The Delusional, Dysfunctional and Dishonest

A panel on academic freedom at a symposium sponsored by the group founded by conservative author and activist David Horowitz featured a classic face-off between the educational establishment and education reformers.

“Let’s not create policy on the basis of unsubstantiated allegations,” responded William Scheuerman, president of the United University Professions, the nation’s largest higher-education union, to allegations of political indoctrination. “I would like to see more rigorous sets of data.”

Scheuerman was one of several speakers, brought together by the Students for Academic Freedom for their first national convention, held at the Washington Court Hotel in the nation’s capitol. SAF is the group founded by Horowitz to promote his academic bill of rights.

Terry Hartle, the vice president of governmental relations at the American Council on Education, agreed with Scheuerman, noting, “There is little evidence of a widespread problem.” Hartle then claimed that the incidents of abuse that have been reported by students are “anecdotal” and “not scientifically significant.”

In response, one audience member explained to the panel that the reports are scientifically significant by academic standards. Hartle then asked the woman, “Are you a professor?”

She answered, “Yes, and a proud conservative latino, too.”

Hartle cried, “Oh, good God!”

Dr. Candace de Russy, a member of the Board of Trustees at the State University of New York (SUNY) and another speaker on the panel, disagreed with Scheuerman and Hartle; “They declare in unison that there is no abuse,” she continued, “but whoever can deny academic bias in the face of the mountain of evidence is delusional, dysfunctional, or just dishonest.”

She then shared her experience with the academic hearings held at SUNY, which she labeled “kabuki theatre” because of the skilled manipulation of the presenters. “It was a one-sided presentation led by SUNY insiders,” she claimed; “No effort was made to find students who had suffered abuse, and only one untenured professor who believes there is a problem with intellectual diversity had been invited to speak. Only at my insistence were two other such professors included, and one of them was invited only the day before the meeting.”
It is not surprising then, that the committee ended the hearings without finding a problem with academic freedom at SUNY.

Still, Scheuerman believes that the Academic Bill of Rights is just an attempt by the right to get more conservative professors in the classroom. “The Academic Bill of Rights is a house of cards,” he claims. “You [Horowitz] want to move out left-wingers and move in right-wingers.”

“It is so dispiriting to have to prove the obvious,” said Horowitz. He then compared the movement for academic freedom to the movement to end sexual harassment: “How many sexual harrassment cases were brought forth before there were regulations in place?” he continued. “Unless students know their rights they can’t complain.”

Rosemarie Capozzi is an intern at Accuracy in Academia.