Professor Watchlist

Last updated

Professor Watchlist
Education Watch
Professor Watchlist Logo.jpg
Type of site
Database of academics believed to "discriminate against conservative students"
Available inEnglish
Owner
URL
CommercialNo
Launched2016;9 years ago (2016)
Current statusActive

Professor Watchlist is a website, run by conservative advocacy organization Turning Point USA, that lists academic staff which Turning Point believes "discriminate against conservative students, promote anti-American values and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom." [1] It was launched in 2016 and had listed about 200 professors by December of that year. [2] [3] The website erroneously claimed that Hunter Biden would "assist in lecturing a course" at Tulane University in the fall semester of 2021. [4] [5]

Contents

Responses to the site include the American Association of University Professors and The New York Times raising fears that it threatens academic freedoms by harassing and intimidating staff, conservative magazine National Review describing it as an "irritable gesture" of victimhood by conservatives, and concerns about the safety and welfare of staff following a trend of threatening behavior and communication, including rape and death threats, being sent to listed faculty. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

In December 2016, 1500 professors and faculty from across the globe petitioned to have their name added to the list in solidarity with academics who had been targeted and intimidated following their listing, with the message that the listed are “the sort of company we wish to keep.” [11] Turning Point UK also maintains a similar site, Education Watch, which has been described as "McCarthyism in the UK", despite gaining support from Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg and Home Secretary Priti Patel. The Council for the Defence of the British Universities has also called Education Watch "populist rightwing propaganda". [10]

Sourcing

Concerns have also been raised about the process in which academic staff are listed. Professors have reported being listed for any discussion of race or politics, including in academic publications. Julio Cesar Pino, a professor of Latin American history, was added to the list on the basis of rumors that the FBI may have investigated him for having connections to ISIS. Lamb, a director of constitutional enforcement and transparency at Turning Point, has described the site as "simply aggregating" professors who have been the subject of news reports. [8]

Campus Reform, a part of the Leadership Institute, and Discover the Networks, a website run by the David Horowitz Freedom Center, was the source for most of the professors initially listed on the Professor Watchlist. [12]

Concerns

Slate columnist Rebecca Schuman described the website as "abjectly terrifying" and said that she feared for the safety of the listed professors. [13] Some have criticized the website as a threat to academic freedom; Hans-Joerg Tiede, the associate secretary for the American Association of University Professors' department of academic freedom, tenure and governance, told TheNew York Times: "There is a continuing cycle of these sorts of things. They serve the same purpose: to intimidate individuals from speaking plainly in their classrooms or in their publications." [14] One professor included in the site, George Yancy, wrote that it is "essentially a new species of McCarthyism, especially in terms of its overtones of 'disloyalty' to the American republic". [15] [16]

According to Inside Higher Ed , some critics consider the website "more annoying than dangerous". [16]

Critics including Peter Dreier of Occidental College—who is listed on the site for having criticized the National Rifle Association and using Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States as a required text—have pointed out errors of fact that may make Professor Watchlist less than reliable as a source of information. Dreier's entry formerly listed him as a former employee of the Industrial Areas Foundation and as the man who inspired college student Barack Obama to become a community organizer. Dreier identifies these claims about him as "complete fantasy". He also noted elements of his biography that the website completely omitted, such as his work with labor unions, his activism in favor of a minimum wage, and the books he wrote. [17]

Kent State professor Julio Pino said to The New York Times the site is "a kind of normalizing of prosecuting professors, shaming professors, defaming professors." [18]

The website's organizers say that it simply provides conservative students with a guide to their professors, akin to RateMyProfessors.com, [19] enabling them to avoid left-wing classes. [20]

Over one hundred University of Notre Dame faculty members signed an open letter asking to be included in the site, saying in part: [21]

We surmise that the purpose of your list is to shame and silence faculty who espouse ideas you reject. But your list has had a different effect upon us. We are coming forward to stand with the professors you have called "dangerous," reaffirming our values and recommitting ourselves to the work of teaching students to think clearly, independently and fearlessly.

