A Call for Action

A study released by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) demonstrates an imbalance in viewpoints that is seriously affecting students and faculty. Although 72% of professors at American universities describe themselves as liberal, this is not the main issue, the ACTA claims. Instead, the issue lies in statistics resulting from a survey that the organization conducted of students at the top 50 colleges. It found that 49% of students say that their professors frequently discuss their political opinions in class, even if the course does not deal with politics. 29% of students feel like they need to agree with the political opinions of their professors in order to get a good grade in the course. Also, panels, lecture series, and reading assignments are shown to only present one side of controversial issues.

The ACTA claims that intellectual diversity on college campuses has increasingly declined because “…for decades higher education leaders refused to acknowledge the problem. They were simply in denial.” The organization noted that diversity on college campuses may include backgrounds, but it does not include viewpoints.

Student complaints from the University of Iowa reflect the nationwide trend. “Students also cite the appearance of anti-Bush cartoons and slogans being flashed on the projector screen before class, frequent and regular anti-(Bush) administration comments during class and even tests containing ideologically oriented questions on them with right and wrong answers,” according to therealitycheck.com. “Because of this, students claim that they are afraid to express their views openly in class out of fear that they will face further humiliation and potentially other forms of retribution.”

“Students also point out that these incidents regularly occurred in medical, not political science or social science class.”

The ACTA provided 16 practical suggestions for universities to use in order to address these issues. Among these were to conduct a study to assess the state of intellectual diversity, to incorporate intellectual diversity into institutional statements, to eliminate free speech codes, to encourage balanced panels and speaker series, to use visiting professors to achieve greater diversity, to encourage diverse departments, and to create a university ombudsman that can report on the state of intellectual diversity at the school.

The coverage by therealitycheck.com indicates that U. of Iowa officials are a long way from this ideal in dealing with undergraduate allegations of classroom bias: “Complaints made by students and family to the school’s administration appear largely to have been dismissed; with one administration official actually suggesting to a concerned family member, that he should henceforth stay out of the matter all together.”

In ACTA’s attempt to encourage intellectual pluralism and academic freedom, it acknowledged that each institution of higher education should use these suggestions in a way that best reflects the mission of their particular institution. In taking some of these steps, colleges can expose “students to a variety of political, ideological, and other perspectives” in order for the student to make an informed decision about a particular issue. In this way, the student is able to combat viewpoints in order to find reason, the true mission of institutions of higher learning.

Rosemarie Capozzi is an intern at Accuracy in Academia.