2008 Woodie Awards
Issues rise around fine-line of political opinion
Alyssa Fleck
Issue date: 2/22/08 Section: News
Originally published: 2/21/08 at 4:01 PM EST
Last update: 2/21/08 at 6:59 PM EST
Trying to understand just how far his political discussions in a classroom can go, Mark Cohen hesitates to state his opinions but feels that George W. Bush just might push him over the edge.
"If he goes into Iran I'm going to blow, I don't care if I'm going to get disciplined or not," Cohen said.
At a Faculty Senate meeting earlier in the month, the anthropology professor questioned senate members on when it was appropriate to share his political viewpoint with his students, if at all.
"I would say this is not a free speech issue because if I have a license to teach in a classroom, I give up some of those rights," Cohen said. "But suppose I have a political opinion, do I have the right to voice it?"
Cohen went on to use his medical anthropology course as an example, wondering whether or not it is reasonable to express opinions about medical care issues in that class, while explaining that on the contrary, it would not be appropriate to discuss such issues in a physics class.
"One side would be to say, 'hey, I'm here to teach you, if I think what's important to teach you at the moment is politics, maybe that is my right,'" Cohen said, who disagreed with that statement explaining that under normal circumstances he is restricted to voicing his opinion only on a class topic, while making clear that it is in fact his opinion.
However, outside of normal circumstances, Cohen believes there are times when course curriculum should be put aside in order to discuss a "sufficient universal moral issue."
"Think about 9/11, all classes just stopped regardless of what you were doing in a class, it just stopped. Even in a physics class presumably, nobody kept talking physics, I would hope they started talking about 9/11," Cohen said. "It wasn't true in everybody's class but it was true in a great majority."
Cohen said the question brought up to the Faculty Senate discussed whether, when there is such a pressing issue that can't be put aside, a professor can interrupt the class to say not only must we talk about this, but I must condemn it.
"If he goes into Iran I'm going to blow, I don't care if I'm going to get disciplined or not," Cohen said.
At a Faculty Senate meeting earlier in the month, the anthropology professor questioned senate members on when it was appropriate to share his political viewpoint with his students, if at all.
"I would say this is not a free speech issue because if I have a license to teach in a classroom, I give up some of those rights," Cohen said. "But suppose I have a political opinion, do I have the right to voice it?"
Cohen went on to use his medical anthropology course as an example, wondering whether or not it is reasonable to express opinions about medical care issues in that class, while explaining that on the contrary, it would not be appropriate to discuss such issues in a physics class.
"One side would be to say, 'hey, I'm here to teach you, if I think what's important to teach you at the moment is politics, maybe that is my right,'" Cohen said, who disagreed with that statement explaining that under normal circumstances he is restricted to voicing his opinion only on a class topic, while making clear that it is in fact his opinion.
However, outside of normal circumstances, Cohen believes there are times when course curriculum should be put aside in order to discuss a "sufficient universal moral issue."
"Think about 9/11, all classes just stopped regardless of what you were doing in a class, it just stopped. Even in a physics class presumably, nobody kept talking physics, I would hope they started talking about 9/11," Cohen said. "It wasn't true in everybody's class but it was true in a great majority."
Cohen said the question brought up to the Faculty Senate discussed whether, when there is such a pressing issue that can't be put aside, a professor can interrupt the class to say not only must we talk about this, but I must condemn it.
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