Some of us classify as liberal, others as conservative. Either way, college students have a notorious reputation of being very outspoken. College students are new into the world and ready to heard, opinions and interests can be found debated and shared all over campus’ across America. Well, the question at hand is, if college students expect to be heard and exercise their first amendment rights, are they the only ones that can? Because recently it has seemed a bit hypocritical.
This past summer, a professor at LSU, Teresa Buchanan, was fired for using foul language and for telling a joke with a sexual reference during a lecture. Also, professor Dwight Anderson at Bucks County Community College (BCCC) in Pennsylvania was fired for mentioning god in the context of his farewell letters to students by saying: “If each of us, little by little with God’s help, can incorporate these foundation stones of goodness into our lives, we will find an anchor for our lives, which will result in a deep and lasting satisfaction through life, and allow us to influence the world for good as we live out our lives.”
He was reported by a student to a dean and was removed from the college as a professor.
Steven Salaita, a professor of University of Illinois who was under a tenured contact was dismissed from the university this past summer due to tweets critical of Israel. Salaita then filed a lawsuit against the university.
My point here, is that students expect to be able to express their opinions and words as they please, publications, social media, rallies, and organizations. They do not their ideals to be accepted by everyone who hears them, however they expect them to be respected. For this matter isn’t it odd that professors don’t receive the same conditions?
Obama recently touched on this topic when speaking at an education town hall in Des Moines. The topic was brought about because GOP contender Ben Carson recently requested that the Department of Education revoke any federal funding from colleges that engage in "extreme political bias.” Obama then shared his opinion on the matter at hand:
“I’ve heard of some college campuses where they don’t want to have a guest speaker who is too conservative, or they don’t want to read a book if it had language that is offensive to African Americans, or somehow sends a demeaning signal towards women. I’ve got to tell you, I don’t agree with that either -- that you when you become students at colleges, you have to be coddled and protected from different points of view.”
College students are independent, and absorbing information everywhere they go, generating an opinion to represent themselves with. To threaten colleges who show political bias with a withdrawal of funding is absurd and hypocritical. Since when has the First Amendment gone out the window so conveniently? Let the professors speak, let the politicians speak, and let the college students grow without boundaries and limitations of what they can and cannot hear.
