SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Professors worried students will share lectures with 'right wing sites'
Jon Street
Managing Editor
@JonStreet
on Mar 19, 2020 at 12:42 PM EDTProfessors across the country are expressing concern over courses being moved online as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
One professor expressed concern that "right wing sites" could expose what is being taught in college courses.Professors across the country are taking to social media to express their concern over being forced to deliver their course lectures online amid the coronavirus outbreak, sharing with each other tips on how to limit the number of people who are able to see what they're teaching students, and criticizing "right wing sites" and even Campus Reform, specifically.
Texas Christian University Associate Professor of Political Science Emily Farris tweeted Thursday, "if you are recording a lecture on anything controversial, be prepared for right wing sites to ask students to share it." Campus Reform reached out to Farris via Twitter Direct Messaging to allow her the opportunity to further explain her comments or to clarify. She later blocked the author of this article on Twitter.
LaSalle University Assistant Professor of Public Health Christen Rexing replied to Farris' tweet, asking why others could find topics such as "gun safety, women's health, elections, etc." to be "controversial, as they are "evidence-based."
"Seems like the flood gates could open," Rexing commented in response to courses moving online.
University of North Carolina political science graduate student Stephanie Shady also weighed in, saying, "Annnnd I just realized that the second half of my course focuses on public opinion towards and politicization of immigration. This will be interesting." Another user with the Twitter name "Prof CWO" replied "Sigh, I teach about white nationalism and this has been my biggest fear since we began transitioning to online instruction."
Columbia University political science professor Jeffrey Lax said he has been "thinking about" how students would be able to record classes.
Trinity College Associate Professor of Political Science Isaac Kamola who, as Campus Reform previously reported sought to hire a "Campus Reform Early Responder," specifically mentioned Campus Reform in his reply to Farris.
"If Campus Reform harasses you or someone you know, the best response is to 'follow the money.' Campus Reform receives $1.4 million from the Leadership Institute, a Koch-funded organization designed to delegitimize academics they consider too left. They are not a new [sic] source," Kamola tweeted.
A user whose website says they are a history professor at a "community college in North Texas" wrote, "I'm taking steps to limit this but nothing is foolproof."
Farris asked how Gunter was working to ensure her lectures are not made public, to which Gunter responded with one tip for her colleague.
"Instead of posting videos direct to LMS (which would then own them) I'm posting links to the videos on youtube. The videos themselves are 'unlisted' meaning you can't find them in a search or if you go to my page-only if you have the direct link. Doesn't stop link sharing though," Gunter said.
https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=14563
So, here I am, trying to wrap my head around the fact that liberals FEAR the possibility of the public learning what they are teaching. Does that make any sense at all? If I want to shape the world, wouldn't I WANT more people to hear the word, to understand my thoughts and goals, and hopefully to get on board with my agenda?
Instead, we have liberals who FEAR the idea that their thoughts might go viral.
Imagine that. We might suspect that liberal college professors are actually just propaganda indoctrination technicians. Brainwash the kids while they are young, before they develop critical thinking skills, right?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @07:27PM
Ahhh but you, quite ironically, perfectly illustrate what I mean. Practically all [wikipedia.org] of academia were some of the biggest voices behind eugenics - Harvard, Wharton, Stanford and all the old money philanthropic organizations - the Carnegie Institution, Rockefeller Foundation, etc. And, in fact, nearly all universities even had courses specifically about eugenics as part of their curriculum. And as genetics was still in its infancy, the majority of arguments were specifically of the ethical and moral sort.
In particular imagine somebody is about to be born. You know this child will end up a murderer of great harm and no value to society. If you have the choice, is it ethical to prevent this birth? Regardless of whether you view the world deontologically, consequentially, or in a simple utilitarian fashion - the answer would probably be yes. From this point you've already created the ethical foundation of eugenics. What remains is little more than a question of certainty and criteria. E.g. what if you're 99% sure? What if instead of being a murderer he's "just" rapist? So forth and so on.
We could go further, but it's beside the point. I'm certainly not arguing in favor of eugenics. I'd rather pluck my own eyes out than to see our dysfunctional governments be granted [...more...] power over life and death itself, regardless of the arguable utility. But that's because of my own personal beliefs, not because I think eugenics is not supportable. The sole reason you apparently seem to think there could exist no argument in favor of eugenics from a moral or ethical viewpoint is exclusively because you have not been taught, or at least not learned, *how* to think, but only *what* to think. And that is sad. It results in you having such a limited perspective of the world due to impaired reasoning and logic abilities.