# Question for college professors: What should a conservative do? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 23, 2019, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099 "2019-08-23T13:36:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099/61 "2019-08-25T01:15:13Z")
> [@skyr](#): > > Where did I say that I was talking about things like evolution in a biology class? Even though you didn’t say it, as my linked post’s cites illustrate, “things like evolution in a biology class” are in fact a major source of actual disagreements between self-described conservative students and professors. I think it’s a bit disingenuous for conservatives to complain about “liberal academia” being biased against conservatives without acknowledging that a large part of the way self-identified conservatism manifests itself in higher education is through viewpoints that are stubbornly anti-science and anti-fact. The modern US conservative movement has a real problem with its dependence on its militant pro-ignorance wing that, for example, swallows all kinds of false statements and conspiracy theories from right-wing sources, while at the same time denying the validity of key science on, e.g., geology and biology and climate change. I’d like to see at least a few conservatives honestly confront the seriousness of that problem before indulging in their routine whining about how academics are so unfair to conservatives because they’re brainwashed socialist hippies who can’t see past their own biases or something. > [@skyr](#): > > However, there were **plenty** of partisan soapbox rants from the social science professors. > Back during my day, they would waste a lot of class time bitching about GW Bush and Fox News. > [@Helena330](#): > > Your day was a long time ago. And the intervening time provides a lot of opportunity for confirmation bias and false memories to get baked in by ideological antagonism. Given how much difficulty students often have with remembering what their professor said in yesterday’s lecture, I’m certainly not taking anybody’s unsupported word for how many “partisan soapbox rants” they heard in class nearly twenty years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099/62 "2019-08-25T02:39:38Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![skyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@skyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skyr)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099/63 "2019-08-25T02:48:11Z")
> [@Helena330](#): > > Your day was a long time ago. I’m currently attending a university and am majoring in two social science disciplines. One of them is sociology, which would be the most obvious for professors to rant about Trump screeching. However, in over ten SOC classes, not one professor has even mentioned Trump. I once asked a prof why not, privately during office hours. She said because it wouldn’t be conducive to her students’ learning which was the most important thing. She wants to produce students who can think for themselves. Other professors have steered classroom discussions away from Trump without comment. It’s pretty obvious they feel the same. > > This assumption by conservatives of what they’re SURE is going on in universities is so manufactured and ignorant. Unfortunately, it’s not very surprising. Education BAD! Learning BAD! :rolleyes: So you’re telling me that **my** experience is invalid because the year 2009 (when Bush left office) is ancient history, but **your** vast experience of taking a **whole** ten classes in social science means you can authoritatively state this is not a problem for **anyone anywhere**? OK, so where exactly is the cut off for when we have to dismiss someone’s lived experiences as irrelevant? That way we know how many other people’s experiences in this thread we should throw out too. If you go to a school where the professors have a culture of keeping their political opinions to themselves, great! That’s how it should be. Based on **my** experience, I do think this is a problem in at least some schools even if not everywhere. While I am not in school any more, the responses to this thread just reinforce to me that this is likely still a problem, with multiple people (including yourself) demonizing conservatives as racist or uneducated because they are skeptical of the current academic system, instead of considering that maybe the reason conservatives feel alienated from academia is **because of the stereotypes about them people like you keep perpetuating**. I do not think "education bad"or “learning bad”. I actually have a doctorate myself. If you actually met me, you would never suspect I am a conservative, since I do not fit the stereotype that many liberals have developed of what conservatives are like. However, I do think it is reasonable to question if all of what is being taught at schools is actually educational. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099/64 "2019-08-25T03:00:54Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Did you read this paragraph? “But the student had also broken campus rules against using recording devices. Thus: a semesterlong suspension, which would only end if he apologized to Cox and wrote a three-page essay about what he did.” [We had a big 5 page discussion of this when it came up.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=819826) So you dont have to read it all, the student appealed the suspension and paper and after lots of pressure the college dropped it. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099/65 "2019-08-25T03:05:32Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > You absolutely can do that. Science does that all the time. “We don’t know. We have some ideas. We’ll keep looking. Please keep the grant money coming.” > > What we don’t do is say “we don’t know, therefore God must have done it.” > > I saw this conflict play out probably dozens of times with conservative students in my biology classes. Seems like every semester we wasted a week’s worth of tuition money haggling with the Baptist freshman who thought he found the fatal flaw in evolution based on some Jack Chick tracts about the Piltdown man hoax. I’m sure he went home and bragged to his church about how his professor tried to destroy him but he turned the tables and taught him a thing or two. > > In reality, these snowflakes were pampered and indulged way more than I’d have done. As a conservative I would have to agree. I would like to counsel those students they are there to learn the topic. If it’s about evolution - fine. Learn the topic back and forth to get the grade. It doesnt mean you have to agree with it. And then that’s actually kind of what this thread is about. ---
