Millersville University’s History Department chair, Francis J. Bremer, testified before the state House Select Committee on Academic Freedom saying that schools have grievance procedures in place and these are sufficient for students’ protection.
Bremer shared his belief that university education has the goal of “creating young men and women who are self-reflective and critically engaged with all aspects of the world in which they live.”
He stated that faculty and students express themselves openly on controversial issues and that sometimes a professor’s view may anger or surprise students, but this is good because challenges help critical thinking and leads to better developed arguments.
There should be mechanisms to prevent abuse, Bremer said adding, “At Millersville, and in all universities I am familiar with, there are such mechanisms.”
Agreeing that a majority of faculty may share a political or cultural bias, Bremer suggested that this is normal and changes over time and in different places. He remembered the conservatism of Columbia University during his grad school years and at the same time David Horowitz was a liberal activist at Columbia.
“The point is that the faculty who taught Horowitz and who taught me tolerated different points of view even when they argued against them and occasionally ‘put down’ students presenting immature opinions,” but that this helped them become better thinkers.
Some faculty do overstep their boundaries by introducing inappropriate commentary or by going too far in criticizing a student because the profession is like any other profession and will have a few people who are “unethical or incompetent,” explained Bremer.
At Millersville, students who have a grievance are supposed to meet privately with the faculty member and if no resolution can be made, then the student can appeal to the department chair and then up through administration Bremer said.
As a department chair, Bremer has met with three students over grievances, none of which were ideological in nature he said.
“If there is clear evidence that students are making complaints that are being dismissed without proper consideration then the university should be forced to look at its procedures. If there are simply unsubstantiated reports by students who haven’t bothered to seek proper redress, then they should be dismissed as unsubstantial. It is not enough for witnesses to say that students don’t complain because they ‘know’ the system will be unsympathetic,” said Bremer.
Rep. Gibson C. Armstrong, R-Lancaster, asked Bremer if he thought it was appropriate for professors to post political cartoons on their office doors. Bremer said it would depend, but that he believes there are free speech implications.
Rep. Bernard T. O’Neill, R-Bucks County, said he doesn’t have a problem with cartoons on doors or professors wearing political buttons as long as a student can “enter the office comfortably,” but said that nasty political commentary on the walls are unprofessional. O’Neill also commented that wearing a political button while he was a public school teacher would have been grounds to fire him.
Julia A. Seymour is a staff writer at Accuracy in Academia.
