H -°, L 6° | Tomorrow: 
H 18°, L 6°Much brouhaha is being made of a relatively isolated and likely minor incident recently arising from Professor Scott Straus’ class, Politics of Human Rights. One side of the debate alleges a disruptive student — discontent with the notion of allowing a seminar to proceed — took it upon himself to inappropriately challenge his professor’s lesson plans. The other side reveals a professor stubbornly set on the preaching of politicized material in lieu of traditional material. This board is thoroughly uninterested in crediting either contention and, more so, must express a deep concern that such a solitary occurrence has become banner news. Aside from the specific allegations at hand, Professor Straus is a man of high regard among his peers and other students.
But in recognizing the sensational nature of this story, we realize it to be merely another prong in the continuing and frightful assault currently being launched upon academic freedom. Though it seems inappropriate for professors to borrow their captive audiences for purposes of espousing propaganda, the reality remains that for a complete education to be achieved, one must be privy to the arguments comprising both sides of the ideological spectrum. Things may not balance out — in fact, we are rather assured academia leans left — but in attending lectures, doing readings and writing papers that garner some 120 credits, one would have to strike the most remarkable of ostrich-poses to avoid exposure to many political and philosophical sides of an argument, each being offered in dignified, credible manners.
As Ward Churchill sits under fire for his radical scribbling, the state of Wisconsin contemplates the attachment of strings to tenure and the Ivy Tower is continuously perturbed by other suggestions of the like, it is important to remember that the free exchange of ideas is perhaps the greatest essential component to a true education.
At the same time, however, such a flow of ideas necessitates an orderly classroom environment. As such, a class hijacked by a dissenting student would present a dire scenario for the health of academia. To deny a professor control and direction of the classroom is to deny learning.
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Satan must have his space heater on today… big-ups to the Ed. Board for this piece.
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“At the same time, however, such a flow of ideas necessitates an orderly classroom environment. As such, a class hijacked by a dissenting student would present a dire scenario for the health of academia.”
Of course this result is only relevant for the case of left-wing professor and right-wing student. In the case of right-wing professor and left-wing student the professor would be hanged in effigy (if not in actuality). But then this is a purely theoretical concern, as no right-wing professor would ever be stupid enough to challenge a left-wing disruptor. The lack of diversity in professors at Madison also makes this unlikely.
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I love how the editorial entitled “molehill” ends with “a dire scenario for the health of academia”. What a pointless, stupid, and petty dig at the Daily Cardinal, just because they out-scooped your asses.
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Hey dumbass, I think the molehill is the mountain of crap being thrown at the professor, not the dire problem of you conservatives getting scared of an educated populace.
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“dire problem of you conservatives getting scared of an educated populace”
Education is fine, indoctrination is objectionable.
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“In the case of right-wing professor and left-wing student the professor would be hanged in effigy (if not in actuality). But then this is a purely theoretical concern, as no right-wing professor would ever be stupid enough to challenge a left-wing disruptor.”
Speaking of mountains of crap…..
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way to say this isnt a big deal, and then write a whole editorial about it anyway. You know you’d be going crazy with this story if only it was the Badger Herald, and not the Cardinal, that broke this story.
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Do you people know how to read? The point of the article was that it SHOULDN’T be a big deal, but that it was. And the fact that it was is evidence that free speech is under attack.
Let’s all read the article before forming a comment, shall we?
And why don’t you morons shut up about education. Your idea of teaching people is to leave out facts that challenge the authority of those in power. You would rather pretend that nobody was ever discriminated against because of their class, religion, race, gender or sexual orientation, and that the culture in the U.S. is flawless and never needs revising.
And by morons, I mean anyone who is against freedom of expression and thinks the trials and tribulations of underepresented people are not worth hearing about. Unlike the rest of the ignorant students at this school, I’m not going to assume these people are either left or right, or Conservative or Democrat, and I’m not going to stupidly maintain that all Democrats are left or vice versa. There are idiots and intelligent people in all of these categories, so stop whining and labeling yourself as “us” and other people “them”. This feeling of division is precisely why disruptions are happening in classes in the first place.
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I love the allegations of Herald folks being jelous of Cardinal folks. If the Cardinal had broken a real story, maybe. But the truth is they ran a story no more important than, “Student does laundry, loses left sock” as headline news. And, yes, then the cardinal is irresponsible like that, a good newspaper will do its readers the service of an editorial like this one.
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I love the allegations of Herald folks being jelous of Cardinal folks. If the Cardinal had broken a real story, maybe. But the truth is they ran a story no more important than, “Student does laundry, loses left sock” as headline news. And, yes, then the cardinal is irresponsible like that, a good newspaper will do its readers the service of an editorial like this one.
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“What a pointless, stupid, and petty dig at the Daily Cardinal, just because they out-scooped your asses.”
I really hate saying this, since I love the Cardinal as much as I generally hate the Herald (plus, their writers are hotter), but to put it bluntly, the Cardinal was fucking retarded for even running this story about some weak-ass attention whore, and even more so for giving it front page, above-the-fold coverage. Bah.
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Herald writers are far hotter. More blondes. More cleavage in the mug shots.