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Home > UC - AFT > UCLA academic freedom issue | |
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UC - AFT NEWS
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California
Federation of Teachers and University Council-AFT
leaders condemn
[Below is a press release issued by the UC-AFT and California Federation of Teachers on January 20 condemning the attacks on academic freedom represented by the right-wing ideologue David Horowitz and his erstwhile protoge, Andrew Jones.] January 20–In response to the January 18 Los Angeles Times story, “UCLA Alumni Group is Tracking ‘Radical’ Faculty,” leaders of the California Federation of Teachers and its University of California affiliate, the UC-AFT, denounced efforts to choke academic freedom at the Los Angeles campus by a small radical right wing operation, the misleadingly named “Bruin Alumni Association.” CFT President Mary Bergan said, “Although few people who have been paying attention are fooled by this campaign, we can’t let any effort to erode academic freedom pass unchallenged. If allowed to gain traction, the neo-McCarthyite effort represented by the “Student Bill of Rights” and spin-offs like this tiny UCLA group represent a threat to open academic inquiry and discussion. We intend to see that the public learns what it really represents: an attempt to stifle classroom debate and replace it with the chill winds of fear.” UCLA Lecturer Bob Samuels, who is also the president of the University Council-AFT, noted that “It’s pretty revealing that this so-called alumni association has no members. It’s a shell, a front group. Organizations such as this and their mentor, David Horowitz, intentionally misrepresent how academic freedom works. The notion of academic freedom is the heart of higher education and research and is predicated on the idea that faculty and students have to be free to pursue truth no matter where truth leads them. Without the protection of this type of academic freedom, there can be very little research or teaching.” Samuels, whose union represents three thousand UC lecturers, also pointed out that “This cultural war is coming at a time when an increasing number of faculty in America no longer have tenure, and therefore they do not have their academic freedom protected in the first place. Ultimately this conservative attack functions to obscure the changing political realities of higher education: the loss of tenured faculty, the defunding of instruction, the corporatization of the administration, and spiraling student fees in what was set up to be a free public higher education system.” Katherine King is a Professor of Comparative Literature & Classics, and a Vice President of the UC-AFT campus local. She has also been named one of BAA's "Dirty Thirty.” In her view, “Although Andrew Jones claims to be defending the rights of students subjected to one-sided indoctrination by radical professors, Jones has no idea what those professors do in the classroom. His profiles castigate me and my colleagues for signing petitions, publishing articles and books, attending anti-war protests, supporting affirmative action, and contributing money to causes. In other words, he is attacking us for doing what all citizens should: participating in the political life of the campus, city, state and nation.” King added, “The professors who are attacked by Jones probably have one thing in common: we believe we must teach critical thinking about the literary, historical, sociological, anthropological and legal facts that we present. We must preserve the university as a place where such critical thinking—as well as active participation in the political process-- can flourish. Our democracy depends on it.” UC Santa Cruz Lecturer in Community Studies Michael Rotkin said, “The BAA website provides a great deal of character assassination, with no supporting evidence other than the fact that many of these professors are liberal or left. And they are obviously fishing for evidence with their $100 rewards. Predictably, some disgruntled students will be encouraged to offer false testimony.” Rotkin, who is also a UC-AFT vice-president and Mayor of Santa Cruz, added, “The attack not only affects the thirty targeted professors but could have a chilling effect on anyone who teaches at the university. If one looks at the backers of this group, it's obvious that this is part of a wider effort to create a political litmus test at the university. It's very reminiscent of the McCarthy period in the 50s -- something we hoped we had put behind us.” Background The pattern has been remarkably consistent. Professors are charged with “political correctness;” a student or two claims to have been intimidated or issued grades based on politics; and a list of professors deemed too liberal, radical, or “Communist” has been produced. But another part of the pattern has received less attention. In virtually all cases, colleges and universities have existing mechanisms for students to file grievances over such concerns. Yet the complaining students have failed to utilize these, opting instead to go to the press with sensational, overblown, and outright false stories of overbearing professors and violated rights. In February of last year, for instance, ten instructors at Santa Rosa Junior College awoke one morning to find that someone had posted flyers, each adorned with a bright red star, on their office doors. The flyer cited Education Code section 51530, which prohibits “the advocacy or teaching of communism with the intent of indoctrinating or inculcating a preference in the mind of any pupil for such doctrine.” The individuals responsible remained anonymous until a few days later, when a student club, the SRJC College Republicans, claimed credit. A press release from the organization said, “We did this because we believe certain instructors at SRJC are in violation of California state law.” Marty Bennett, who teaches social science at SRJC, received one of the flyers on his office door. Said Bennett, “Isn’t it interesting that not one student filed a grievance using the established college procedures? If there was a problem with any of these teachers, the students could have used this avenue, but they didn’t.” Now the witch-hunt has moved up the ladder to UCLA. The California Federation of Teachers and the UC-AFT are committed to doing whatever it takes to expose the real intent of these opponents of academic freedom, to ensure the rights of the academic professionals under attack, and to defend the rights of students to a quality public education free of an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. For more information contact Fred Glass. |
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© CFT 2003