**Author:** ![skyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@skyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skyr)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099/66 "2019-08-25T03:07:10Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Even though you didn’t say it, as my linked post’s cites illustrate, “things like evolution in a biology class” are in fact a major source of actual disagreements between self-described conservative students and professors. Since there are still a large number of conservative Christians out there who do believe in creationism, I’m sure this conflict does happen, but I don’t think that is what the majority of conservatives mean when they talk about a political bias in the classroom. > [@](#): > > The modern US conservative movement has a real problem with its dependence on its militant pro-ignorance wing that, for example, swallows all kinds of false statements and conspiracy theories from right-wing sources, while at the same time denying the validity of key science on, e.g., geology and biology and climate change. I’d like to see at least a few conservatives honestly confront the seriousness of that problem before indulging in their routine whining about how academics are so unfair to conservatives because they’re brainwashed socialist hippies who can’t see past their own biases or something. Liberals are not immune to promoting anti-science ideas or conspiracy theories. I also see liberals parroting a lot of things that have very little empirical evidence behind them such as unproven theories about “white privilege”, “male privilege”, gender identity, etc. as factual. > [@](#): > > And the intervening time provides a lot of opportunity for confirmation bias and false memories to get baked in by ideological antagonism. Given how much difficulty students often have with remembering what their professor said in yesterday’s lecture, I’m certainly not taking anybody’s unsupported word for how many “partisan soapbox rants” they heard in class nearly twenty years ago. If you don’t believe me, so be it. I think the way people in this thread can’t admit that this could possibly even be a problem for conservatives just goes to show why my original advice to simply pretend to agree with liberals until you are in a position where they can’t fuck with you is the correct one for young conservatives to take. Also, the Bush presidency only ended 10 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099/67 "2019-08-25T03:16:53Z")
> [@skyr](#): > > I think the way people in this thread can’t admit that this could possibly even be a problem for conservatives just goes to show why my original advice to simply pretend to agree with liberals until you are in a position where they can’t fuck with you is the correct one for young conservatives to take. “Don’t mock the alligator until you are across the stream.” ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099/68 "2019-08-25T03:55:34Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > I’m pretty sure public universities can’t legally prohibit speech. Now, are most students willing to test that policy and take it to court? Perhaps not. **And that’s what those universities count on**. And you know this [bolded sentence] how? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099/69 "2019-08-25T04:59:41Z")
> [@skyr](#): > > Since there are still a large number of conservative Christians out there who do believe in creationism, I’m sure this conflict does happen, but I don’t think that is what the majority of conservatives mean when they talk about a political bias in the classroom. That’s kind of my point. Conservatives complaining about alleged academic bias against conservatism tend to resolutely ignore the entrenched bias against fact widespread in a large subset of modern conservatism, not just in the form of science denial but also in embracing ridiculous conspiracy theories and “birtherism”-type gossip in preference to responsible coverage of current events. If conservatives insist on “talk[ing] about a political bias in the classroom” that they blame on liberals while refusing to acknowledge the political bias against knowledge and facts in much of modern conservatism, that’s rather hypocritical of them. > [@skyr](#): > > Liberals are not immune to promoting anti-science ideas or conspiracy theories. Feeble whataboutery. While it’s true that no group is immune to having some irrational and/or dumb people in it, pointing that out doesn’t refute the fact that modern conservatism is much more prone to irrational rejection of reality-based inquiry than modern liberalism is. Conservatives need to stop pretending that their movement doesn’t have a serious problem—significantly more serious than among their liberal counterparts—with embracing ignorance and ideologically rejecting informed rationality. > [@skyr](#): > > I also see liberals parroting a lot of things that have very little empirical evidence behind them such as unproven theories about “white privilege”, “male privilege”, gender identity, etc. as factual. False equivalence. Having an opinion on social issues, which is what views about “privilege” amount to, is not at all the same thing as rejecting well-grounded scientific theories (on, e.g., human evolution or geological timescales) or ascertained fact (about, e.g., Barack Obama’s birthplace). > [@skyr](#): > > I think the way people in this thread can’t admit that this could possibly even be a problem for conservatives Whiny exaggeration. My very first post in this thread, for example, directly acknowledged that unfair bias **could** be a problem for conservative students in some circumstances (although not perhaps as many as some oversensitive conservative students may imagine), and gave specific advice about what they should do to stand up for themselves in those circumstances. > [@skyr](#): > > just goes to show why my original advice to simply pretend to agree with liberals until you are in a position where they can’t fuck with you is the correct one for young conservatives to take. Self-pitying sulks. If conservatives can’t stand being honestly told that their own biases and emotional overreactions are a bigger problem for them than “oppression” by liberals, and that they invite anti-conservative bias by being so unwilling to confront their own internal problems with distrust of rationality and science, then of course they’re just going to keep stewing in their paranoid resentment and it will seem to them that everybody **else** is treating them unfairly. > [@skyr](#): > > Also, the Bush presidency only ended 10 years ago. Nobody claimed otherwise. Are you trying to say that you were in college closer to 10 years ago than to “nearly 20” years ago? If so, I apologize for inadvertently overestimating your age, but it doesn’t change the point I was making. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099/70 "2019-08-25T12:22:49Z")
