Horowitz Takes on Prof on Air

Last week was Academic Freedom week on Radio Free Penn State, a public affairs show on Lion Radio, Penn State University’s radio station.

“Issue advocacy is bringing our ideology into the classroom. Everyone does it,” said Penn State Professor Sam Richards, who in fact believes separating ideology from the classroom is impossible.

Professor Michael Berube and Professor Richards of Penn State, David Horowitz, Representative Gibson Armstrong, David French of the Alliance Defense Fund and a number of past and current students took part in the four days of programming sharing their views on academic freedom issues.

In the first day of programming, Berube talked and Richards faced off with Horowitz by telephone.

Berube told listeners that there is certainly a surplus of liberals in the academy, especially in English, Humanities and Arts, but that he does not think it has anything to do with hiring.

“I think weeding out happens long before the job search,” Berube said explaining that conservatives leave college and get jobs and go into politics, they don’t spend years going to graduate school and then teaching. Berube’s humor was evident when he followed this up saying, “Maybe there are so many liberals in the academy because they [liberals] are not as smart about the way the world works.”

Berube, who is listed in David Horowitz’s new book The Professors, stated that Horowitz quotes him out of context in the book and uses it to condemn him. He did not have the opportunity to debate Horowitz on air. Berube is the author of several books including What’s Liberal About the Liberal Arts?: Classroom Politics and “Bias” in Higher Education and Higher Education Under Fire; Politics, Economics and the Crisis of the Humanities. He also blogs at http://www.michaelberube.com.

Horowitz did have an on-air discussion with sociology professor Sam Richards, who is also listed in Horowitz’s book. Richards began by asking Horowitz how he was chosen for the book, and received a response that Horowitz criticizes Richards for supporting the idea that all education is indoctrination and for being unqualified to teach race relations. Horowitz also explained that he wanted people from all sizes of schools, public and private located across the country so professors were also chosen to be geographically representative.

“You say you never took an academic course in race and you are not published on the topic either,” said Horowitz.

Richards disagreed with Horowitz’ assessment that he is unqualified to teach race relations and asked the author what he would have to do in order to be qualified. “If I had taken a graduate course in race” would that qualify me? Richards asked.

“I’ve been teaching for 15 years and have read about 50 to 100 books, I talk about race every day,” said Richards.

Horowitz said that his new book is a critique against the university for not following its own standards. He also asked Richards about issue advocacy, and specifically regarding the appropriateness of Richards making attendance at the March for Democracy a class assignment. That mention was from a Penn State Collegian article.

According to Richards, the March for Democracy was not a protest, but it was required for his students and promoted progressive ideas such as redistribution of wealth and an anti-corporation mentality. He disagreed with Horowitz that it is inappropriate.

Julia A. Seymour is a staff writer for Accuracy in Academia.