President Simpson once described UB as a place of learning and a "generator of new ideas" that serves a diverse population in today's knowledge-based society. If this is true, why everyday am I bombarded with the same liberal rhetoric from professors and why for the second year is there a biased lineup for the Distinguished Speaker Series?
Plain and simple it's trendy to be liberal at UB. Many students on this campus have no idea between the conservative and liberal ideologies except what they hear during "Rock the Vote" on MTV. UB plays a huge part in a student's life and their individual political thinking. It is time for the university to stop brain washing the students.
I have been fortunate enough to have had only one of what I will call a radical professor. Every student has had a professor who shoves his or her political ideals down your throat.
In my second class of the semester, my professor displayed pictures of soldiers mistreating Iraqi detainees. Gasps erupted in the classroom. I personally would have enjoyed viewing a photo of a solider building a school or giving medical care to a sick child.
In my third class the Iraq and Bush administration was criticized more than five times. My best friend, a UB alumnus whom we will call George, confronted an English professor during a vocal anti-war protest on campus. George ended up registering for one of the professor's courses. The professor spent the semester antagonizing and ignoring George in class because of his alternative viewpoints.
How appropriate is it for professors to be participating in on campus protests and preaching their views in non-political classes?
I truly believe that because UB is a public institution for higher learning that it is inexcusable. We should not have to fear professors if our views differ from the mainstream. Many students including myself question whether professors can remain fair and objective after a student expresses his or her beliefs.
Students should not only question the professors on this campus but the institution as a whole. In the past two years the university has made it clear to the student body and to the community of Buffalo where its political values lie. It became evident when Al Gore began his speech at UB last year with the quote "The former next president of the United States".
First off Al, stop crying, you lost.
UB was so excited to inform the community about global warming that it invited local area high school students to attend the Al Gore speech.
But what does being the next former president of the United States have anything to do with being "Green?" Plus there are plenty of other experts on global warming who have researched the topic for many more years than Gore.
I took no interest in these comments until I realized that each vulnerable high school student was listening and being exposed to garbage propaganda by what many call a celebrity. Most of those students were from public school students in the local community. Those schools are funded by public tax dollars and like our higher institution of learning, politics should play no role unless it is for the sake of learning.
I was all about seeing the famous lunatic Gore and loved how he blamed current events like Hurricane Katrina on global warming. The antics of these individuals, including Michael Moore who is scheduled to speak in late September, usually give me something to laugh about when I am bored.
I laugh because I consider myself a semi-educated person and I believe I understand politics and world issues. Four years ago I was at the front lines of the War on Terror in Afghanistan where political decisions in Washington affected my life directly. For most soldiers, that's all the education in politics they need.
It bothers me that everyday at school I am harassed about my political opinion and my beliefs. I am sorry I don't fit the social norm of a college student, which for most is a crazy pot-smoking hippie. Here at UB we readily accept what rhetoric we hear each day. All I ask is that you seek your own answers as educated individuals attending the largest undergraduate university in the SUNY system.
The Staff Senate at UB has a code of ethics for professors that states members will promote the "free exchange of ideas." It is about time that the community as a whole joins the effort to be fair and objective.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
