Thursday, March 08, 2012

Professor cannot mock female student

Colleges are filled with professors who are anti-American in various ways. Ever wonder what a professor has to say to get censured by his management? University of Rochester president Joel Seligman issued a statementdenouncing one of his professors:
Landsburg went further. He stated that Ms. Fluke’s position deserved “only to be ridiculed, mocked and jeered.” ... To openly ridicule, mock, or jeer a student in this way is about the most offensive thing a professor can do. We are here to educate, to nurture, to inspire, not to engage in character assassination.
I had no idea that a professor had an obligation to respect the views of a 30yo law student of another university 1000 miles away. Prof. Landsburg has succeeded in doing "about the most offensive thing a professor can do", according to his boss. This makes me wonder what would be grounds for dismissal, if he has already done the worst.

Sandra Fluke's testimony was that she wanted 30-cent contraceptive pills to come bundled with her $50k law school tuition, at no additional cost. I understand that some people don't like the name-calling, but is she really so helpless that she should not be mocked?

1 comment:

R. Stanton Scott said...

Professors have no obligation to respect the viewpoints of students a thousand miles away. But they have an obligation to disrespect the actual viewpoint held by the student rather than his erroneous summary of it, and to respectfully dissent with other academics. Publicly mocking students is not professorial, and reflects poorly on the institution that hired him, hence UR's interest.