RE: Liberal Campuses?

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Preston, Elizabeth (PRESTOE@uwec.edu)
Thu, 2 Dec 2004 13:59:42 -0600



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



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