On Monday, students, faculty and the general public gathered to hear a panel of AU professors talk about academic fairness and free speech in the classroom.
The panel, which was sponsored by Students for Academic Freedom, an academic watchdog group, featured Phillip Brenner (School of International Service), Robert Lerman (College of Arts and Sciences), Peter Kuznick (CAS) and Mark Walker (SIS).
The College Republicans and College Libertarians co-sponsored the event, which was held in the Letts Hall Formal Lounge.
SAF spokesman Bob Nardo opened the panel by asking whether or not there was academic freedom in AU classrooms. SAF president and Eagle columnist Josh Kraushaar then introduced the panelists and served as moderator.
Brenner began his speech by noting that he was fired from two universities for his political views and that he "understands the impact the imposition of political views can have on the academy." He likened education harassment to sexual harassment, where casual remarks can be taken the wrong way because "motive and intention are important."
However, Brenner warned that implementing academic diversity as a matter of school policy may not be the best way to combat bias in the classroom. Specifically, he talked about "the dangerous period in the 1940s and 1950s when anti-Americanism was defined on a slippery slope."
Lerman said he talked to students who felt that SIS was biased to the left, but also noted that much of his evidence was "anecdotal."
He said he sometimes feels like intellectual diversity is replaced by "ethnic, gender and religious diversity" and that the AU faculty is "strong left."
However, he also believes that AU students are lucky to be in D.C. because they can get alternative viewpoints at local think tanks. "It is sad but true that think tanks are replacing universities as a place of intellectual diversity," Lerman said.
Kuznick took a different approach and read an exchange he had with a conservative academic watchdog group called Accuracy in Academia. In response to a letter asking to sit in on his class and monitor it to see if there was intellectual diversity, Kuznick replied that if the group could find people to defend racism and slavery that he would allow them to speak at his class.
Kuznick then noted that in addition to Julian Bond of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Kim Gandy from the National Organization for Women, he has invited President Bush, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and former Enron CEO Kenneth Lay to speak at his class. He noted that none of them have spoken at his class.
He said he appreciates and encourages conservative students in his classes and that he "runs into more interference from conservative students" and calls on them to defend their views.
"I have great affection and great respect for conservative students," Kuznick said.
He also said he was opposed to stifling controversial views and finds that often it is students who are intolerant.
Walker identified two problems he encountered since he came to AU in 1997. The first was losing AU's best students and the second was students who were intimidated by their professors.
"The professor is in a power relationship with students," Walker said. "I try to be a countervailing voice to the concrete view."
One example that Walker identified as an abuse of the professor-student relationship was when, after Sept. 11, some students in the New York tri-state area were confused about whether or not they were to blame for the attacks due to their professor's comments.
Walker said that the best teacher-student relationship was one where they could argue all day and eat together at night.
After the presentations were finished, Kraushaar asked a series of questions about academic bias and then opened the floor to debate.
Kuznick said that on controversial issues, "it behooves us to have two sides ... but we don't have always have time to bring in both sides." He also believed that professors "should be forthright about one's views."
During the Iraq war, Kuznick said he didn't let his classes out so students could talk about the war. "To not bring in wisdom is a mistake," Kuznick said.
Brenner also felt that teacher should be somewhat open about their views.
"I have strong biases about Congress. I like it and admit it," Brenner said. In particular, Brenner said that during his sabbatical, his substitute, who had opposing views with him on other issues except Congress, taught his class.
Lerman agreed with Walker's assessment about the professor's role and said, "The professor is in a very powerful position because they've spent their lives in the world of ideas."
He referred to a faculty meeting where professors discussed a syllabus that was biased to one side of the Arab-Israeli conflict. One book, "Orientalism," by Edward Said was featured, but no book by Bernard Lewis, Said's chief critic, was featured. Lerman identified this as an example of bias in the classroom.
"We have a problem; the question is how to resolve it," Walker said. However, he was skeptical about solving the problem through polarizing the debate.
In particular he said he wasn't sure that new ideas were being developed about Iraq. "I'm not sure if we're moving the ball forward," he said.
"In political science there is fact and opinion," Walker said. "There is no such thing as a neutral fact."
In an interview after the event, Kraushaar said he felt the panel was a success.
"Just putting the issue on the radar screen, and being able to hear both professors and students that feel that classroom bias, is an issue was a major step," Kraushaar said. "Also, we were able to find a consensus among all four professors - about adding an evaluation portion where students can talk about their comfort in the classroom."
"There were a lot of differences among the panel, but they also found some common ground," Kraushaar said.
