A Pie Attack and More Hearings on the ABOR · 12 April 2005
At a March 30 hearing in Augusta, Maine, several students from the University of Maine testified to the need for an Academic Bill of Rights to prevent partisan teaching and curtail the abuse of students for their political and religious views.
One student, Allison Geagan, of the University of Maine said that her professor spent 20 minutes of class time lecturing against President Bush, but would not permit her to offer a dissenting perspective.
Another UM student, Mia Dow, also testified that she concealed her identity as a Republican because she was fearful that she would otherwise be graded "based on my political party and not on my work ethic." "I have been taunted, sworn at and humiliated beyond the realm of imagination and I am sick of this treatment," she told the panel.
In Florida, on Tuesday, April 5, David Horowitz testified before the Florida House on the Academic Bill of Rights introduced by Representative Dennis Baxley. At a press conference following the hearing, a young woman named Elle Lahesa stepped forward to tell her story . On the day after Sept. 11, 2001, Lahesa, a Marine, attended her Western Civilization class at Tallahassee Community College dressed in uniform. Her professor proceeded to tell that class that America deserved the 9/11 terrorist attacks and when Lahesa objected, her professor responded "You have no right to talk. You are just a baby killer." When she attempted to bring the situation to the attention of the college dean, she was told that the dean was too busy to speak with her. If Baxley's bill passes, Florida's universities would me made to publicize their institution's grievance procedures for violations of academic freedom to ensure that students such as Lahesa have an official means of recourse when they are abused in class for their political views.
Defending a Leftist's Right to Speak on Campus
Students for Academic Freedom came to the defense of The Nation's Washington Editor David Corn this past week, after a two-year public college, Arkansas State University Mountain Home, retracted their invitation for Corn to speak on campus citing material on his person blog www.davidcorn.com including an ad for anti-Bush apparel.
The Academic Bill of Rights states that "An environment conducive to the civil exchange of ideas being an essential component of a free university, the obstruction of invited campus speakers, destruction of campus literature, or other effort to obstruct this exchange will not be tolerated." This holds true for speakers of all political persuasions, including David Corn. We sent a letter to Mick Spaulding, the administrator who announced the cancellation of Corn's speech, citing this passage and adding:
"If Mr. Corn is correct that you cancelled the speech due to his outspoken leftist political views, this is a gross violation of the principles of academic freedom which call for free and open discussion on our college campuses….It is the responsibility of educational institutions like Arkansas State University Mountain Home to provide their students access to a wide range of views and teach them to respond in a civil and reasoned way. To withdraw an invitation from an invited speaker sends exactly the wrong educational message to students."
Students for Academic Freedom requested that ASUMH formally apologize to Corn and issue a public statement explaining the reasons why his invitation to speak was retracted. Our full letter can be found here .
David Horowitz Pied at Butler
In an episode that demonstrated the intolerance towards minority viewpoints on college campuses, David Horowitz, the chairman of Students for Academic Freedom, was attacked at the podium last night during a speech at Butler University in Indiana by a group of assailants who shoved a pie in his face at the start of his speech.
The first signs of trouble were evident when a group of individuals entered the lecture hall with a large peace banner. Another individual then ran across the front of the room and shoved a chocolate cream pie directly in Mr. Horowitz's face. After running out of the room, members of the group yelled racial epithets at a conservative African American professor in attendance.
The attack on Horowitz follows an a string of similar incidents in which William "Bill" Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard, was attacked with a pie at Earlham College during a speech on March 30th and conservative writer and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan was doused in salad dressing during a speech at Western Michigan University on March 31st.
To their credit, administrators at Butler are grieved over the incident which they have called "deplorable."
"Mr. Horowitz`s right to express his opinions was violated by those who disrupted his speech," wrote Butler President Bobby Fong in a public statement. "We support the constitutional rights of free speech granted to Mr. Horowitz as well as to those who disagree with his opinions. The university does not support this inappropriate behavior."
While Butler's administration appears to be taking the correct course of allowing zero-tolerance for the obstruction of invited campus speakers, many colleges and universities have not done enough to curtail violent and uncivil reactions to their guests. This assault is simply one more indication of why we need an Academic Bill of Rights to restore civility and free intellectual discourse to our university campuses.
Yours in Freedom,
Sara Dogan
National Campus Director
Students for Academic Freedom
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A Victory in Florida More Campus Victories, but Opposition from the Teachers' Unions