I remember my father complaining about liberal professors back in the 60s, which I was too young to understand what liberals or professors were. I just knew that they poisoned the minds of innocent youth. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099/71 "2019-08-25T13:15:22Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > [HERE](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/02/15/a-professor-called-trumps-victory-terrorism-a-student-who-recorded-the-rant-got-suspended/?noredirect=on) is a story about a professor in California who went on a rant about Trump calling him a white supremacist and a terrorist. A student secretly recorded it and got suspended. The teacher was given “Teacher of the Year Award” for her actions. The student violated regulations on recording without permission. He was never personally addressed by the teacher. The teacher did not accept any award for her actions. He could have probably taken his concern to the dean and gotten some action. But instead took the video to his College Republican chapter who took it public, resulting in the teacher getting death threats. So he screwed himself all because he was so excited to play the victim. My advice to that student would be - don’t do that. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099/72 "2019-08-25T14:56:31Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > The student violated regulations on recording without permission. He was never personally addressed by the teacher. The teacher did not accept any award for her actions. > > He could have probably taken his concern to the dean and gotten some action. But instead took the video to his College Republican chapter who took it public, resulting in the teacher getting death threats. So he screwed himself all because he was so excited to play the victim. > > My advice to that student would be - don’t do that. No, No No. Look at my post #64 above. The college agreed to drop it. Again, we had a 5 page discussion of it. He DID take it to the dean and didnt see anything happening. Now what was brought up in the last discussion is that discipline of faculty takes place behind closed doors in secrecy so the student has no idea what if anything happened. I think this is a good point to make because many people in this discussion have said to take issues to the dean but if the student doesnt see anything come of it, what then should or could they do? BTW, if you would look at #64 above I post that the college dropped the charges against the student. The teacher later got an award. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099/73 "2019-08-25T15:01:30Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > I remember my father complaining about liberal professors back in the 60s, which I was too young to understand what liberals or professors were. I just knew that they poisoned the minds of innocent youth. I once made a halfhearted effort to trace the origins of the “liberal academia” myth. By looking in media databases like EBSCO and Nexis, I got back to Goldwater before I ran out of time and energy. Plus, blaming Goldwater is a pretty good default position for many things. So, I’m pretty comfortable saying Goldwater first started claiming all the smart people were biased against him because he was fucking nuts. Unfortunately almost every Republican who followed him was similarly fucking nuts, so here we are. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099/74 "2019-08-25T15:11:57Z")
> [@Defensive\_Indifference](#): > > I once made a halfhearted effort to trace the origins of the “liberal academia” myth. By looking in media databases like EBSCO and Nexis, I got back to Goldwater before I ran out of time and energy. Plus, blaming Goldwater is a pretty good default position for many things. So, I’m pretty comfortable saying Goldwater first started claiming all the smart people were biased against him because he was fucking nuts. Unfortunately almost every Republican who followed him was similarly fucking nuts, so here we are. Oh, and by the way, leading conservative intellectual Dinesh D’Souza is over on Twitter with his BA in English Literature and his felony conviction, telling all his followers that the trained scientists having a collective brown trousers moment over the destruction of the Amazon are lying. D’Souza also periodically claims that today’s Republicans are the close ideological descendants of the 1860s Republicans, while today’s Democrats are still the same party of slavery. Every time he does this, historians, primarily Kevin Kruse, dogpile him. Because, you know, facts. Doesn’t matter. Professional historians are wrong, and conservatives are right. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099/75 "2019-08-25T15:53:07Z")
