On November 28th, conservative youth organization Turning Point launched a website called Professor Watchlist that identifies 200 academics across the nation as ‘dangerous professors.’ Their crimes, according to Turning Point, include discrimination against conservative students and the dissemination of “leftist propaganda” in the classroom. The website’s release came only days after hundreds of white nationalists gathered in Washington D.C to celebrate the election of Donald Trump, although Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk claimed the two events were unrelated. He also stressed that despite all appearance, Turning Point is not affiliated with the burgeoning “alt-right” movement.
Perhaps Kirk and his peers at Turning Point didn’t intend for their list to set a fascist precedent in academia, legitimizing growing concerns about intellectual freedoms and free speech. It does anyway. The list also raises questions about the importance of questioning accepted narratives in the classroom. These so-called ‘dangerous professors’ push young people to interrogate their own beliefs and to question systematic oppression within society as whole. Some of them are listed simply for being feminists or protesting racism.
As I scrolled through the website, reading the justifications for this McCarthy-esque publication, I began to wonder how many of my own professors could easily be among those listed. An art history professor who assigns readings on feminism, race, and queer theory? A politics professor who regularly denounces the Trump administration’s views on climate change? Academics who Turning Point would deem ‘dangerous’ have shaped my college experience, and undoubtedly the experiences of many of my peers. We have been pushed to examine narratives outside of our own, to question the systems and authorities around us. I would like to believe that my education by these ‘dangerous professors’ has made me a more empathetic person. A crucial part of any college education is questioning the accepted narrative. A good professor will push students to interrogate their own belief systems and the power hierarchies around them. These interactions fuel important dialogues about ourselves and our communities. What will student-professor relationships look like if a single displeased student can earn an academic a place on a watchlist like Turning Point’s?
Education begets empathy. Our most ‘dangerous professors’ constantly push us to engage with narratives outside of our own, to question the authority of those who establish systems like the ones that continue to legitimize the “alt-right”'s fanatic intolerance. As we step into an uncertain future, we must remember that the ability to empathize with others is our greatest weapon against bigotry and hatred.
