Conservative Professor, A Challenge

[ethics]

This week, the Chronicle of Higher Education (http://chronicle.com/free/v51/i05/05a00801.htm) printed an article on the challenges of being a conservative professor. And here's the transcript (http://chronicle.com/colloquylive/2004/09/discrimination/)of an online discussion based on it.

Robert G. Natelson, a full professor at the University of Montana's law school, wants to teach constitutional law.

Four times he applied to teach the course when there was a vacancy. Four times he was denied. Next spring he will get to teach the course on a temporary basis, but only because of recommendations from an outside mediator.

Mr. Natelson says the university's reluctance has nothing to do with his scholarship and teaching -- and everything to do with his conservative political views.

[rhobite]

I'm going to college part-time right now, at UMass Amherst. A conservative professor would be a welcome change - I haven't had one openly conservative prof, yet. Maybe my microecon prof was, he didn't really get into it. My macro prof was Richard Wolff, who is pretty much a Marxist. Other courses have had liberal slants, to the point where students who supported conservative viewpoints would be dismissed by other students.

Some people overplay the image of "ivory tower" academics, but the truth is campus is often a very liberal, politically correct place to be. I'm not surprised this professor is having trouble finding a job.

[cdw]

How can students "be free to think and express a range of views" if they know their professor has run for govenor on a Republican ticket and advocates vocally for conservative views?

What a funny question to ask. I would think for the 'liberal' thinking student it would be a perfect opportunity to explore and express their views. As it would be for the conservative student with a liberal teacher, as long as the teacher (of either position) was not using their position as the "authority" but encouraging debate. Isn't that supposed to be the whole point?

[joseftu]

Well, I read the whole article (I read the Chronicle every week), and I should point out that this professor is not having trouble finding a job, he's having trouble getting assigned to teach a specific course he wants to teach. His job is not in danger.

I certainly am not in a position to judge his specific case--it may well be that the problem is prejudice against his political views--but we have exactly zero evidence, other than his claim, of that.
But it is not always clear that politics is the cause of professional discord -- and such is the case with Mr. Natelson. The hearing officer did not consider whether the professor had been discriminated against on the basis of his politics, finding only that Mr. Natelson had been treated unfairly. So the university's president, George M. Dennison, directed E. Edwin Eck, dean of the law school, to establish an independent committee to evaluate Mr. Natelson's teaching, scholarship, and service in deciding whether to assign him to the constitutional-law course permanently.

Mr. Eck, who calls himself a conservative Republican, says he was disappointed, but only because he felt that the ruling would hamper his ability to consider teaching evaluations in assigning professors to teach courses. Some evaluations, he says, had criticized Mr. Natelson for a lack of collegiality with both students and professors.

Gregory S. Munro, a professor at the law school, says he doesn't believe that his colleague is being discriminated against. "The problem lies in his ability to work and play well with others," he says.
Prof. Natelman <b>says</b> that he doesn't get to teach the class because he's conservative. But there are many other possible explanations--and we shouldn't automatically accept his side of the story.

[Copzilla]

I'm not going to disagree with you, Joe, because I think you're right, that there can be more to it than what one person says. It would seem that this is the case, but there's always more than one side to the story.

I would offer that the same acid test needs to be applied to all accusations of bias and misconduct, wherever they're found, whether an accusation of racism by a black person, or accusations by a citizen against a police officer, or accusations of bias against gays.

It does happen - all of it - but people also leverage their complaints to create an advantage, as such is part of the human condition. Lots of whining. So all things with a grain of salt, and the burden of proof on the complainant. Saying so doesn't ever make it so.

[joseftu]

I would offer that the same acid test needs to be applied to all accusations of bias and misconduct, wherever they're found, whether an accusation of racism by a black person, or accusations by a citizen against a police officer, or accusations of bias against gays.Absolutely. I agree completely.

And I should add that if his accusations <b>are</b> correct, then there's a big problem, and his department deserves some serious consequences. Teaching assignments (like tenure and promotion decisions) should be made without any regard to political affiliation or stance.