In response to the Notre Dame letter, University of Chicago psychology professor Leslie Kay started the website "Free Academics". This website lists the names of professors across the United States who have signed it to ask for their names to be added to the list. As of December 2016, it had over 1,500 signatories. [22]

The list has been accused of disproportionately targeting professors of color and other minority professors. [23]

The website has been criticized for using surveillance type propaganda to manipulate ideas of truth, equality, and freedom. [24] [25] [26] Critics have compared Professor Watchlist to the actions of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, who tried to publicly identify American citizens as Communists and Communist sympathizers in the 1950s. [27] [28] The New York Times wrote that it was "a threat to academic freedom." [24]

Hans-Joerg Tiede, a staff member of the American Association of University Professors, said of a professor who was named for writing a book chapter on teaching mathematics to minority ethnic children: "She was inundated with death threats. She was Jewish and received anti-Semitic threats and threats of sexual assault. Instances like that are happening with some regularity". [29]

See also

Related Research Articles

Campus Watch is a web-based project of the Middle East Forum, a think tank with its headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to its website, Campus Watch "reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North America with an aim to improving them." Critics of Campus Watch say that it is a pro-Israel lobbyist organization involved in harassing, blacklisting, or intimidating scholars critical of Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression</span> American free speech organization

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), formerly called the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit civil liberties group founded in 1999 with the mission of protecting freedom of speech on college campuses in the United States. FIRE changed its name in June 2022, when it broadened its focus from colleges to freedom of speech throughout American society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middle East Forum</span> US-based foreign policy think tank

The Middle East Forum (MEF) is an American conservative 501(c)(3) think tank founded in 1990 by Daniel Pipes, who serves as its president. MEF became an independent non-profit organization in 1994. It publishes a journal, the Middle East Quarterly.

Academic freedom is the right of a teacher to instruct and the right of a student to learn in an academic setting unhampered by outside interference. It may also include the right of academics to engage in social and political criticism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central European University</span> Private Research University based primarily in Vienna

Central European University is a private research university with a campus in Vienna and a non-degree, research and civic engagement presence in Budapest. The university offers graduate and undergraduate programs in the social sciences and humanities, which are accredited in Austria and the United States.

Judicial Watch (JW) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit American conservative activist group that files Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits to investigate claimed misconduct by government officials. Founded in 1994, Judicial Watch has primarily targeted Democrats, in particular the administrations of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, as well as Hillary Clinton's role in them. It was founded by attorney Larry Klayman, and has been led by Tom Fitton since 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert P. George</span> American legal scholar and political philosopher (born 1955)

Robert Peter George is an American legal scholar, political philosopher, and public intellectual who serves as the sixth McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He lectures on constitutional interpretation, civil liberties, philosophy of law, and political philosophy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Fitton</span> American activist (born 1968)

Thomas J. Fitton is an American conservative activist and the president of Judicial Watch.

Accuracy in Academia (AIA) is an American organization that seeks to counter what it sees as liberal bias in education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freedom Caucus</span> Republican US congressional caucus

The Freedom Caucus, also known as the House Freedom Caucus, is a congressional caucus consisting of Republican members of the United States House of Representatives. It is generally considered to be the most conservative and furthest right bloc within the chamber. The caucus was formed in January 2015 by a group of conservatives and Tea Party movement members, with the aim of pushing the Republican leadership to the right. Its first chairman, Jim Jordan, described the caucus as a "smaller, more cohesive, more agile and more active" group of conservative representatives. Its current chairman, Andy Harris is considered to be a far-right politician due to some of his radical proposals.

