Soxy Posted February 21, 2004 Share Posted February 21, 2004 So, on the Eve of President Carter speaking at my school this was published in the major newspaper up here. We're hosting the major Peace Prize Forum up here, and well, here's a commentary on it (fortunately, my conference on sexual assault is not picked out as offensive to anyone...) BYLINE: Kevin Duchschere CREDITLINE: Star Tribune HEADLINE: Diversity -- of the intellectual sort -- in short supply at St. Olaf, students say They shook their heads over the antiwar signs on the college president's lawn. They rolled their eyes at a professor's long e-mail message to students lambasting President Bush. But the final straw for some conservative students at St. Olaf College came when organizers for this weekend's Nobel Peace Prize Forum rejected a speaker who wanted to talk about peace through strength. There's a lack of diversity at the Northfield, Minn., college, they say. Intellectual diversity. So the conservative students are staging a shadow forum today to protest what they call the overwhelmingly pacifistic, left-wing tilt of the annual Peace Prize conference. They also want to draw attention to a virus they say infects St. Olaf and other campuses: liberal proselytizing by professors and administrators. They're not alone. Across the nation, conservative students are taking their schools to task for what they consider knee-jerk political correctness that stifles the free exchange of ideas. Students who disagree or object to something said by a liberal professor "feel like they're in a hostile environment," said Britt Haugland, a St. Olaf senior from La Crosse, Wis., majoring in social work and a campus leader for conservatives. Some even fear their grades might be lowered if they speak up. St. Olaf officials said they're sympathetic to the students' concerns, but disputed their contentions. Officials noted that the college already has an academic bill of rights that protects students against reprisals for holding unpopular views. And they vigorously rejected the notion that the campus fosters a climate of liberal indoctrination. "I don't believe that happens at St. Olaf," said President Christopher Thomforde, a tall, genial Lutheran minister in his fourth year at the college. St. Olaf has a healthy tradition as an incubator of Republican leaders in the state, said Dean of Students Greg Kneser. Former Gov. Al Quie is an alumnus, as are current House Speaker Steve Sviggum and Majority Leader Erik Paulsen. Recent speakers on campus include noted conservatives Pat Buchanan, Newt Gingrich and P. J. O'Rourke. About 400 students belong to the College Republicans, making it one of the largest chapters in the state. "I don't think there's much question that the faculty's political views tend to lean left," Kneser said. "Whether that translates into bias in the classroom is making a pretty big leap." Rebellion on the right For conservative Minnesota collegians who feel isolated, help is on the way in the form of e-Pluribus, a program that will offer a Web site this fall with information, articles and ideas for students seeking ideological ammunition to use on campus. It's an offshoot of the Center of the American Experiment, a conservative Minneapolis think tank. "We're using the Internet to leapfrog over the intellectual gatekeepers," said Katherine Kersten, a senior fellow with the Center who is organizing e-Pluribus. "This is not a partisan organization. This is essentially an intellectual exercise, about bringing conservative and free-market ideas to campuses where in most cases they're grossly underrepresented." According to several observers, the conservative movement on college campuses has been gaining ground for years. College students have always had a taste for rebellion, and when authorities on campus lean to the left it's natural for students to pull in the other direction. But polls and surveys also show that conservative views among students are rising on issues such as taxes, guns and abortion. And the movement got an unexpected jolt of energy after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. "It shocked people into political advocacy because they realized this can never happen again, and naturally they started to align themselves with the policy of a strong military against those who would threaten us," said Nick Norman, a sophomore from Woodbury majoring in economics and political science. The theme of this year's Peace Prize Forum, which rotates among five Upper Midwest Lutheran colleges, is grass-roots peacemaking. Former President Jimmy Carter, who was awarded the Peace Prize in 2002, will deliver the keynote address today. The two-day conference features workshops on "peace skills" and 55 seminars on a wide range of topics from meditation to genocide. Among the seminar titles: "Peace and Change through Public Art," "Islam and Democracy" and "CEOs and Moral Intelligence: An Oxymoron?" Last fall, Counterpoint, a group of 50 conservative St. Olaf students, proposed a couple of seminars for the Nobel forum. One, by University of Minnesota Prof. Ian Maitland, on sweatshops as a positive force for economic development, was accepted. But another, by Minneapolis attorney and writer Scott W. Johnson, on how the failure to confront Nazi Germany in the 1930s led to World War II, was not. "My proposal is peace through meditation -- on Winston Churchill," Johnson said. Counterpoint members decided to act. They formed the St. Olaf Committee for Intellectual Diversity and sent letters to forum organizers, President Thomforde and the college's board of regents to express their concern about Johnson's rejection and the barrage of antiwar messages sent by college officials. Among