Peace Studies at Ball State University · 05 October 2004
By Sara Dogan, National Campus Director, 10/06/04
Ball State University student Brett Mock recently contacted our organization with an account of his experience in Professor George Wolfe's "Introduction to Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution" class last spring. He described an intellectual atmosphere that was closed to political or philosophical viewpoints differing from Professor Wolfe's extreme pacifist position. Students who attempted to argue that violence is sometimes the only means to achieving peaceful resolution of conflicts were intimidated from presenting their views to the class.
In one classroom exchange, a student asked him if self-defense with a gun would be justifiable if a group of armed gang members came to Ball State and began shooting innocent students, Wolfe responded in the negative, explaining, "Well, the gang would eventually run out of bullets, and you can always hide."
While the course description for Peace Studies includes the study of the causes of war, and role of ethnic, racial and class conflict in wars, Professor George Wolfe does not possess a degree in Peace Studies or any social science related discipline. The biography on his official BSU homepage identifies him as a saxophonist and an associate professor of music. Placing him in charge of a course that purports to deal with the history and nature of war and its social sources is an abuse of the students who pay tuition to attend Ball State and a misuse of the funds provided by Indiana taxpayers.
Among the violations of academic freedom evident in this class:
-When a book report and presentation were assigned to the class, Professor Wolfe refused a student request to review a book presenting a theory of non-peaceful resolution to conflict.
-Many articles were distributed in class criticizing U.S. military action in Afghanistan and Iraq and highlighting casualties, while no article was presented defending the decision to go to war.
-Professor Wolfe offered extra credit to students who attended a university-sponsored trip to Washington, DC for the purpose of protesting the war in Iraq. No funding or extra credit was granted to students who would have preferred to show their support for the war on terror.
-Students were recruited to radical organizations as part of the class program.
Professor Wolfe's conduct in the classroom is indoctrination not education, and violates his students' academic freedoms. It is deeply troubling that at a prominent university like Ball State, a professor would find it acceptable to coerce students into accepting his own political agendas and that Ball State would approve a program whose attitude towards America's defense policies and institutions is entirely negative, especially in the midst of a war with a terrorist enemy.
Unfortunately this politicized view of the educational mission seems to be deeply entrenched at Ball State. FrontPage Magazine has published an exchange between Brett Mock and David Swindle, who is also a student at Ball State and a columnist for the school paper. In the exchange Mr. Swindle says of Mock's enrolment in the Peace Studies Program: "In going into those kinds of courses wouldn't you expect the ideology to be somewhat leftist? Isn't that like a communist student taking a course in capitalism? Of course capitalism is going to be promoted as the only option. The course wouldn't be about other economic systems." Mr. Swindle goes on to ask: "Isn't all education indoctrination?"
This is a very sad commentary on the educational atmosphere at Ball State. Students like David Swindle apparently have no idea that the American educational system is different from those in totalitarian states where education is indeed indoctrination.
As a remedy for these abuses, we propose that Ball State University adopt the Academic Bill of Rights. We further propose that the administration at Ball State appoint an Academic Committee to conduct an inquiry into the curriculum of the Peace Studies program to see whether it is truly academic and also into the academic qualifications of Professor Wolfe to teach issues of war and peace. We suggest that at least half the members of this committee be drawn from the hard sciences and professions rather than from the liberal arts programs, which often reflect ideological biases. We further request that Ball State immediately issue a policy statement asserting that intellectual diversity is a primary educational value and the university is not to be used as a partisan political platform.
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