Online shaming is a form of public shaming in which targets are publicly humiliated on the internet, via social media platforms, or more localized media. As online shaming frequently involves exposing private information on the Internet, the ethics of public humiliation has been a source of debate over Internet privacy and media ethics. Online shaming takes many forms, including call-outs, cancellation, doxing, negative reviews, and revenge porn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turning Point USA</span> American conservative non-profit organization

Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative politics on high school, college, and university campuses. It was founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk and Bill Montgomery. TPUSA's affiliate groups include Turning Point Endowment, Turning Point Action and TPUSA Faith. TPUSA has been described as the fastest growing organization of campus chapters in America, and according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, is the dominant force in campus conservatism.

The political views of American academics began to receive attention in the 1930s, and investigation into faculty political views expanded rapidly after the rise of McCarthyism. Demographic surveys of faculty that began in the 1950s and continue to the present have found higher percentages of liberals than of conservatives, particularly among those who work in the humanities and social sciences. Researchers and pundits disagree about survey methodology and about the interpretations of the findings.

Academic freedom in the Middle East is a contested and debated issue, which has caught regional and international attention. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, in general, the authoritarian regimes have all showed a certain degree of opposition to every sort of freedom, academic one not excluded, regardless of the type of regime basis they had. Freedom for academicians to inquiry, research, teach and communicate ideas or report facts without being threatened or persecuted or with the possibility of losing their position, being censored or repressed is threatened. What contributes to academic freedom violations is also that they are essential elements for the regimes to maintain their power and in addition to this issue, interstate and civil wars as well as internal disorders and external intervention can damage educational structures and institutions. Additionally, as far as the regime is concerned, a security or national threat can be a pretest for suffocate or suspend academic research and debate. Restrictions on academic freedom also regards the topics of research, which are under significant constraints, although these might be highly interesting and worth researching.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Kirk</span> American political activist (born 1993)

Charles James Kirk is an American conservative political activist. With Bill Montgomery, he co-founded Turning Point USA (TPUSA) in 2012, for which Kirk serves as executive director. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Turning Point Action, Turning Point Academy, and Turning Point Faith; president of Turning Point Endowment; and a member of the Council for National Policy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canary Mission</span> Website established in 2014

Canary Mission is a doxing website established in 2014 that publishes the personal information of students, professors, and organizations that it considers to be anti-Israel or antisemitic, focusing primarily on people at North American universities. The website is run anonymously and it is intended to silence critique of Israel.

Cancel culture is a cultural phenomenon in which an individual thought to have acted or spoken in an unacceptable manner is ostracized, boycotted, shunned, fired or assaulted, often aided by social media. This shunning may extend to social or professional circles—whether on social media or in person—with most high-profile incidents involving celebrities. Those subject to this ostracism are said to have been "canceled".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turning Point UK</span> Right-wing political advocacy group

Turning Point UK (TPUK) is a British offshoot of the American student pressure group Turning Point USA. The UK group was set up to promote right-wing politics in UK schools, colleges and universities, with the stated aim of countering what Turning Point UK alleges are the left-wing politics of UK educational institutions. The close similarity of Turning Point UK's rhetoric and target demographic to that of Generation Identity, a continental European group with racist and Islamophobic intentions, has been noted by scholars of hate studies and the far-right.

Amanda A. Gailey is an American academic and political activist. She is an associate professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Gailey authored Proofs of Genius in 2015.

Higher education in the United States is an optional stage of formal learning following secondary education. Higher education, also referred to as post-secondary education, third-stage, third-level, or tertiary education occurs most commonly at one of the 4,360 Title IV degree-granting institutions, either colleges or universities in the country. These may be public universities, private universities, liberal arts colleges, community colleges, or for-profit colleges. US higher education is loosely regulated by several third-party organizations.

