Horowitz to visit Loyola 11/08/06

While Americans and Loyola students prepared to cast their votes in Tuesday's election, the College Republicans were getting ready for a visit from David Horowitz, a well-known conservative speaker, author and civil rights activist.

Horowitz will be speaking in Mundelein Center auditorium on Thursday, Nov. 9. He is an advocate of the concept of academic freedom, and he has proposed that universities nationwide adopt the Student Bill of Rights. This bill (as posted on www.studentsforacademicfreedom.org) states that "The freedom to teach and to learn depend[s] upon the creation of appropriate condition and opportunities on the campus. This means that no political, ideological or religious orthodoxy should be imposed on professor, researcher or student through the hiring, tenure or termination or through the grading system or through the control of the classroom or any other administrative means."

Horowitz began this movement in spring 2003 with the formation of Students for Academic Freedom (SAF). SAF was formed to "stand up for the rights of students to get a professional education and to be free from political harassment in university classrooms," according the Web site. There are currently 182 SAF chapters across the country.

"America has world-class universities in the areas of medical, engineering and the like, but if you look at liberal arts education it's appalling," Horowitz said. "They are less intellectually free and large parts of the curricula are appalling from the point of view of academic standards."

Horowitz pointed out that an exception should be made because Loyola is a Jesuit Catholic university where students know they will be taught Catholic doctrine. In areas like women's studies, black world studies and peace studies, he finds the teachings to be indoctrinations.

"No course is academic if the texts are entirely one-sided," Horowitz said. "In a women's studies program they teach left-wing propaganda because they don't teach non-feminist or conservative feminist point of views. Women's studies is a legitimate study that should be studied from all angles, but you're learning the propaganda of one side under the pretense that it's academic."

Another example Horowitz spoke about was social justice, a concept that is commonly addressed at Loyola.

"Social justice is a left-wing idea," Horowitz said. "For example, the distribution of income in society is unjust. That's a controversial issue. It is legitimate to study it, but if you're promoting social justice you're promoting socialism because that's what social justice is."

"A lot of students are apprehensive to admit they're conservative because they're afraid they'll be ostracized in their classes by professors or students," senior Lazslo Varju, president of the College Republicans, said. "A lot of professors bring their own political viewpoints into the classroom."

Horowitz's campus visit and $5,000 speaking honorarium was facilitated by the College Republicans with help from the Young America's Foundation and the Student Activities Fund.

"I hope [Horowitz's] speech will inspire conservative students to stand up for what they believe in," Varju said. "I also hope the message sticks with everybody, liberal and conservative, that academic freedom is the free exchange of ideas that should be happening at a university."

Horowitz said he draws on his undergraduate college experiences in the late 1950s at Columbia University as a model for academic freedom.

"I was a Marxist and my teachers would have been anti-communist I presume, but it never came into the classroom," Horowitz said. "I was never harassed because of my beliefs."

There are dissenting opinions, however, on the issue of whether or not professors should bring their political opinions into classrooms.

"Politics are a part of life. Professors have personal experiences and knowledge that contribute to their opinions," sophomore Mark Arnold said. "They should be able to talk about that. At this age, students are trying to find themselves and professors play a role in that by saying, 'You can make up your own mind, but here's what I think and why.'"

In a study of 32 elite universities done by the Center for Study of Popular Culture, the Democrat to Republican ratio of professors was found to be 10:1. Though Horowitz said he sees the issue of academic freedom as a nonpartisan one, he did say that liberal students suffer the most because they are not challenged by their professors.

"The conservative kids are challenged all the time," Horowitz said. "They know if they open their mouths to say what they think they have to be able to defend themselves."

Horowitz's latest book, "The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America," argues that left-wing radicals dominate the field of higher education and these professors advocate their own political biases in the classroom.

"On the whole there are more people on the left in academics than in any other profession," philosophy professor Hugh Miller said. "I don't believe you can infer that professors are teaching political preferences though."

A statement on the American Association of University Professors' Web site says, "The AAUP has sharply criticized the so-called Academic Bill of Rights as unnecessary and almost certain to compromise academic freedom rather than defend it."

However, the College Republicans are hoping to shed more light on an issue that they feel greatly affects the more than 375 members of their Facebook group as conservative students at Loyola.

"It's important for Mr. Horowitz to speak here so that students can see that there is more than one perspective," sophomore Justine Perry, secretary of the College Republicans, said. "I hope professors come so they can wake up and see how they are because a lot of conservative students are afraid to speak up in class."

Horowitz will be discussing the issue of academic freedom beginning at 7 p.m. in Mundelein Center auditorium. This event will be free to all students and faculty with a Loyola ID.