "Week after week, I encountered a lack of intellectual and political diversity that I would have more commonly expected to have heard on the streets of pre-liberation Iraq. In this particular class I heard only one consistent refrain: America is bad."

The final straw came when the class was instructed to complete a take-home final exam which consisted solely of the question: "Dye and Zeigler contend that the Constitution of the United States was not 'ordained and established' by 'the people' as we have so often been led to believe. They contend instead that it was written by a small educated and wealthy elite in America who were representative of powerful economic and political interests. Analyze the US constitution (original document), and show how its formulation excluded the majority of the people living in America at that time, and how it was dominated by America's elite interest."
Despite the obviously slanted phrasing of the essay topic, Ahmad bravely chose to write an essay defending America's Founding Fathers and upholding the Constitution as a progressive document which has contributed to freedom beyond America's borders.

Ahmad describes what happened next: "Professor Woolcock didn't grade my essay. Instead he told me to come to see him in his office the following morning. I was surprised the next morning when instead of giving me a grade, Professor Woolcock verbally attacked me and my essay. He told me, "Your views are irrational." He called me naïve for believing in the greatness of this country, and told me "America is not God's gift to the world." Then he upped the stakes and said "You need regular psychotherapy." Apparently, if you are an Arab Muslim who loves America you must be deranged. Professor Woolcock went as far as to threaten me by stating that he would visit the Dean of International Admissions (who has the power to take away student visas) to make sure I received regular psychological treatment."

Fearful that Woolcock could cause his visa to be revoked, Ahmad went so far as to make an appointment with the college psychologist, who dismissed him saying he had no need for regular therapy. Encouraged by his classmates in the College Republicans (Ahmad is now the head of the chapter), he chose to publicize this story, resulting in local and national media coverage.
Astoundingly, Professor Woolcock was not content to let the matter rest. Woolcock filed a school grievance accusing Ahmad of an "act or threat of intimidation or general harassment." Foothill's Dean of Student Affairs, Don Dorsey, would not permit Ahmad to see the grievance but he summarized it as stating, "Professor Woolcock feels harassed by your having mentioned his name to the media."

As a result of the publicity his story has generated, Ahmad reports that he has been told that Foothill's Board of Trustees has received hundreds of e-mails about his situation. Ahmed is now planning to start a chapter of Students for Academic Freedom at Foothill and to continue to encourage Foothill's Trustees to adopt the Academic Bill of Rights. You can contact the Trustees by emailing them at the links provided here: http://www.fhda.edu/about_us/board/.

Plans for the New Semester:

The past semester has no doubt been a busy one with the presidential and state elections taking up much of students' time. Now, as we begin a new semester, we have an opportunity to maintain this momentum by directing student energies towards the academic freedom movement.

Starting this spring as state legislatures go back into session, we expect 20 states to move forward on legislation based on the Academic Bill of Rights. But we cannot generate the needed momentum without documented evidence that pervasive partisan abuse and viewpoint discrimination are routine on college campuses. Please work quickly once you get back to campus to distribute complaint forms to students and gather evidence of this abuse at your schools.

Our coordinators will be working over the next few weeks to contact you about your plans for the coming term, and I encourage you to take a few minutes to call or email me and let me know the state of things on your campuses and whether there's anything we can assist you with. As always, you can reach me at Sara@studentsforacademicfreedom.org or in the Washington office at 202-393-0123.

Yours in Freedom,

Sara Dogan
National Campus Director
Students for Academic Freedom

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