There is an article in the City Pages about a professor at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota who taught a class on "Racial and Cultural Minorities" and was harassed (my word) by several students "...for various purported sins, from focusing too much on the problems of white people to being insensitive toward students' feelings. [He was]...hauled before the chair of the sociology department to defend his teaching, and ultimately the two most vocal critics ... [were] removed from his class and enrolled in an independent-study program."
The previous year, Martin Markowitz, a tenured professor at Hamline, had also been criticized by two students. It became so rancorous that Markowitz refused to teach the course again the next year.
Here is the link to
The Wanted Man by Paul Demko
What was surprising to me about these two situations is that three of the four most vocal students were of Asian descent. The two students identified by name in the article declined to be interviewed for the story.
While I was reading the article, I had the distinct impression that these students had a covert agenda before they began taking the class. I had the strong impression that this was orchestrated by outsiders.
Philion states that he, too, believes that "...the experiences of himself and Markowitz are part of an organized campaign." Philion has since left Hamline and is now teaching at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota.
In the article, Timothy Brennan of the University of Minnesota and author of "Wars of Position: The Cultural Politics of Left and Right" observed, "These disputes among racial minorities or between racial minorities and left professors is just what the more conservative forces in the U.S. love. It leaves real Neanderthals off the hook."
Has anyone else heard or read about this happening at other campuses? This smacks of a David Horowitz-style attack on liberal professors. What better way to destroy a liberal professor than by accusing him/her of bias and discrimination.