To the Editor:
Christopher Ortiz’s comments in Monday’s edition fail miserably
in evaluating the issues of academic freedom on our campuses. To
begin with, Mr. Ortiz does a very effective job at what the
academic elite are trying to do, distract from the real issues of
students feeling intimidated, discriminated against and upset with
the classroom being a ideological pulpit by using bad words like
“McCarthyism,” “blacklists” and “witch hunt.”
Professors and liberal thinkers are convinced this is a “witch
hunt” because they refuse to change, refuse to accept that maybe
they’ve neglected their responsibilities to the students’ academic
freedom by being overly concerned about their own. But it’s not
about liberal and conservative, it’s only about students. The
College Republicans at CU put up a Web site to report bias (the
word liberal, conservative or any of the like are nowhere to be
found) because they’re concerned, not because they wish to
blacklist educators.
If a conservative professor intimidated a student in the
business school, they should be dealt with accordingly. The same
applies to liberal professors in any other part of the university.
Conservative students just happen to be the ones voicing their
disdain right now. If any student – liberal, conservative or
undecided – feels that a professor has stepped out of line, I
encourage them to contact the CSU chapter of Students for Academic
Freedom. The Web site is www.geocities.com/colostatesaf. It’s about
empowering students, not blacklisting professors; it might do us
well to remember that.
Robert Lee
Vice-chairman for the Colorado Federation of College
Republicans
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