Joanne Jacobs correctly summarizes the attitudes of the educrats in the social work program at Rhode Island College: "Conform or get out."
A master's student in social work at Rhode Island College failed a course because he refused to lobby the legislature for liberal causes he didn't support, reports FIRE. Bill Felkner took Professor James Ryczek’s fall 2004 “Policy and Organizing” class, which required students to lobby for one of a list of causes, none of which Felkner supported.
The details (at FIRE's website) are atrocious:
Last fall, master’s student Bill Felkner received a failing grade after protesting a professor’s admitted bias in class and after writing an essay in connection with a lobbying assignment that dissented from that professor’s approved perspective. Felkner’s situation comes in the wake of RIC’s attempt to punish a professor for refusing to censor constitutionally protected speech...
Bill Felkner’s trouble with the RIC School of Social Work began in Professor James Ryczek’s fall 2004 “Policy and Organizing” class. When Felkner wrote an e-mail to the professor about what he felt was liberal ideological bias at the school, Professor Ryczek responded, “I revel in my biases,” and added, “I think anyone who consistently holds antithetical views to those that are espoused by the profession might ask themselves whether social work is the profession for them.” Ryczek suggested that if Felkner did not agree with the school’s political philosophy, he should consider leaving or finding another line of work. After Felkner made Ryczek’s comments public, the professor refused to communicate any further with him through e-mail.
RIC’s infringement of Felkner’s rights continued after Ryczek’s e-mail. In class, Ryczek assigned students to form groups to lobby the Rhode Island legislature for social welfare programs from an approved list. If a student could not find a suitable social welfare topic on the list, he or she could also lobby for gay marriage. Felkner did not support any of these programs or issues and asked Ryczek if he could instead lobby against one of them or for the Academic Bill of Rights. This request was refused.
Bill's own words are here:
Don't misunderstand. There are great professors at Rhode Island College, but in the School of Social Work (SSW), even the good ones practice political indoctrination. As one faculty member put it, "The SSW is not committed to balanced presentations, nor should we be." How does this loss of academic freedom affect Rhode Island? Besides robbing us of intellectual diversity that spawns creativity and knowledge, it does tangible damage to our economy and, more important, the poor.
One requirement of graduation is that we lobby the State House on social-justice issues. I selected the Education and Training bill, as it is the core of welfare reform, my career interest.
Welfare programs are employment- or education-focused, further defined by "strict" or "lenient" requirements. Rhode Island has a "lenient, education-focused" model, and the proposed legislation advocates greater leniency. Statistics provided by the school, backing this approach to welfare, seemed persuasive to me at first. However, I found the school's study inadequate, so I looked for more information...
When I told my professor that the research suggests that I advocate for "employment-focused" programs, I was told that this was a "perspective school," and they don't teach that perspective. If I lobby on this bill, I must advocate for the perspective mandated by the school.
Let's draw a straight line: The school teaches the "perspective"; graduates get jobs at the state Department of Human Services and the Poverty Institute; the DHS testifies (using Poverty Institute "research") to the State House on how well programs are doing. How can we blame politicians for developing ineffective programs when they are guided by biased testimony?
And please remember Thomas Wright. He was beaten to death, allegedly by foster parents deemed acceptable by this same "perspective." A girl, pregnant at 16, dropped out of high school, had a second child on welfare, and is now 21. Your taxes paid her to be a proper "role model" for Thomas.
When you look at only one point of view, you never know if you are right or wrong. You just continue to think you are right (until someone gets killed).
Posted by kswygert at February 25, 2005 12:07 PM