I am a college instructor in a class that is pretty far removed from politics. > [@Urbanredneck](#): > > … > > Now tell me. Be honest. You know the left isnt perfect. What if the discussion had gone another way and some radical feminist had slammed men or a black lives matter person had slammed whites with some stereotypes? What if a student walks into class wearing a MAGA hat and another student rips it off his head and starts yelling at him? > > How should the instructor deal with it? If a student slammed men, or white people, or women, or black people, I would ask them to show respect for their fellow students. And I’d change the subject. And the other students would back me in changing the subject. And there’s zero chance the subject was relevant to my class. If one of my students physically assaulted another student (ripping off their hat) I’d ask them to leave the class and I’d discuss it with my supervisor. But really, I can’t imagine that happening. That’s so incredibly far from my experience of campus life. We do have a policy about wearing clothing with inappropriate messages. If a student arrived wearing a shirt that said, “fuck the police”, for instance, I would ask them to change their shirt. (Or turn it inside out.) A MAGA hat would be allowed, if you were wondering. Now, what might happen on my liberal campus is that the kid wearing the MAGA hat would be scorned by other students and have trouble making friends. But they might find other conservative to hang out with. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099/76 "2019-08-25T16:16:06Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > I think this is a good point to make because many people in this discussion have said to take issues to the dean but if the student doesnt see anything come of it, what then should or could they do? Maybe the student should step back and realize that the university isn’t obligated to act on frivolous complaints? Because, let’s be frank, this complaint was absolutely 100% frivolous. A student got upset that a professor said something bad about his favorite politician. It’s a total joke. ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099/77 "2019-08-25T17:03:40Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Maybe the student should step back and realize that the university isn’t obligated to act on frivolous complaints? > > Because, let’s be frank, this complaint was absolutely 100% frivolous. A student got upset that a professor said something bad about his favorite politician. It’s a total joke. Urbanredneck is simply pointing to the need for safe spaces on university campuses.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099/78 "2019-08-25T17:50:12Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Well it seems to me the kid is being a jerk. Very common among 19 years olds full of ideas and energy and think they know everything. Heck the kid might have even been doing it to get a rise out of the teacher. We dont know what views he/she had been pushing. > > But then in your scenario you dont say what the previous discussion was about? If a few students are rock solid democrats with Bush or Trump derangement syndrome they will say some bad or maybe ludicrous things about republicans and the discussion might have gone downhill from there. I would hope the instructor would take control of the discussion. What does “take control” mean? Should the instructor stay neutral, and say that any idea is okay, as long as you can back it up? Should they say that there are many opinions and refuse to take a position? Or is it okay to say “That’s a racist simplification”? Or is that “taking sides” and “pushing a liberal agenda”? > [@](#): > > Now tell me. Be honest. You know the left isnt perfect. What if the discussion had gone another way and some radical feminist had slammed men or a black lives matter person had slammed whites with some stereotypes? What if a student walks into class wearing a MAGA hat and another student rips it off his head and starts yelling at him? Devil’s in the details, isn’t it? If a kid rips a hat off another kid’s head, I kick the kid who did the ripping out of my class in the immediate moment, and he doesn’t return until I’ve passed that up the chain–that’s assault. But “slammed whites with stereotypes” can mean a lot of things, which is why I was careful to give you a concrete statement. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099/79 "2019-08-25T18:18:54Z")
My university and the programs I teach in have student conduct standards. Those are the bottom line. My syllabi and class introductions point to these and describe expectations for civil discourse, which includes listening to others with different perspectives, trying to back up your assertions, and no ad hominem comments. I let them know that I will sometimes interrupt or slow down our conversation if I’m concerned that it’s sliding toward disrespectful or actionable statements. I ask my students to let me know if they think I’m doing the same. My experience in 20 years of university teaching, plus a good handful more of high school and adjunct instruction, is that there is no political position that has been more represented than others in classroom arguments or disputes. I will say that my liberal-identified students have never shouted at me in class about sin, damnation, or Jesus Christ in relation to, say, my research-based PowerPoint slide showing no significant negative outcomes for children of same-sex marriages. ---
**Author:** ![Wallet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e99b99/32.png) [@Wallet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallet)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099/80 "2019-08-25T20:02:33Z")
A close family member is currently in college. She has very conservative views about many topics, as opposed to the majority of her fellow students. Last semester she took a class with an extremely liberal professor, who told the class they were expected to volunteer x number of hours in order to pass the course. The professor then took it upon himself to give a roster of the entire class (including phone numbers, addresses, etc) to a cause he believed in. I’m extremely liberal, and even I found this reprehensible (especially when the “cause” started calling and writing to say when the family member was expected to show up to volunteer). The majority of the class went to the head of the department to complain - and these were students who probably would be in favor of this particular cause. The Chairman was upset and reprimanded the professor, who doesn’t appear to be teaching this upcoming semester. My family member has expressed her views in different classes (when appropriate), and has never felt discriminated against in any way. As long as views are given (and listened to) respectfully, there shouldn’t be any problem. And if a problem does arise, there are avenues for you to follow. It seems like you’re looking for a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-college-professors-what-should-a-conservative-do/839099.md?page=5)