Conservative activist David Horowitz wants to introduce more conservatism to college campuses supposedly so dominated by leftist faculty members that the liberal professor has almost become a clich.
In a proposal he calls the "academic bill of rights," Horowitz wants college administrations to include both conservative and liberal viewpoints in their selection of campus speakers and syllabuses for courses and to choose faculty members with a view toward fostering a plurality of methodologies and perspectives, The New York Times reported April 3.
The Georgia and Colorado legislatures, however, already passed bills along the lines of Horowitz's proposal in mid-March, and more states are considering similar legislation. At Dartmouth, Horowitz's proposal has divided campus conservatives and many faculty members.
While Rockefeller Center director Linda Fowler said she is concerned with students who feel marginalized in the classroom, she does not think that Horowitz's "bill of rights" should be implemented at Dartmouth.
"Professors imposing views is unprofessional to everything we are supposed to stand for," Fowler said. "If Horowitz's stories are true, then that behavior is unacceptable whether the professor is a liberal or a conservative. We don't need federal legislation, but it is not inappropriate to have colleges look at their own practices."
According to Fowler, there are more politically liberal professors at Dartmouth because of selection effects, not liberal biases in the hiring process.
"Generally speaking, people who go into the academy are more interested in ideas and independent thinking, while conservatives are more interested in the private market," she said.
Government professor Richard Winters agreed with Fowler.
"A person's political philosophy is irrelevant to what is done in the classroom," he said. "My job is not to convince a view, but to provide multiple views so students may derive an overall, analytic view."
Winters said the nature of conservatives to hold back in the classroom is partially due to The Dartmouth Review. The Review's sometimes incendiary conservative views cause conservative students to feel anxious about their political affiliation, according to Winters.
Conservative students, such as Dartmouth College Republican president Jesse Roisin '05, said there is a left-leaning atmosphere on campus, pointing to political cartoons pasted on professors' office doors.
"The government department's doors are filled with political cartoons," Roisin said. "It is not offensive, but it does not make a student feel comfortable. The doors are a reflection of who we are, and they are not conservative-friendly. It makes conservatives think twice before talking in a class."
Torivio Fodder '05, vice president of College Republicans and chairman of Students for Bush, agreed.
"There are some who feel that they can't articulate their views, not because of overt professors, but because their views are different from those professors," Fodder said.
Fodder said that campus speeches should feature pairs of opposing candidates to engage in dialogue, thus creating a more meaningful ideological balance. He said most speakers espouse left-wing philosophies and pointed to the recent appointment of former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean as a Rockefeller Center fellow.
Fowler disagreed, arguing that major policy centers already have explicit policies about having a balanced perspective in choosing speakers. Over the course of a year, there will be controversial speakers who will reflect a wide variety of perspectives, she said.
"Balanced programming is not equal to opposing views," Fowler said. "Rather, it is a menu of things that are different."
Both Fodder and Roisin support Horowitz's campaign as a step in the right direction. Fowler, however, said Horowitz's argument is "a slippery slope because, in the end, he is setting up a procedure where everyone gets equal time regardless of theory, logic, and evidence to back it up. We should not go there."