those sending such messages was Thomforde, who before the war displayed a protest sign in his yard and joined an antiwar demonstration in the commons. He said that as college president his main job is to make sure faculty members and students feel free to think about issues and act accordingly. Bruce Nordstrom-Loeb, a sociology professor and cochairman of the forum program committee, wouldn't discuss why the committee rejected Johnson's entry but suggested its historical theme didn't reflect the forum's contemporary bent. Yet some scheduled seminars have a historical focus, and two of them center on figures whose life spans intersected with Churchill's: Mark Twain and Thomas Merton. In the end, Johnson will deliver his "teach-in on appeasement" on campus today -- but in a dormitory lounge just down the road from the auditorium where a short time later Carter will be addressing a packed house. Johnson said that he was "a long-hair hippie antiwar protester" while a student in the 1970s at Dartmouth College, where conservatism flourished. But he said he never felt marginalized. "It wouldn't have even occurred to me that a professor would hold my views against me, the way these kids do," he said. "I had no idea what my professors' views were. It was kept out of class." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gene Honda Civic Posted February 21, 2004 Share Posted February 21, 2004 If this was posted on Fark I'd give it an tag. College campuses are always more liberal than the rest of the country. College professors are usually more liberal than thier secondary education counterparts. That's why they are proffessors. Just think about college campuses as a whole during the 60's. There wasn't a more liberal place to be than berkely, Cali. For that reason Berkely remains a polarized city today. However, for every extremely liberal environment (berkely) there's an equally extreme conservative environment to counter it (Wheaton, BYU) It's all relative Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soxy Posted February 21, 2004 Author Share Posted February 21, 2004 Definitely more obvious. The problem I have is the timing of the article--it's really sort of suck for it to come out the day before President Carter speaks. This is also the group that has denounced our administration for allowing (for the first time) condoms to be sold on campus this year. (FIRST TIME EVER!!!!) Basically, I think these kids need to chill out--they have the largest College Republicans chapter in the State, and I feel that the administartion has really catered to them. (No condoms until this year!?!?!?!) Anyway, that's my beef... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chisoxfn Posted February 21, 2004 Share Posted February 21, 2004 Usually when my teachers get on their political pedestal I just sit there and try my best to keep my mouth shut, cause almost always my view differs completely with theres. Of course they dont' have any interest in the whole thing, its not like they want the government to cut costs so more teachers get laid off or anything like that. I've always disliked the fact that teachers could have so much influence on the way one votes and such. I guess its a good thing almost zero students actually vote. Of course I vote, just not in the school elections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baggio202 Posted February 21, 2004 Share Posted February 21, 2004 Definitely more obvious. The problem I have is the timing of the article--it's really sort of suck for it to come out the day before President Carter speaks. This is also the group that has denounced our administration for allowing (for the first time) condoms to be sold on campus this year. (FIRST TIME EVER!!!!) Basically, I think these kids need to chill out--they have the largest College Republicans chapter in the State, and I feel that the administartion has really catered to them. (No condoms until this year!?!?!?!) Anyway, that's my beef... st olaf..im not too familiar with it but just by the name isnt that a small conservative catholic college???... if so why are you shocked becasue students are protesting liberalism or liberal ideas???...there are a bazillion liberal colleges throughout this country..cant there be one conservative one that doesnt hold your views??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YASNY Posted February 21, 2004 Share Posted February 21, 2004 Back in the '60's, the higher education faculty was generally conservative and the student body was liberal. That student body and their "educational decendants" are now the faculty. So, of course, the conservative students feel like they have to struggle against what they perceive as a liberal bias. The fact that this article was published at this particular time was no coincidence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soxy Posted February 21, 2004 Author Share Posted February 21, 2004 st olaf..im not too familiar with it but just by the name isnt that a small conservative catholic college???... if so why are you shocked becasue students are protesting liberalism or liberal ideas???...there are a bazillion liberal colleges throughout this country..cant there be one conservative one that doesnt hold your views??? Actually, it's Lutheran. And the problem with the article is the timing and the way it throws such negative light on the Peace Prize Forum. Which really is a positive thing. It brings loads of money to the school and LOTS of positive press. It's fine to have issues with professors and the atmosophere of the school--but bringing it up now is really just negative mean press. