Apr 7, 2006 7:14 am US/Mountain
Churchill, Horowitz Debate In D.C.
By Jennifer Talhelm, AP Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) ―
The University of Colorado and professor Ward Churchill are examples of a "sea change" in academics in the last 30 years, in which leftists now dominate U.S. colleges and impose their opinions on their students, academic critic David Horowitz said during a debate Thursday.
Churchill argued Horowitz is wrong to assert that there is standard that can be applied to decide what is appropriate to teach.
"There is no consensus, there is no homogeneity, there is no truth," Churchill said.
Horowitz, an author and critic of American colleges, and Churchill became archrivals after an essay Churchill wrote likening some Sept. 11 victims to a notorious Nazi caused a national furor over academic freedom and university hiring practices.
The two met on stage before more than 200 cheering students and others at George Washington University Thursday to debate whether teachers should voice their political opinions in the classrooms. The debate was the opening event of a Students for Academic Freedom conference, a group Horowitz chairs.
Citing a slew of examples, including Colorado high school teacher Jay Bennish, whose lecture critical of President Bush was caught on tape by one of his students, Horowitz said liberal teachers are taking advantage of their positions to opine on subjects they aren't qualified to talk about.
Schools need to operate under an academic bill of rights, which would guarantee students the right to attend class without teachers using their lecterns to deliver political speeches, Horowitz said.
"The issue here isn't whether every student is brainwashed, it's whether it is appropriate," Horowitz said.
Churchill responded that the mainstream or accepted view of a subject isn't always right or fair. When he was in 8th grade, for example, he said he voted for the socialist candidate in a mock presidential election because he thought it would be "cool."
He was held in detention after school for the next two weeks "for having the audacity to deviate from the mainstream," he said. "That is indoctrination."
Churchill agreed with Horowitz that students should be taught to evaluate a subject for themselves.
In his controversial essay, Churchill, a tenured professor of ethnic studies, called some of the victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks "little Eichmanns," a reference to Adolf Eichmann, an organizer of the Holocaust. He later said he was referring to "technocrats" who participate in what he considers repressive American policies around the world.
Angry demands for Churchill's dismissal poured in from around the country. CU said he could not be fired for expressing his opinion, but the event prompted an investigation of his research.
Horowitz, a founder of the New Left in the 1960s, who now advocates for free speech, became one of Churchill's loudest critics, saying he illustrated the problem of unqualified teachers in American colleges and universities.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
