Tuesday, November 26, 2002

Web Site Lists Professors Who 'Indoctrinate' Students By THOMAS BARTLETT A new Web site allows students nationwide to anonymously accuse their professors -- who are named -- of political bias. Some of those professors are calling the site "silly" and "cowardly." The site, NoIndoctrination.org, which was announced last week, was started by Luann Wright two years after her son took a writing course at the University of California at San Diego that she found objectionable. "All the essays they had to read were race-related and I thought that was a little odd for a writing course," said Ms. Wright, a former high-school science teacher who now designs science curriculums. She also disliked a reference to men as "phallocrats" in one of the essays. Linda Brodkey, a professor of literature at the university, designed the course in question, though she did not teach the class that Ms. Wright's son took. "We tried very hard to make a course that would introduce students to the range of issues they are expected to form opinions about," Ms. Brodkey said. The course did not endorse one particular opinion over another on any issue, she said. Ms. Brodkey was involved in a similar controversy more than a decade ago at the University of Texas at Austin. A writing course she helped revise was deemed to have a liberal bias by some critics, including the National Association of Scholars. (See an article from The Chronicle, November 21, 1990.) Ms. Wright's Web site allows students to rate the perceived level of bias in a professor's lecture, reading list, and class discussions as "noticeable," "objectionable," or "extreme." It also permits students to post accusations anonymously, a practice Ms. Wright defends because identifying students would invite retaliation from professors, she says. Professors can write rebuttals to students' accusations, though so far only one has been posted. That statement was from Geoffrey Schneider, a professor of economics at Bucknell University. In his rebuttal, he called the student's accusation of bias "a typical comment by a hyper-sensitive conservative without a fundamental grasp of the material." Another professor listed on the site, Theodore J. Lowi, a professor of government at Cornell University, said he had no plans to post a rebuttal. "I won't dignify it with a response if they don't identify themselves," he said. The posting accuses Mr. Lowi of "subtle liberal evangelism." Robert D. Crutchfield, a professor of sociology at the University of Washington, is accused by an anonymous student of "thoroughly indoctrinating" students in his "Introduction to the Sociology of Deviance" course. According to the student, the professor believes that criminals must be rehabilitated rather than punished -- a mischaracterization, according to Mr. Crutchfield. "What embarrasses me is that this student so completely misunderstood what I was teaching on these topics," he said. He said he does not plan to respond on the site. Nearly all of the postings complain about a pro-liberal bias among professors. But Ms. Wright, who calls herself "as middle-of-the-road as you can get" politically, said she is against bias of any kind. "I would be just as appalled if a professor were describing abortion as baby killing," she said. Ms. Wright added that unlike the Web site Campus Watch, which lists professors that it believes have an anti-Israel bias, her site is not concerned with a professor's research. "I'm worried about what goes on in the classroom," she said. "I feel we're doing our students a grave disservice when we have this sort of education where students take a writing course that is really more of a social-programming course." Ms. Wright said her site is not affiliated with any other organization and is supported by donations. One posting accuses Cecilia Rao, who is listed as a professor at Barnard College, of putting too much emphasis on "the plight of the low-income family" in a course called "Poverty and Income Distribution." But according to a college spokeswoman, no one by that name teaches at Barnard and the course does not exist. Background articles from The Chronicle: A Pro-Israel Web Site Removes 'Dossiers' on Professors (10/11/2002) U. of Texas Postpones Writing Course, Kindles Debate Over Role of Outsiders in Academic Policy (2/20/1991) Battle Rages Over Plan to Focus on Race and Gender in U. of Texas Course (11/21/1990) Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

Colleges can decide what to tell FBI about foreign students, registrars' group says UMass role in federal agents' questioning of Iraqi-born professor upsets faculty Report calls for major research effort into how to improve higher education Virginia Union U. cuts 16 staff positions to help close projected $1-million deficit Web site lists professors who "indoctrinate" students 5 new chief executives are announced California Supreme Court rejects movie group's suit against former Purdue U. student National U. creates a for-profit company to run growing online programs