14/11: Politicizing Higher Education
Category: American History and Politics
Posted by: an okie gardener
A Waco Farmer mentioned in a previous post that several faculty in his building has posted signs reading "Happy Days Are Here Again." I worked out of that building for several years and can guess whose offices he means.
The Bush is bad and evil and stupid, and Republicans are bad people, and Rush is a big fat idiot cartoons and postings on the bulletin boards outside these faculty offices always bothered me. Students of all political persuasions had to pass this material on the way into those teachers' offices. I suspect that conservative students felt unwelcome and on the defensive when entering those spaces. This is not right.
My own view is that a faculty office is not personal, private space in the same way a home is. It is a space provided by the institution to facilitate the education of the students: a semi-public space. My political views are known through this blog, which I have yet to mention to my students whom I now teach online. When I did face-to-face education and had an office on campus, I kept a politically and religiously neutral office and bulletin board. I wanted all students to be equally at ease; plus, the taxpayers of the state of Texas were not paying me to do political indoctrination.
The Bush is bad and evil and stupid, and Republicans are bad people, and Rush is a big fat idiot cartoons and postings on the bulletin boards outside these faculty offices always bothered me. Students of all political persuasions had to pass this material on the way into those teachers' offices. I suspect that conservative students felt unwelcome and on the defensive when entering those spaces. This is not right.
My own view is that a faculty office is not personal, private space in the same way a home is. It is a space provided by the institution to facilitate the education of the students: a semi-public space. My political views are known through this blog, which I have yet to mention to my students whom I now teach online. When I did face-to-face education and had an office on campus, I kept a politically and religiously neutral office and bulletin board. I wanted all students to be equally at ease; plus, the taxpayers of the state of Texas were not paying me to do political indoctrination.
A Waco Farmer wrote:
1) With very few exceptions, I do not encourage under graduate students to read this blog (nor have I ever mentioned it in class).
2) I am hopeful that there are very few indications of my party affiliation within my office or outside on my bulletin board. Although the big picture of JQA probably gives away my Whigism.