So exactly what is wrong with a professor to have a political leaning

[Angst]

I'm sorry for quoting Fox News, but the original article (here) required subscription the second time I clicked it.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/0...ssor-tells-students-that-govt-shutdown-is-to/

A Wisconsin college professor warned her students they wouldn't be able to get all of their homework done because of the partial government shutdown, and put a partisan spin on the bad news.

“Some of the data gathering assignment will be impossible to complete until the Republican/tea party controlled House of Representatives agrees to fund the government,” University of Wisconsin La Crosse Assistant Geography Professor Rachel Slocum told students in an e-mail.

“The Census website, for instance, is closed,” she continued. “Please do what you can on the assignment. Those parts you are unable to do because of the shutdown will have to wait until Congress decides we actually need a government. Please listen to the news and be prepared to turn in the assignment quickly once our nation re-opens.”

At least one student in the online course reported the professor's political spin to the education blog The College Fix, which first reported the story.

Slocum could not be reached for comment, but a school official told FoxNews.com the issue was addressed.

“It would be inappropriate to use partisan politics in a class, so we contacted the professor in question,” Chancellor Joe Gow told FoxNews.com. “We want to be sure our students feel that they can have a different opinion from others on campus,” Gow added. “She (Slocum) can have a personal conversation with someone, but this e-mail was for an online class so the message is more in an official capacity.”

In a subsequent e-mail from Slocum, also obtained by The College Fix, Slocum sought to downplay the politics of the partial government shutdown that has resulted from Congress' budget impasse.

“The e-mail I sent you all about the government shut down [sic] was not meant to be partisan, but it may have come across that way," she wrote. "It is true that I am dismayed that you cannot easily do the assignment. My opinion is that this shutdown is a bad idea.”

She even pleads with her students at one point, asking them not to forward her e-mails to others outside the class.

“If you want to discuss all of this, let me know and I can make an internal discussion board about it. But please don’t forward my emails to conservative blogs or list servs and I will make sure my emails explain things fully,” she wrote.

Bolded part caused a lot of outrage and hate mail and nonsense about liberal bias in education etc etc. Ironically, I find this Fox News article kinda neutral about the whole ordeal. The rage is easier outlined in the original article requiring subscription.

I question why people have an issue with it. It's not because teachers aren't influental. I'm very understanding that they are since they're supposed to be teaching after all. But college kids are supposed to be the equivalent of university students, right? As in, they're not gullible, impressible kids. They're adults, studying seriously.

Here's my issue. In Denmark, we're more often than not well aware of our professors' political leanings. It's hard not to as it cracks through the selection of material every once in a while. Some professors are blatant about it while making sure their students understand it is the positions of the teachers, and that they have to shape themselves independently of the teachers.

On the other hand - I don't study geology. I study musicology which incorporates some concerns about anthropology, ideological hegemony and gender studies. All of these fields are somewhat political in nature and will shape me the more I read. And good jolly they do, otherwise I'd be even more of a dumb rut. But a geology professor is not supposed to yelp about the political state of things - science is science and should be scientific as such.

I expect other science students from this board to come on and tell me what political undercurrents exist in science classes except the obvious one that is resisting stupid Christian fundamentalism.

But here's my issue. Any college student worth its salt is not going to take political concerns of a geology professor seriously. And any college student worth its salt is going to take political concerns of a musicology professor seriously.

And honestly, the system should work. The whole reason this story came out was because one of her Conservative students was angered by the email, so she forwarded it to her friends so they could collectively decide that the professor's mail was rubbish. That's ok, that's functional, because they use their hard-earned political knowledge to trounce her statement. That they then organized to collectively destroy her carreer is another thing entirely, and an action much more political in nature than any annoyed side remark of a professor trying to get access to research data could ever be.

And lastly, uh.

Tea Republicans did willingly lengthen the shutdown.

*ducks*

 

[luiz]

In college I really see nothing wrong with it. People in college are supposed to be mature enough to see through partisanship and form their own opinions.

In school I think teachers should be more cautious. Obviously this does not mean they should be banned from expressing their opinions, only that they need to do it in a more careful way and at least try to be as objective as possible.

 

[DinoDoc]

In and of itself? Nothing. The wrong occurs if they allow their political bent to influence how they grade or use it to intimidate students of a different political bent.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

If it was an off-hand comment in class it probably wouldn't have been this much outrage. A somewhat political e-mail is a bit more intentional.

