Safe Space? NC Republicans propose politcal party quotas for college professors

[pbrower2a]

Does anyone want to bet that ALEC is behind this?

[pbrower2a]

I wouldn't be opposed to this sort of rule in departments where one's political views may affect the content of the course, but it's not appropriate in say, the math or english departments.

There are already rules -- for example, college professors cannot give more positive grades  for working for one Party than for another., Were I a professor I would have trouble with someone in my class getting credit for working for candidates of the Knights' Party (a KKK front)  but I would have to give credit if such were mandated by the rules of the syllabus. I would hope to give more credit  for a well-written essay pushing conservative ideology than for a sloppily-written essay pushing liberal ideology. Maybe I would have big trouble with someone who wrote an essay wishing that Nazi Germany had defeated the USA and brought the Holocaust here...

It is difficult to separate such studies as economics, sociology, political science, and political history. Teach Shakespeare's Macbeth, and you can hardly avoid discussing the horrors of thug government. I'm guessing that that play was not a favorite in Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy, Stalin's Soviet Union, Satan Hussein's Iraq...

If it becomes employees, then I can imagine a Republican-dominated University allowing Democrats to work as janitors, warehouse workers, clerk-typists, food-service employees, or animal handlers (in the agriculture department)... Such would create a political Apartheid in the universities, and it would be consistent in turning public colleges, the only ones that many students can afford, into propaganda mills.    

[pbrower2a]

I suppose NC Republicans are already planning their new jobs for after the midterms...

Many failed politicians become lobbyists or college teachers.

NC Republican's at the State House are out of control... and I don't think are even representing the thoughts of Republicans in our state.... If so, they are not the Republican's I know!

I am beginning to recognize that many conservatives are coming to the conclusion that Donald Trump is a political disaster. Americans would have had an easier choice between two politicians who have voting records. Without a voting record, Donald Trump was a pig in the poke.

The ethnic and religious bigotry, the failed-but-grandiose business ventures, the contempt for objective truth, and especially the "grab them by the crotch" statement all warned me that he was the worst possible Republican who could be nominated. As a  liberal I  find religious and ethnic bigotry intolerable. The failed-but-grandiose business ventures (sure, I would expect much failure in oil wildcatting, venture capital, or in movie investments, but that goes with the territory) were a warning. It's easier to spot a liar on politics when one disagrees with him on issues than if one shares most of his agenda (I voted for John Edwards in the 2008 Democratic primary) than if one agrees with him on cultural and economic issues -- so on that I must exculpate conservatives for catching on later on Donald Trump before I did.

Nobody could have predicted how chaotic his Administration would be.

I feel some sorrow for what conservatives are going through. Someone likely not their first choice, someone for which many conservatives had misgivings, won.  I can't say "I told you so"; indeed I am surprised at how bad he is. He is so bad that I wish that Mitt Romney had won the 2012 election and effectively shut Donald Trump out of a political role for which he is completely unfit.

We are going to get into some nasty scrapes because of the President's inconsistency and overblown ego. If his handling of the economy is as capricious as that of his handling of foreign policy we can expect a swift and catastrophic end to the Obama bull market.

Liberals and conservatives alike will experience much the same pain from bungling of the economy and foreign policy. The markets and the monetary policy are the same for us all. We may be sending our sons and daughters off to the same wars, and they have just the same chance, whether their parents are liberals or conservative, of returning in body bags.  

C-SPAN gave a new ranking of the Presidents in overall quality, and ranked former President Obama #12. He may have been boring -- thus the nickname "No Drama Obama". He did effective stewardship of the economy, allowing America to get out of an economic meltdown as severe at its outset as the one beginning in 1929. He had no scandals. He did not fight tendencies in legal decisions. He whacked the most dangerous terrorist in American history. He eased America out of a messy war in Iraq. He gave us a flawed Affordable Care Act that Republicans will have a difficult time putting out of operation. He did not get us into new troubles. By 2020 Americans will want a President with similar probity and overall wisdom -- even if that President is a conservative Republican.  

[pbrower2a]

Lol @ liberals supporting AA but not this.

The idea is to make colleges reflect the opinions of the GOP majority in 2017. Republicans would be wise to scrap this idea because it will

(1) do nothing to improve the quality of education,
(2) will saddle the universities with professors who get few students
(3) will eventually lead to protests when the political climate changes

I prefer that colleges be comparatively placid places where people do real teaching, learning, and research... and not arenas for pitched battles of ideology. 

Ho9w do we know what the political climate will be four years from now?

[pbrower2a]

Something to consider: political conservatives generally trust for-profit entities much more than do political liberals. Conservatives are more likely to seek careers in for-profit activities that many liberals find abhorrent. Liberals tend to steer by default to academia (whether colleges or K-12 education), the professions, and the civil service.

Are conservatives as well suited for academia by temperament? Some are. Not enough, though.   

[pbrower2a]

Lol @ liberals supporting AA but not this.

     It really shows the ignorance of the values of the liberal society that has descended upon us. Diversity is valuable for the variety of ideas it brings to the table. There is no sense in supporting some diversity measures while opposing one that directly contributes to the diversity of ideas.

Corporate America has a captive audience for political propaganda of its choosing among anyone who works in the for-profit sector. "Tax reductions for shareholders, a national right-to-work law, abolition of the minimum wage, tort reform, etc. will create more jobs and hence opportunities here" is about what I would expect -- and it is all in line with the Reactionary Party.

College students who have held a job in a fast-food place or retail store are already exposed to the propaganda of the American Right -- from their employers.