References

  1. ↑ Flaherty, Colleen (November 22, 2016). "Being Watched". Inside Higher Education (published November 22, 2016).
  2. ↑ Sidahmed, Mazin (December 2, 2016). "A conservative website is targeting professors and accusing them of spreading 'left-wing propaganda'". Business Insider .
  3. ↑ Sidahmed, Mazin (December 2, 2016). "Professor Watchlist website elicits both fear and ridicule in US universities". The Guardian.
  4. ↑ "Hunter Biden". Archived from the original on November 8, 2021. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  5. ↑ Swenson, Ali (April 30, 2021). "Hunter Biden is not teaching at Tulane University". Associated Press . Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  6. ↑ Ferguson, Michael (May 2017). "The AAUP in the Trump Era". American Association of University Professors . Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Add My Name to the Professor Watchlist". American Association of University Professors . Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  8. 1 2 Mele, Christopher (November 28, 2016). "Professor Watchlist Is Seen as Threat to Academic Freedom". The New York Times . Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  9. ↑ Schorr, Isaac (October 9, 2020). "Don't Understate the Consequences of a Political Monoculture on Campus". National Review . Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  10. 1 2 Fazackerley, Anna (March 10, 2020). "'McCarthyism in the UK': academics fear shaming for leftwing views". The Guardian . Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  11. ↑ Strauss, Valerie (December 14, 2016). "'The sort of company we wish to keep': More than 1,500 academics ask to join controversial 'Professor Watchlist'". Washington Post . Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  12. ↑ Knott, Katherine (November 23, 2016). "What It's Like to Be Named to a Watch List of 'Anti-American' Professors" . Retrieved July 13, 2017– via The Chronicle of Higher Education.
  13. ↑ Schuman, Rebecca (November 23, 2016). "Oh Good, a "Professor Watch List"". Slate.
  14. ↑ Mele, Christopher (November 28, 2016). "Professor Watchlist Is Seen as Threat to Academic Freedom". The New York Times (published November 28, 2016).
  15. ↑ Yancy, George (November 30, 2016). "Opinion | I Am a Dangerous Professor". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  16. 1 2 "Professor Watchlist receives challenge from new blog: Watch List Redux, where being named is intended as a badge of honor". www.insidehighered.com. December 6, 2016. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  17. ↑ Dreier, Peter (December 9, 2016). "Professor Peter Dreier, targeted by Professor Watchlist, says it gets an F for accuracy". History News Network. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  18. ↑ Lester, Kerry (November 30, 2016). "Wheeling High graduate behind conservative 'Professor Watchlist". dailyherald.com. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  19. ↑ Wenzke, Marissa (December 2, 2016). "This controversial website is targeting 'radical' left-wing academics". Mashable.
  20. ↑ Reilly, Katie (December 2016). "Professors Targeted by Conservative Watchlist Fire Back: 'It's Obviously an Attempt to Silence People'". Time (published December 1, 2016).
  21. ↑ "A letter to Professor Watchlist". The Observer. December 8, 2016. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  22. ↑ Strauss, Valerie (December 14, 2016). "'The sort of company we wish to keep': More than 1,500 academics ask to join controversial 'Professor Watchlist'". The Washington Post .
  23. ↑ Gabbatt, Adam (September 17, 2021). "'US rightwing group targets academics with Professor Watchlist': Turning Point USA's list gains fresh attention after it expands and some notice it disproportionately names academics of color". The Guardian .
  24. 1 2 Mele, Christopher (November 28, 2016). "Professor Watchlist Is Seen as Threat to Academic Freedom". The New York Times . New York City. Archived from the original on February 23, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  25. ↑ Schuman, Rebecca (November 23, 2016). "Oh Good, a "Professor Watch List"". Slate . Archived from the original on November 28, 2016. Retrieved November 28, 2016.
  26. ↑ Flaherty, Colleen (November 22, 2016). "Being Watched". Inside Higher Ed . Archived from the original on November 29, 2016. Retrieved November 28, 2016.
  27. ↑ Musto, Pete. "Conservative US Website Targets Professors". VOA. Archived from the original on December 30, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  28. ↑ "The New Blacklist". Pasadena Weekly . January 5, 2017. Archived from the original on January 8, 2017. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  29. ↑ Fazackerley, Anna (March 10, 2020). "'McCarthyism' in the UK: why academics fear shaming for leftwing views". The Guardian. Archived from the original on March 10, 2020. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.