Spring Break
Eric | March 16, 2006So its been a long while, hasn’t it? Exams suck…..
I wanted to share a couple of interesting pieces of campus news. First off, the state legislature is consideration to freeze tuition at the University of Maryland. While students widely support this bill, university administrators would prefer to make maryland a more expensive, and therefore better, state university. I wonder if the university will make up for such a freeze by jacking up “mandatory fees”.
Students who live in certain residential facilities are starting to have a rat problem. Apparently, its too tough to operate a trash compactor.
Maryland is going to the NIT (keep monty python comments to yourselves!), so no championships for our “great” basektball team.
Students still show concern over the liberal bias of their professors. As usual, the discussion is mixed. I’ve covered this topic in a earlier post. There is some commentary from Peter Kirstein.
Finally, if you seek treatment for a mental illness (such as depression), your university may label you as a threat and show you the door. IANAL, but I don’t think this is legal under the ADA. GW is in for a royal reaming in court over this one.
I am taking next week off for a much-needed vacation. I may photo-blog from the road.
I think some students believe they have an entitlement to have professors who share their ideological beliefs and some become irate when that does not occur. When I debate David Horowitz in a couple of weeks, I intend to emphasise that professors have no less academic freedom in their classrooms than their scholars. Students may express their views and so can their professors! I am disinclined to worry about students who demand ideological compliance with the current order and who attempt to undermine those professors who are resistant to ideological conformity.
As long as student voices are heard, respected, encouraged and never sanctioned or punished, then my advice to Students for Academic Freedom and their confreres. Bust your backside, get a Ph.D., apply for a job, get hired and write your OWN syllabus and select your own reading list. Quit complaining about widespread tying of Communist Manifestos around your precious little necks and that you are being ravaged by 10,000s of Leninists and Trotskyites who plot the destruction and overthrow of America. Students are not babies who are brainwashed by bullying, terrorist professors.
To students: if you feel you are being evaluated unfairly due to your conservative ethos, consult your student handbook, then discuss the situation first with the professor, then if that is not resolved go to her chair. Remember also if you are uncomfortable with a professor, this is not high school, and just pick another profs class!! Chill down and remember if you want democracy, then expect different views to come at you from all sorts of directions.