Campus Informer - May 4, 2005

Chickens and women, political bias controversy, student escapes death in Darfur and more campus controvery.

By Marcus Mrowka, GWU

South Carolina Legislator Faces Student Wrath for Comments

The South Carolina House Judiciary Committee approved a bill last Tuesday making cockfighting a felony but tabled one that would make second-offense criminal domestic violence a felony. After the decision, State Rep. John Graham Altman said in a television interview, "The woman (who is abused) ought to not be around the man. I mean, you women want it one way and not another." Many students on the University of South Carolina campus were outraged by Altman’s comments. "It’s shocking that fighting with chickens gets five years in prison, but beating your wife almost to the point of death just gets 30 days," said 22-year-old Virginia Spell. "It’s absolutely insulting. I couldn’t speak I was so angry. Two days after the interview, 150 students marched on the State House to protest the comments, some carrying signs that said ‘We Never Thought We’d Rather Be Chickens.’

Fight Over Political Bias Brews

College Republicans at American University sent a letter to the president of the university, requesting that professor evaluations include a question about political bias in the classroom. "Unfortunately, as is the case with many other universities, American University professors favor and actively promote only their own viewpoints in the class," the letter reads. "Students who may disagree or not notice the bias suffer, whereas students who do notice the bias feel that the class is not being taught fairly." The university says it is considering the request, but a spokesperson for the College Democrats says, "I feel that limiting a teacher’s ability to speak on a political issue will sap their ability to effectively teach an issue they have been hired to teach." The Republican group says the letter is just the first effort to have the administration adopt its measure. Progressives on campus better gear up for a long fight, because as you know, if you give a mouse a cookie, he’ll want a glass of milk; if you give conservatives this questionnaire, they will want the entire Horowitz “Academic Bill of Rights.”

USC Student Almost Executed in Darfur

Recently, a University of Southern California student was arrested and almost executed while on a humanitarian mission in Darfur. His crime? Carrying a camera while giving out food and water at a local hospital. The student, who didn’t want to be identified, told the Daily Trojan that he had a photographic permit, but he was still arrested and taken to jail. He was released a few days later, but he still faces charges in Sudan. The humanitarian group he was working with removed him from jail and saved him from pending execution. "They don’t want the outside world to know what they are doing. And the humanitarian workers are the only ones seeing the horrible things they are doing," he said. The student described the situation as “the most horrible situation in the world. It’s genocide; it’s another realm of wrong in the world. They need assistance." Learn more about the situation in Darfur at the Genocide Intervention Fund Site.

Students Upset With Bush as Commencement Speaker

The White House announced President Bush would be making two commencement addresses this year, at the U.S. Naval Academy and at Calvin College, a small Christian school in Michigan. While White House officials may have thought of these as two safe bets, they may be facing a challenge by a group of students and faculty who are unhappy with the selection of Bush as commencement speaker. While Calvin College President Gaylen Byker says the visit “will lead to an enhanced perception of how much Calvin is involved in intellectual and Christian dynamics of our region and the broader society, and I think that the alumni and students will benefit from that” and that he hasn’t heard many complaints, he might not be listening very closely. A web group formed soon after students and faculty were alerted of the decision as a forum for those not pleased with the choice of speaker. In a week, the group has seen over 100 posts, with students, faculty and alumni voicing their objections. Students say they are “unhappy with Bush’s visit because we believe that Christian values require public policies that seek social justice, compassion for the disenfranchised, human rights, a commitment to peace, care and preservation of the environment, and honesty, say, from political leaders—in short, policies opposed to the Bush agenda." As these students made plain, the word “Christian” doesn’t mean “conservative.”

Horowitz Hits Manhattan

Father of the “Academic Bill of Rights,” David Horowitz, visited Columbia last week to talk about “liberal bias” at the university. In his speech, Horowitz said professors were teaching students “to be embarrassed by their own country.” He singled out certain professors, saying they are trying to indoctrinate students with their views. He called professors arrogant and said, “This is the arrogance that comes from talking to yourself and looking in the mirror all the time, which is what professors do on this campus.” No pies were thrown at this speech; instead Horowitz had to tackle questions and comments from the audience. One student, a conservative, told Horowitz he might have more success in getting his message across if he weren’t so hostile. The Columbia Spectator reports that another student attacked Horowitz for distributing a booklet discussing the views of MIT Professor Noam Chomsky. The booklet was entitled “The Ayatollah of Anti-American Hate,” and portrayed Chomsky on its cover wearing a turban. The Spectator gave a rather objective recount of the speech, but seemed to take the description of the Academic Bill of Rights and Horowitz’s background directly from Horowitz’s PR goons.

“America’s Mayor” Gets a Less than Warm Welcome

A recent New York Times article rehashed the controversy that took place at Middlebury College in March after administration officials announced that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani would speak at the school’s commencement. This upset many of the students at Middlebury and an op-ed entitled, "Giuliani Is a Punk, Un-invite Him" was written by senior Ben Gore. The piece criticized the former mayor and referred to him as a racist. A doctored photo of Giuliani accompanied the article, featuring the former mayor with a Hitler-like mustache and haircut giving a Nazi salute. The article and photo created even more controversy surrounding the speaking invitation. The president of Middlebury sent an e-mail to the entire student body, saying the paper’s use of the doctored photo was "a gross misunderstanding of history, let alone of Mr. Giuliani’s record." A week after the article, The Middlebury Campus’ editor, Andrea Gissing, resigned. She recently told the Times that after further consideration, she might have been willing to do it all over again. "It served the purpose of a political cartoon, which is to, you know, make people think about the issue and to react to it in a positive or negative way," she said. The picture might have been distasteful, but it might not have been reason enough for an editor to resign, and certainly not enough for a college president to interfere with the student paper’s decision.

Cover the Uninsured Week Hits Campuses

Noah Wyle plays a doctor on television, but health care is on his mind even when he’s not on the job. Wyle is spokesman for Cover the Uninsured Week, taking place from May 1-8. The initiative is co-chaired by former Presidents Ford and Carter and is the biggest nonpartisan effort in history to raise awareness about the issue. According to their site, 45 million Americans go without health care coverage of any kind each year. Over thirty campuses are getting involved in the effort, hosting rallies, seminars, panels and workshops on the issue. Some say students have an especially important role in the campaign. "Particularly as the future health care professionals, [students] have a vested interest in ensuring that all Americans have access to high quality health care," said Dr. Brian Palmer, president of the American Medical Student Association.