We should have an award ceremony here at Marquette. And in category of "Worthless Student Group That Whines Too Much," I would like to nominate the College Republicans. According to last Thursday's Tribune, the College Republicans are planning an award ceremony to "honor professors who keep their views out of their teachings and to mock those who do not."
I don't have a problem with "honoring" fair professors, but I have to question what the College Republicans are hoping to gain by "mocking" professors who are supposedly biased. If a professor is actually discriminating against students, "mocking" them doesn't seem like an appropriate response. I called the College of Arts and Sciences to see what recourse students have if they're being treated unfairly. The usual protocol in such instances is for the student to make the faculty member's department chair aware of the situation. If the behavior continues, the student can go to the appropriate dean's office.
However, I suspect that the College Republicans don't actually have a legitimate beef against the professors that they plan to "mock." If they were really being treated unfairly, they would probably have enough brains to pick up the phone and talk to the department chair. Although, doing that requires intelligence. And College Republicans and intelligence are seen together about as often as Survivor All-Star Richard Hatch is seen together with clothing.
Also, the College Republicans plan to mock "leftist" professors in their award ceremony. By only targeting liberals, the College Republicans are contributing to an atmosphere of fairness – just like Fox News. However, I can think of several Marquette professors who are known as conservatives. Not only that, but they bring their views into the classroom. They don't necessarily discriminate against students, but they aren't shy about spouting off. How is a liberal like me going to deal with this? Very easily: I don't take courses with those professors. The College Republicans can do the same thing with liberal professors. It's not difficult to plan your schedule to avoid them. But then again, having a whiney award ceremony might be a better alternative.
If a professor brings up his political views, the best thing to do is ignore it. Even if it makes you momentarily uncomfortable, what does it matter as long as your grade doesn't suffer because of it? Whenever a professor offers his own opinion, I just zone out. I know that no actual "teaching" is going on, so I just think about all the cool stuff I'm going to watch on television that night (tonight is "Gilmore Girls!").
I'm sure the College Republicans think they're really funny. They probably had a good laugh when they came up with this idea. After all, these are the people who came up with the "Barbeque for Animal Rights." Even as an avid carnivore I'm still trying to understand how that was supposed to be funny, and not just stupid. I'm having the same problem with this award ceremony. Sigh. College Republicans. But as I said before, Richard Hatch and clothing…