Supporters of education have always sought to prevent the systematic imposition of views on students, said U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee at the first national Academic Freedom conference last week.
The conference was held by David Horowitz’ Students for Academic Freedom on April 6 and 7 at the Washington Court Hotel in D.C.
Delivering the keynote speech during breakfast, Alexander spoke on issues of political one-sidedness that he believes dominates American campuses.
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) was incensed by political one-sidedness of the right years ago, but now the problem is on the left said Alexander.
John Dewey himself supported political diversity when he said that the “common good depends on the free search for truth,” explained Alexander, who went on to give five examples of such political one-sidedness.
1) Liberal professors outnumber conservatives ones by huge margins. According to the Washington Post, 72 percent liberal to 15 percent conservative.
2) Textbooks and reading lists are often biased including sanitized textbooks in K-12 grades that strip references to things that could be deemed offensive.
3) Many colleges and universities have speech codes, although courts have overturned some.
4) Campuses rarely invite or treat conservative speakers well. Instead many are greeted with pies or disruptions proving the intellectual laziness of liberal students.
5) Some students cannot graduate because of their political views.
Despite all of this, Alexander does not believe supporters of academic freedom should try to get Congress to pass a law. “Conservative principles support autonomy, so stick to your principles,” said Alexander.
Instead he advocated several ways to counter political one-sidedness. 1) People should bring in good speakers with other views or sponsor forums with multiple views 2) use the student newspaper to express controversial views 3) encourage conservatives and Republicans to become teachers by recruiting them 4) evaluate professors and schools based on academic freedom by having questions like “Was the professor open to differing views?” and if schools don’t already have such questions on their evaluations tell them you want it included. 5) find conservatives on your campus and work together 6) monetary contributions should be designated.
“The greatest threat to public support for higher education is political one-sidedness from the left…but it is bad for everyone,” said Alexander.
Julia A. Seymour is a staff writer for Accuracy in Academia.
