Oso planning to go pro
The problem is that the teacher's politics, religion, etc. can alter what he or she considers racist, offensive, homophobic, etc. I side with social liberals on gay marriage and most other "rights" issues but am still uncomfortable with the labels (homophobic, racist, offensive) they reflexively assign to any who take an opposing viewpoint.
If you don't mind me asking, when were you a student at MU, and what was your major? I did not have the experience that it was very conservative and am wondering if it was a departmental or different time period thing.
True, to an extent, though there are some things that are pretty clearly racist/sexist (derogatory terms for minorities and women) and some that are borderline. Also, to be clear, when I speak of these terms, I'm not talking about how I react to them; I'm talking about their likely effect on the other students in the class, who have the same right to an education as the person speaking. I tend to let the borderline ones go, as long as they are germane to the discussion and I trust other students will jump in to counter. But I do know from years of experience what kinds of things will shut down discussion or take it in a unproductive direction, and I'm not going down that road.
Having taught for many years, I will say that nothing incites the dudgeon of a student more than being told, "we're not talking about that now. We're moving on to another topic." But without the power to do that as a professor, every class would degenerate into a shapeless mass of expressed opinions where the mere fact of expressing an opinion becomes more important than careful analysis of claims and evidence.
I went back and re-read the original blog post that started this whole thing, and I'm more convinced than ever that this is a bunch of people on all sides getting their backs up over nothing.I think if McAdams didn't use the TA's name, this would have been nothing. McAdam's shouldn't have identified her, but I don't think he's attacking her and he is using this scenario to attack a broader point (which may or may not be legitimate but is something worth discussion). He spends almost as much time attacking the college leadership as he does conveying the events in the classroom itself.Maybe I'm being insensitive but I think this is a series of minor errors that added up to an unnecessary black eye. TA shouldn't have said what she said. Student shouldn't have been so reactionary/gotcha. McAdams shouldn't have used the TA's name and he used the blog to influence the leadership decision(IMHO).
Wow, I'm very concerned for Benny. Being able to mimic Myron Medcalf's writing so closely implies an oncoming case of dementia.
Touche. I've been advocating for the closing of all but about 50 law schools nationwide (unfortunately MU would be one of them) for a while now. Nothing positive comes out of law schools.
i knew i was having trouble with the identification of the ta cheryl abbate as a "student" but benny, you nailed it perfectly for me-thanks
Maybe a good comparison might be an intern? I've had plenty and while you expect them to do a good job, as an intern they are also there to learn. If they screw something up, you take them aside and talk to them about it - then it's over. You don't publicly berate them or call them out in front of the whole company.
to answer your question forgetful- yes it is legal to record conversation without the consent of other partyhttp://wislawjournal.com/2010/06/21/commentary-laws-vary-on-whether-recording-is-allowed/
As an MU law alum, you would honestly leave UW as the only law school in Wisconsin?!? My God, we really do need to close MU's law school if you're the kind of lawyer we're turning out!!!
09/10 to last year. Started as political science and psych then moved over to advertising.
Down 1 w 5 seconds left. Doable.
Hmm, I graduated in '09, public relations major w/ a polysci minor, and I honestly did not get anything resembling a overly conservative vibe from either polysci or the College of Comm. I'd agree with someone else who posted that MU is probably right of the typical university, but left of center. Different viewpoints, different experiences though.
this just in-school district doesn't seem to think there is anything wrong here...yethttp://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/12/19/school-islamic-vocabulary-lesson-part-common-core-standards/
Lighten up, McAdams - you just illustrated perfectly why we can't get along. You want to take a discussion about responsibilities of TAs and teachers and turn it into a soapbox for your muslim-hating views.
come on brandi-i was just responding to eldon's question-not trying to divert anything. mcadams? nice touch, just don't call me francis
Just givin' you a hard time, Shirley.
My God, the irony here is so thick I think it's giving me emphysema. I couldn't agree with this more. I looked at the original blog post this morning for the first time (I know, I broke my own rule #1 above), and frankly, I don't see anything unprofessional about what he said. Therefore, I don't see this as McAdams attacking a innocent student, I see it as exactly what Eng said in bold above. Censuring McAdams because he's being critical of the system (not necessarily of a student or colleague) is not in academia's best interests, and on that point I think we all agree.Where we disagree is:A) Does the context of the blog entry in any way constitute harassment, humiliation or conduct unbecoming of a Marquette employee?andB) Should the TA's name have been used.With respect to A, there's nothing directly humiliating, harassing, etc., but I think the issue is with the subsequent life the issue took on once others picked it up. To put this on McAdams that he either knew or should have known that there would be this sort of fallout from the blog entry is a difficult case to make. Things go viral for no reason whatsoever these days... I've seen YouTube videos that are way more clever, funny, unique, etc. that have less than a tenth of 1% of the page views than some of the crap that's gone viral out there does. Not every one of McAdams blog entries has led to this type of fallout, and there was nothing inflaming that would have made it stand out. Even if the media is known to make mountains out of molehills, that doesn't mean you automatically place the unintended fallout* on the back of the original source.* Maybe that's 'C,' because no, I don't think McAdams intended for any of where this has led to happen.On B, you've got two former TAs on the record here with differing opinions as to a TA's stature in higher education. But let's not overlook one fact: the student, as a TA, is in a position of power and with power comes responsibility (damn you, Stan Lee). Seriously though, the TA is a part-time employee of the University and she is a part-time student, but she is not entitled to the benefits (i.e. protections) of a student when she is acting as an employee just as she is not entitled to the benefits of an employee when she's acting as a student. Therefore, I don't see anything wrong with McAdams naming her in his entry, just as I wouldn't see anything wrong with him naming any other professor, adjunct or administrator at Marquette or any other institution.
A graduate student teaching assistant is leaving Marquette University after being publicly targeted by a tenured professor for her response to a student who wanted to argue against gay marriage in her ethics class, according to a national blog for philosophy professionals.Teaching assistant Cheryl Abbate will transfer next month to the philosophy PhD program at the University of Colorado, Boulder, after being accepted through an expedited admissions process, according to the Daily Nous blog for philosophy professionals maintained by Justin Weinberg, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina.Several sources independently confirmed that Abbate received "vile" emails and threats of physical harm after Marquette associate professor John McAdams accused her in a Nov. 9 post on his conservative-leaning Marquette Warrior blog of "using a tactic typical among liberals now" with the student.