Outing the Liberal Professors

The College Republicans at the University of Toledo have decided to let the world know about those professors who insist on allowing their personal political biases color their interactions with students:

The University of Toledo's College Republicans are compiling a list of liberal professors who they claimed have a bias against conservative students.

The list will include professors who students say have let their political views interfere with the way they interact with students in the classroom.

UT College Republicans President Matt Rubin, a junior majoring in political science and public administration, said the list is not an attempt to bash professors who have liberal ideas, but instead, it is an attempt to speak out for students who may have been victims of the bias, which was then reflected in their grade.

"We've been portrayed in the media, as well as comments from people in the community including College Democrats, saying that we're creating a blacklist in order to smear the names of professors and that's not true," Rubin said. "We're giving a voice to the students that have been harassed because of their political beliefs. It's the same thing as bashing a student because they're gay."

Rubin said the list of liberal professors is important because of the many complaints he received from students at UT College Republicans meetings, concerning professors who made unnecessary political comments, including anti-Bush statements.

"At our weekly meeting, something we like to do is take time out for students to tell stories of any bias they have had in classes. What we're doing is representing students who have had that experience. We're trying to expose professors who have liberal bias and go against everything UT stands for," Rubin said. "How is saying 'President Bush is the dumbest president this country has ever had and should be hanged' improving the human condition?"

The students who submitted and reported incidents such as these will remain anonymous, Rubin said.

I think you have to be a bit careful here. There's a difference between saying dumb things in class and actually punishing students with bad grades or ridicule because of their beliefs. I wouldn't want to see someone "blacklisted" just because they're liberals anymore than I would want someone blacklisted because they're conservatives. Liberals have a right to be stupid as long as they don't punish others for not sharing their stupidity.

I pretty much expect most college political science professors to be liberals. Both my kids are taking college political science classes right now and I'll be interested to hear about their experiences. As long as the professors don't let their biases affect grades and behavior toward conservative students it's best to leave them alone. However, anything more than just comments about political leaders should be noted and publicized so that the community and the university leadership can be aware what's going on.