 

[Kyriakos]

They should keep in mind that they do not have a school or uni position because of their political views (some might have just that, though :\ ).

Anyway, education is not about politics. The only uni subject which deals exactly with politics (political studies spectrum) also has supposedly a theoretical background too, and is not just a sort of doctrine to be preached.
The rest of the subjects at uni have nearly nothing to do with political parties or ideologies, and none of the pre uni education has either.

 

[Angst]

Anyway, education is not about politics. The only uni subject which deals exactly with politics (political studies spectrum) also has supposedly a theoretical background too, and is not just a sort of doctrine to be preached.
The rest of the subjects at uni have nearly nothing to do with political parties or ideologies, and none of the pre uni education has either.

All humanities, even the 'pure' æsthetics, deal with some sort of difference between high and low art - either dissolving or enforcing or altering the status quo - or it deals with relations between different cultures' way of life - much art is quite so political, and politics deal with the individual in a very certain way. Politics influence every lecture outside STEM. This is made so by the concepts of class, authority, individuality-as-opposed-to-the-norm etc that all respectable humanities should concern themselves with when dealing with individuals or groups. The political sciences are, as well, obviously political in nature even though they try to distance themselves from being politically weighed.

I know I'm unclear, but I can try again in a more concrete way:

The individual is a political product. So is the social. For both have the political plane as influencing their lifeworlds. As such, concerning yourself with individuals or socials is by its nature dealing with politics. Even the pure distinction between the sublime and the mundane weighs itself upon a political ideal; a certain elite rightfully deciding what is beautiful; the relativist abolishment of the elite's decisions; or an indifference to the political concerns of æsthetics (which is, ironically, a way of dealing with political criticisms of a certain æsthetic thought, therefore counter to a certain politics; therefore political).

I have a hard time phrasing this. Sorry if I spout nonsense.

 

[Kyriakos]

I expected this kind of position, and indeed my own is quite antithetical to it, since i am of the view that a common (to a significant degree) human nature can account (in the great majority of circumstances) for a relative agreement in regards to the extremities of any issue (art included), despite the less distant from the extremes being also naturally less charged with invoking a similar view on a large group of people, or even just two people.

Ie while i may consider Paul Klee to be a greater painter than Van Gogh (both amazing painters in my view) and another can easily have the opposite view, i doubt that many would claim a nazi sculpture to be really better than ancient masterpieces. Some might still, but it will be quite rare and so have not much to do with a possible common view in the case of such vast differences in quality (whatever those may signify for anyone in particular).

 

[Angst]

I expected this kind of position, and indeed my own is quite antithetical to it, since i am of the view that a common (to a significant degree) human nature can account (in the great majority of circumstances) for a relative agreement in regards to the extremities of any issue (art included), despite the less distant from the extremes being also naturally less charged with invoking a similar view on a large group of people, or even just two people.

Ie while i may consider Paul Klee to be a greater painter than Van Gogh (both amazing painters in my view) and another can easily have the opposite view, i doubt that many would claim a nazi sculpture to be really better than ancient masterpieces. Some might still, but it will be quite rare and so have not much to do with a possible common view in the case of such vast differences in quality (whatever those may signify for anyone in particular).

I am as well agreeing that there are most certainly some natural inclinations to certain forms of æsthetic pleasures; but that does not mean that there aren't some natural inclinations to assume certain kinds of political attitudes that influence/are influenced by them.

 

[bhsup]

In and of itself? Nothing. The wrong occurs if they allow their political bent to influence how they grade or use it to intimidate students of a different political bent.

This. Without some evidence that the professor in question has some axe to grind against students who disagree with him/her, this got totally blown out of proportion if it made national news.

 

[Peck of Arabia]

The main problem I have is looks kind of unprofessional especially the snarky "[the assignment] will have to wait until Congress decides we actually need a government" bit but fundamentally there's nothing wrong with lecturers expressing their political opinions, a lot of mine did openly and unashamedly, and I had a blast pushing back against it- the line comes with affecting my actual studies, for example, the one tutor who cancelled the class that week so he, and those who wanted to could go protest down in London for the day. That was a bit off.

