Horowitz Stumps for Bill of Rights · 18 October 2004
By T.S. Amarasiriwardena--NCSU Technician--10/18/04
He puts a new meaning to the old saying: "his reputation precedes him."
Speaking at a forum regarding freedom on university campuses, David Horowitz detailed his Academic Bill of Rights Saturday at the McKimmon Center, which weeks before drew the interest of the Faculty Senate, which was quick to chide the conservative author and speaker.
His bill, he explained at the talk, will stem the "liberal indoctrination on education that has corrupted our education institutions," by ensuring that conservative viewpoints are allowed to freely flow against a tide of liberal university teachers, he said.
"There is no more important battle than what is going on for the soul of our education," Horowitz said at the non-university sponsored event.
A two page document, the bill delineates a set of rights developed by Horowitz that repeatedly aims to insure that no student or faculty member of an institution of learning is persecuted for views differing from the prevailing opinion.
The problem is, it's a moot point, according to Robert Bruck a member of the Faculty Senate, saying that systems are already in place at this and other institutions across the country.
"Virtually every major university has [taken a code] that in a nutshell says universities are a forum for open discussion and open discourse, however much it makes people uncomfortable," Bruck a professor in plant pathology said.
"This is all a smoke screen," Horowitz said of current academic codes while acknowledging the Faculty Senate's resolution against his bill.
Drawing out a number of incidents across the country where students were given or threatened with lower grades for not agreeing with professors, Horowitz said that instructors have replaced one-sided opinion for fact.
Bruck, who deals with issues over global warming with regularity, explained situations where he said he could similarly be misconstrued for attempting to pass off opinion as truth.
There are those within and outside of his profession that contend that global warming is not a reality, he says. But to him, the notion that 98 percent of fellow researchers believe it to be an actuality, it carries enough weight to be taught, he said.
"However, if you don't agree with me and you present a lucid argument why I am wrong, I will categorically refuse to give you an A," he said. "I will give you and A+."
"When it comes to real academics, there is no such thing as black and white - it's a figment of someone's imagination," Bruck said.
And this might be something the two agree on. "We are mere mortals and thus truth is an unsettled proposition," Horowitz said while arguing his case.
At Horowitz's talk, organized by a local conservative higher education think tank, The Pope Center, he explained that he will begin a push to get his bill inserted into the 16 campus UNC system through the legislature early next year.
—