UCLA: a lesson in political bias

Universities are responsible for encouraging students to develop
their own opinions while also teaching them to respect the opinions
of others. But students around the United States feel their
universities are not living up to that responsibility. Conservative
students increasingly feel their voices are being silenced.

In order to protect the rights of conservative students, the
CU-Boulder College Republicans, an organization affiliated with
Students for Academic Freedom, have put together a Web site to
collect complaints about left-leaning faculty members. This Web
site allows conservative students, whose voices have been shut down
in many classrooms, to speak out.

UCLA is experiencing a similar problem. Professors are using
their classroom as a forum for their own beliefs while at times
negating those of their students. It is not education; it is
indoctrination.

For example, my art history class last quarter once spent an
entire period listening to our professor rant about how we should
support the strikes at Ralphs. When conservative students voiced
their opinion, they were immediately shut down by the man with the
microphone. For the entire hour and a half class period, we did not
see one slide.

Kendra Carney, president of UCLA’s chapter of Students for
Academic Freedom, has also witnessed such verbal propaganda in the
classroom. Her social welfare professor once called President Bush
the anti-Christ. “As a conservative student,” Carney
said, “that doesn’t make me feel welcome in the
classroom.”

Part of the Academic Bill of Rights, Carney said, affirms a
professor’s right to speak out about his sociopolitical
beliefs if he feels compelled. But that right should not be abused.
A classroom is often not the right forum for such discussion.
Additionally, left-leaning professors cannot choose to ignore the
responsibility that comes with their rights ““ welcoming the
beliefs of others. A two-sided debate is particularly important in
an environment where honest discourse and unbiased investigation
are the very core philosophies.

The Center for the Study of Popular Culture published a survey
of faculty political affiliations at 32 universities. They found
“the overall ratio of (identifiable) Democrats to Republicans
… at the 32 schools was more than 10 to 1.”

UCLA, along with Boulder, was one of the campuses accused of
being too politically biased. At UCLA, they identified 137
registered Democrats and only 11 Republicans. Even though the
survey was not scientific, the results are indicative of the
existing breakdown of political views. Such a staggering democratic
majority can intimidate conservative students and prevent them from
standing up for what they believe in.

While professors and students alike have the right to state
their views, the classroom is not always an appropriate setting.
“It is a professor’s duty to teach class, not push
their political views,” said Carney.

There are, however, some exceptions. Carney agrees that
political science and history classes, for example, offer the right
kind of setting and attract the right kind of students for these
types of political discussions. Art history and English literature
classes do not.

When a professor uses his microphone and soapbox to preach about
a topic that has nothing to do with the type of class he is
supposed to be teaching, he is taking away a day’s worth of
education. This is a huge percentage of time in a 10-week course.
If students or professors have the desire to discuss political
views, there are various organizations on campus that provide such
a forum.

Students who feel their rights are being infringed upon or their
views are being swayed by overbearing professors should report such
incidents on the national Web site for Students for Academic
Freedom. Doing so promotes awareness of the gravity of the
situation. It gives back to conservative students what some
professors have taken away ““ their voice.

“A university should encourage learning about different
viewpoints,” Carney said. “It should remain politically
neutral as a whole.” A university is not a political
party.

Jensen is a first-year English student. E-mail her at
[email protected]. Send general comments to
[email protected].