 

[Quackers]

It is only a concern if those political biases are blatently skewing the assessment of the student's work and even that is unlikely considering most work is double marked and sent out to an external examiner.
Apart fom that unlikelyhood i have no concerns.

 

[BvBPL]

I question why people have an issue with it.

None of my professors either in undergrad or graduate school have been shy about expressing their personal feelings on issues within the political sphere. I don't see any problem with someone expressing a political view provided it does not affect pedagogy.

However, that's different than playing politics. Here, the off-hand statement that the Republicans were delaying budget funding was unnecessary. It added nothing to his directions. In no way was the fact that it was the Republicans, as opposed to the Democrats or the Raving Loonies, who were holding up the budget. It would have been just as simple to say that the budget was delayed without placing blame on any particular group.

As such, I think the professor should not have played the blame game here. That said, I don't think she should face any blow-back in this regard. Of course she is on the tenure track so consequences are possible.

As for the idea that students would not take the political concerns of a geology professor for anything, I think that's an absurd statement to make. There are a lot of hot button geological issues in US politics right now, and students may wish to hear their professors' opinions on those issues.

 

[Angst]

As for the idea that students would not take the political concerns of a geology professor for anything, I think that's an absurd statement to make. There are a lot of hot button geological issues in US politics right now, and students may wish to hear their professors' opinions on those issues.

Right, forgot about that. Sorry. Then she actually has to be listened to

 

[Camikaze]

If a field of study involves something political, it would be odd for someone teaching it not to have an opinion.

 

[Perfection]

Having a political leaning is completely okay, as is expressing it. Probably not a good idea to express it in official class communications though.

 

[gay_Aleks]

To be fair, the way he said it (i.e the program won't work due to the shutdown which, let's be fair, it is the Republican's fault), it doesn't sound like a political statement.

If that's a political statement, wouldn't that mean our beloved media is also one political statement?

Wait a minute...

 

[BvBPL]

If a field of study involves something political, it would be odd for someone teaching it not to have an opinion.

Yes, but what if the opinion is not related to the field of study? It seems reasonable that a marine biology professor may weigh in on a political topic that affects her field of study. However, I don't think the same professor within her class has leave to start talking about, say, abortion. A bioethics professor would have the opposite interests.

Here, the fact that the census website was down was a necessary part of the class. However, the reason why the site was down wasn't relevant to the class. It would have been simple, simpler even, to convey the information the class needed without the professor dipping her toe into blaming particular people.

 

[TheLastOne36]

I want my professors to have a political leaning and to explain to me why they have that leaning. I will decide for myself if whether they affect my opinions or not.

 

[Camikaze]

Yes, but what if the opinion is not related to the field of study? It seems reasonable that a marine biology professor may weigh in on a political topic that affects her field of study. However, I don't think the same professor within her class has leave to start talking about, say, abortion. A bioethics professor would have the opposite interests.

Here, the fact that the census website was down was a necessary part of the class. However, the reason why the site was down wasn't relevant to the class. It would have been simple, simpler even, to convey the information the class needed without the professor dipping her toe into blaming particular people.

The scope of what is relevant would be for the teacher to determine, and if they're going beyond what is relevant, then the problem isn't so much that they're being political, as that they're communicating something irrelevant. And that's particularly problematic if a student feels pressured or uncomfortable as a result. Opinions that are political might have a greater tendency to cause such trouble, but I don't think it's useful for political opinions to therefore be considered a separate category of irrelevant speech. We should simply say that teachers should be careful about upsetting their students. Now the email described in the OP may be political in nature, and seemingly irrelevant to the subject, but it seems unlikely to be an inclusion that would genuinely upset the sensibilities of someone of reasonable fortitude. So I don't see the problem with it, and don't see why we should consider it problematic simply by virtue of the fact that it's political.

 

[ObadiahtheSlim]

Without proper context is is hard to say what level of the professor's political lean really is. A few snarky comments is hardly anything to worry about.

My ethics professor was very much left leaning and it came up a few times in class. It was usually on topic and was mostly about what level the government should step in on issues of ethics and at what level is it personal responsibility. It was always on topic for the material of the class and just because class members and the professor had different political opinion, it didn't have any real impact on the class and just lead to classroom discussion on the topic.

Now when most of what the professor has to say has some political slant to it, like a humanities professor I had, then it's a problem. I'm paying to learn a subject, not the latest talking points or the professor's complete political ideology.