Subject: RE: Liberal Campuses? Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 13:59:42 -0600 Message-ID: <19A6EE157F4C0D4290E98A37C4386B1301108F9E@PEPSI.uwec.edu> From: "Preston, Elizabeth" <PRESTOE@uwec.edu>
Like I said, I don't say things very well...
By "Remember with Bush I" I mean, "Remember with the first George Bush
in the 1992 election"
Sorry.
-----Original Message-----
From: sfpj-request@listserve.uwec.edu
[mailto:sfpj-request@listserve.uwec.edu] On Behalf Of Preston, Elizabeth
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 1:56 PM
To: sfpj@listserve.uwec.edu
Subject: Liberal Campuses?
I don't think I can say this very well, but bear with me...
One thing that really shook me was when John Kerry--I think it was the
second debate--deflected the "liberal" label; he said something to the
effect that "we shouldn't use labels" rather than refining the
signification of what "liberal" means in a positive way. If the
Democrats own candidate acted like "liberal" was a "dirty word," that
helps make it one.
Remember with Bush I he started up with this "family values" stuff,
meaning the values of middle-class heterosexual couples with kids, dog,
etc. The term was immediately and fervently contested by liberals, and
the liberal perspective/signification ended up overhwelming the
conservative.
Elizabeth
-----Original Message-----
From: sfpj-request@listserve.uwec.edu
[mailto:sfpj-request@listserve.uwec.edu] On Behalf Of Drumm, Daniel L.
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 12:53 PM
To: sfpj@listserve.uwec.edu; Tom Wilson
Subject: RE: Liberal Campuses?
Conservatives and the trailing media frame this as an accusation.
"Liberal" is assumed to be a dirty word. Just like McCarthy calling
academics communists. Increasingly, the conservative agenda is to frame
the debate so that the opposition is in a loose / loose situation. If
we point out the flaws in the study, then we are seen as backing away
from the term liberal and lending support the "dirty word" notion.
I think, or hope, that most academics are liberal. I think the proper
response is to agree with the accusation and point out that more
educated people are often more liberal.
-- Dan
-----Original Message-----
Media Matters has a piece on the recent "liberal campuses" statistics
put out by the American Enterprise Institute, including links to the
study and a rebuttal of the study:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200411290005
Kate Hinnant
-----Original Message-----
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1201-31.htm
Below is the opening of an article from Common Dreams, originally from
today's Star-Tribune. I think this bears discussion--perhaps when SFPJ
meets again? The URL will take you to the complete article.
Kate Hale
English
Nothing Sinister About Liberal Campuses by Steven Lubet
Conservative activists are on the march, determined to expose hotbeds of
liberal influence wherever they find (or even suspect) them. Their
latest target is higher education, one of the few corners of American
life where liberal ideas still hold sway.
Indeed several recent studies have confirmed that Democrats greatly
outnumber Republicans -- by ratios as much as 7-1 -- on many university
faculties. This revelation has caused outrage in conservative quarters,
where it is seen as evidence of liberal manipulation, and worse.
*******************************************
C. Kate Hale, Ph.D.
UWEC Dept. of English
Office: 617 Hibbard Hall
halecl@uwec.edu