To the Editor:
The presentation by Professor Bowen about academic freedom (Last Thursday, in Luther Bonney’s Talbot Auditorium titled “Academic Freedom in American Democracy,”) is worthy of praise. It ably showed the dangers facing that freedom today, and what Jason Lavoie wrote (last week’s Letter to the Editor, Sept. 17 edition) fits into that danger exactly.
To “reign in on teachers” and put a uniform policy on how subjects are taught is exactly against what academic freedom stands against. To teach about the president in any light, positive or negative, is academic freedom. The only people that should be allowed to censor what is taught in the classroom are the faculty themselves.
Classrooms are not a place for “political indoctrination,” but should be open to political discussions of all sorts. Professors can only teach an ideology, not force students to believe it. Any case of students being punished for expressing their political opinion should be brought to that professors department, where the faculty should decide if the punishment was politically motivated or not. It is insulting to the profession of college professors to believe one would not take a fair look at the argument before them.
In your hope conservative students speak out; I in turn encourage radical students to speak out. Not to fear prosecution from the government, university, or student body. Be careful with your words, we know where “bring it on” got us half way around the world.
Paul McCarrier
Freshman