You're Being Watched!

The Young Conservatives of Texas have published their Top Ten Professors Who Push a Left-Leaning Ideological Viewpoint on the students of the University of Texas. Some of the offending professors include:

Instructor: Robert Jensen
Department: Journalism
Course Evaluated: Critical Issues in Journalism
Spring 2004 courses: Critical Issues in Journalism

In a survey course about Journalism, one might expect to learn about the industry, some basics about reporting and layout, the history of journalism, the values of a free press and what careers make the news machine function. Instead, Jensen introduces the unsuspecting student to a crash course in socialism, white privilege, the "truth"; about the Persian Gulf War and the role of America as the world's prominent sponsor of terrorism. Jensen half-heartedly attempts to tie his rants to "critical issues" in journalism, insisting his lessons are valid under the guise of teaching potential journalists to "think" about the world around them. Jensen is also renowned for using class time when he teaches Media Law and Ethics to "come out" and analogize gay rights with the civil rights movement. Ostensibly, this relates somehow to his course material.

Instructor: Edmund T. Gordon
Department: African and African-American Studies
Course evaluated: African-American Culture
Spring 2004 courses: Blacks and Resources

A black student in the class who held conservative politics asked what was wrong with being black and conservative, and Gordon implied that if you're black and conservative, you're not black enough, and you're not doing what's in the best interest of the black community. He's called himself a radical and displayed a political agenda of changing students' minds toward a far left ideology. Most of what's taught consists of how blacks were and are oppressed, which would seem to deprive students of other important elements of black culture.

Instructor: Jennifer Suchland
Department: Government
Course: Race, Class, & Gender
Spring 2004 courses: Unspecified GOD 312 section

Since all GOV 312 courses fulfill the second half of the Texas Legislative requirement for 6 college credit hours of U.S. government, not all 49,000 UT students are required to take a GOV 312 class that deals specifically with race, class, and gender issues; there are other GOV 312 sections. However, since GOV 312 is a required class, many UT students may enroll in this section anyway, particularly if it fits their class schedule. This class deals with race, class, and gender issues primarily from a conflict theory or, more accurately, a historical-materialist perspective, as originated by Hegel and Marx, not from a classical liberal worldview. Although during class discussions Suchland allows dissenting ideas, all of the course readings greatly accentuate oppression and exploitation in the U.S. along race, class, and gender lines. If you believe in the American Dream and that the U.S. is a land of great opportunity, nothing in the readings from this class will confirm that belief.

So the Watch List includes 10 professors who teach from a liberal perspective? Ten professors from a school with 49,000 students and thousands of professors and the young conservatives are going to bitch and moan? Are you freaking kidding me? This is typical conservative hyperbole at its best. Any belief contrary to the conservative position is a "danger" and should be discredited as some kind of leftist propaganda. If you read through their Watch List, you'll notice a clear commitment to the traditional ideals of U.S. American culture (i.e. American Dream). The traditional conservative party line, towed unquestioningly by The Young Conservatives of Texas and members of my nuclear family, looks to the past for some idealized notion of American ideologies. A return to the days of the idyllic 1950s is what we need! Malt shops, poodle skirts, Pat Boone, and "We Like Ike." Damn, those were good old days.

In their rush to embrace traditional values, however, conservatives frequently gloss over the truths of the past. They conveniently forget that much of our nation supported and justified racial segregation, restricted the role of women to the domestic sphere, and ignored the growing socio-economic schisms between lower, middle, and upper class. Conservatives would respond to my statement with yet another traditional response: "If people of color, women, and the poor wanted to change their lot in life sooner they should have done something themselves." Pick yourself up by the bootstraps! Additionally, if they'd admit to the difficulties of the past they'd no doubt argue that the problems no longer exist in contemporary society. And that mentality is EXACTLY why we need the professors on the Watch List. Rather than blindly championing the dominant discourses of our culture ("sexism, racism, and classism no longer exist"), these professors offer an alternative reading of our past, present, and future. Let me point out that we're talking about ten professors out of thousands. Ten. In my mind, that isn't nearly enough.

If the Young Conservatives of Colorado ever put out a watch list, I'd better be in the top ten. I'd consider anything less as a complete and utter failure.

Kudos to the professors on the Young Conservatives of Texas Watch List. Keep up the good work!