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baggio202 Posted February 21, 2004 Share Posted February 21, 2004 Actually, it's Lutheran. And the problem with the article is the timing and the way it throws such negative light on the Peace Prize Forum. Which really is a positive thing. It brings loads of money to the school and LOTS of positive press. It's fine to have issues with professors and the atmosophere of the school--but bringing it up now is really just negative mean press. thats part of student newspapers...you think at berkeley if GW was gonna speak there that their student newspaper wouldnt print something that attacked him and made him or his cause look bad???....that all comes with free speech... besides...a nice young liberal thinking woman like yourself doesnt ends up at a conservative lutheran school by accident...youre just like me...you like being in the minority..you like the attention...when i was living in oregon i used to love when i had to go to university of oregon for my job...i used to fix the copier at the school newspaper..i used to get into some serious arguements with those left over hippies!!!.. so i know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1549 Posted February 21, 2004 Share Posted February 21, 2004 I can say that the liberal bias also exists in high school classrooms. My spanish teacher rails on Bush constantly, calling him the devil, an animal killer, a bigot, basically anything she can think of off the top of her head. On one occasion my teacher gave us all copies of a newspaper article about the Presidents environmental policy and told us to read it for homework (and this is a spanish class). The article described a new policy that would allow poachers to kill a small number of endangered animals, and the large profits would be used to shelter other members of that species. The next day a girl in my class told my teacher that she hopes bush is assasinated...my teacher laughed. I was utterly disgusted. My English teacher is a bra-burning, liberal, Fem-Nazi. She graduated college as the Vietnam war started, and she often tells us how she graduated from a women's only college next to West Point, and her classmates lost husbands because of Political fat-cats. My teacher also keeps a pin on her bag that has a picture of Bush with an 'X' over it. Once, our class had to write a comparison of a quote from John Gardner's Grendel and the war in Iraq. (the quote was about legality and abuse of power). I am a moderate leaning conservative. Nothing turns me off more than teachers who use their power to push a political agenda on the minds of kids. My Holocaust Studies teacher is conservative, but if I criticize the ACLU she will defend it, if a liberal student rips Bush she will defend him. I respect her a lot more than I respect the two other teachers I previously mentioned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baggio202 Posted February 21, 2004 Share Posted February 21, 2004 1549 my son has a history teacher that, while not as bad as your spanish teacher does push her politcal views down her students throats...this is in 8th grade..ive talked to her once and asked her to please tone it down but to no avail...so we do our share of deprogramming Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1549 Posted February 21, 2004 Share Posted February 21, 2004 1549 my son has a history teacher that, while not as bad as your spanish teacher does push her politcal views down her students throats...this is in 8th grade..ive talked to her once and asked her to please tone it down but to no avail...so we do our share of deprogramming Its really disgusting when you think about it. I was fortunate that I never had a politically outspoken teacher in grade school, but young kids are so impressionable that many could be brainwashed by a liberal teacher (or conservative, but teachers are usually liberal). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrandoFan Posted February 21, 2004 Share Posted February 21, 2004 besides...a nice young liberal thinking woman like yourself doesnt ends up at a conservative lutheran school by accident...youre just like me...you like being in the minority..you like the attention No need to project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soxy Posted February 21, 2004 Author Share Posted February 21, 2004 No need to project. True, I didn't know that it was going to be so conservative...My church was really liberal--as were my Lutheran educated pastors--so I wrongly assumed I wouldn't be in over my head... And the profs here are nothing like 1549's teachers. They're voices aren't silenced because I'm usually the one arguing with them , anyway. As much as they are oppressed they oppress with their condemning of students who hold different views, which, alas did not come out. I love my school, of course, would have transfered if I didn't. But I think this article is really in poor taste--and I talked to one of my friends who was a College Republican--and they lost almost half their membership because of the faction within the group over this stuff... Ah well, I will gladly welcome them over to the darkside... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwsox Posted February 21, 2004 Share Posted February 21, 2004 but teachers are usually liberal). teachers are usually liberal). let's see -- higher education........ a concern for other people...... thinking of children as people who have worth and value.... yes, that would make a liberal the "conservative side" as represented in this thread wants to do a workshop on child labor as ao good thing for the exploting capitalist class to further enrich themselves by child labor - yep, that would be sponsered by the Young Republicans One doesn't have to even make this stuff up - it is given to us all tied up in a neat package! The jokes, ridicule, encapuslation, and expose´are given becuase "the other side" has no concept that they have become the charicature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlaSoxxJim Posted February 21, 2004 Share Posted February 21, 2004 I can say that the liberal bias also exists in high school classrooms. My spanish teacher rails on Bush constantly, calling him the devil... ¿Presidente Bush es el diablo? Ninguna mierda. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soxfan420 Posted February 21, 2004 Share Posted February 21, 2004 Usually when my teachers get on their political pedestal I just sit there and try my best to keep my mouth shut, cause almost always my view differs completely with theres. Of course they dont' have any interest in the whole thing, its not like they want the government to cut costs so more teachers get laid off or anything like that. I've always disliked the fact that teachers could have so much influence on the way one votes and such. I guess its a good thing almost zero students actually vote. Of course I vote, just not in the school elections. debate it with your teachers in class thats probally what they are looking for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baggio202 Posted February 21, 2004 Share Posted February 21, 2004 debate it with your teachers in class thats probally what they are looking for. they could be looking for debate..but then some also take exception to students challening their perceived authority..when that happens you might as well drop the class... i guess it depends on why you are in college for...lifelong college students should argue away..those looking to get that degree and get out so they can move on with their lives would probably do well to take chisoxfan's advice... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soxy Posted February 21, 2004 Author Share Posted February 21, 2004 they could be looking for debate..but then some also take exception to students challening their perceived authority..when that happens you might as well drop the I don't know--I think 420 brings up a good point about trying to get debate going...I've taken my fair share of religion classes (maybe I'm just a masochist after all ). And I've come to believe most of those profs aren't actually atheists, I know that through my interaction with them outside of class. But by saying the sometimes inflammatory stuff they do it really gets kids going. And we get to explore a lot more stuff than if it were just a homogenous class of good Lutherans singing Kyries. So, I do think that's a very valid point. You learn more from disagreements than from a hearty agreement--and you learn more about how to relate to people so I could definitely so profs doing that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soxfan420 Posted February 21, 2004 Share Posted February 21, 2004 they could be looking for debate..but then some also take exception to students challening their perceived authority..when that happens you might as well drop the class... i guess it depends on why you are in college for...lifelong college students should argue away..those looking to get that degree and get out so they can move on with their lives would probably do well to take chisoxfan's advice... ive gone head-to-head with most of my teachers at one point or another, ive never failed a class yet. as long has to dont just come out and disrepspect them it is fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrandoFan Posted February 22, 2004 Share Posted February 22, 2004 i guess it depends on why you are in college for...lifelong college students should argue away..those looking to get that degree and get out so they can move on with their lives would probably do well to take chisoxfan's advice... What is the point of higher education, then? As opposed to, say, trade schools? See, there I go again defending "academia" even though I don't even had a HS dimploma. I must have an agenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soxfan420 Posted February 22, 2004 Share Posted February 22, 2004 What is the point higher education, then? As opposed to, say, trade schools? See, there I go again defending "academia" even though I don't even had a HS dimploma. I must have an agenda nothing other than to get a decent legal job you have to have a college diploma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrandoFan Posted February 22, 2004 Share Posted February 22, 2004 nothing other than to get an decent legal jobs you have to have a college diploma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baggio202 Posted February 22, 2004 Share Posted February 22, 2004 pretty much what soxfan420 said...that piece of paper is pretty important to alot of employers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knightni Posted February 22, 2004 Share Posted February 22, 2004 1549 my son has a history teacher that, while not as bad as your spanish teacher does push her politcal views down her students throats...this is in 8th grade..ive talked to her once and asked her to please tone it down but to no avail...so we do our share of deprogramming My kindergarten teacher programmed me and my classmates to be Packers fans.. Thank God my Dad snapped me out of it in time! Go Bears! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoxAce Posted February 22, 2004 Share Posted February 22, 2004 My kindergarten teacher programmed me and my classmates to be Packers fans.. Thank God my Dad snapped me out of it in time! Go Bears! What's wrong with the Packers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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