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For many years, a lot of American universities had the reputation of being hotbeds of left-wing activism (the University of California at Berkeley may be the most infamous). Of course, only a small, noisy minority can start a reputation. What is the situation like "up there"? Is this incident quite common?
For many years, a lot of American universities had the reputation of being hotbeds of left-wing activism (the University of California at Berkeley may be the most infamous). Of course, only a small, noisy minority can start a reputation. What is the situation like "up there"? Is this incident quite common?
Yes. They are probably even more left-leaning environments than in the U.S. With only a few exceptions.
A year or two ago American conservative commentator was Ann Coulter prevented from speaking at the University of Ottawa by a group of aggressive protestors.
Even though I generally abhor Ms. Coulter's views, I also found it objectionable that she not be allowed to speak. She may be misguided, but I don't believe she is a hate-speech propagandist.
For those of you who went to college, did you encounter a professor or instructor who was openly political?
I've been told the University of Calgary leans less to the left than many others - I think, to some degree, you can make the distinctions based on the strengths of the programs. Schools that are business or engineering oriented are probably less radical than those who's focus is on humanities or fine arts.
I ran into a few professors that had an agenda, though my interactions with them were relatively brief. Thankfully, I never had to spend more than a single class with any of them, as they seemed to exist largely outside of my academic world.
The University of Lethbridge did gather some press a few years back, as there's a professor on staff who's quite big in the 9/11 conspiracy movement. One of his grad students got a grant to study something along those lines. Luckily, I had no need to take any of his classes and never even met the guy.
I'm going to Laurentian in Sudbury right now. My academic advisor/professor (Economic Geo in Canada) tries to stay objectional but then always throws his super strong, passionate anti-Harper opinions in class and then says "BUT THAT'S JUST ME!!" It's actually really funny.
I haven't noticed anything radical here for the year I've been coming, but most people tend to be pretty liberal about most things.
For those of you who went to college, did you encounter a professor or instructor who was openly political?
I'm on my second degree at present, and I've only ever had one that was openly political, and it was a class on political science so her opinions on what politicians were doing and if they made sense were relevant to the context of the class. I learned Marxist theory in a cultural anthropology class, but the professor did not give us his personal opinion on it, it was to understand the intellectual history in the West of how ideas about sociology have evolved, and Marx was a landmark intellectual who strongly influenced how later writers and society at large thought about these things. CEGEP, however, was less professional about these things and I had a bunch of political professors. The big liberal influence on college campuses aren't in the lecture halls, they're in the extra-curricular student clubs and newspapers.
For those of you who went to college, did you encounter a professor or instructor who was openly political?
I'm on my second degree at present, and I've only ever had one that was openly political, and it was a class on political science so her opinions on what politicians were doing and if they made sense were relevant to the context of the class. I learned Marxist theory in a cultural anthropology class, but the professor did not give us his personal opinion on it, it was to understand the intellectual history in the Western of how ideas about sociology have evolved, and Marx was a landmark intellectual who strongly influenced how later writers and society at large thought about these things. CEGEP, however, was less professional about these things and I had a bunch of political professors. The big liberal influence on college campuses aren't in the lecture halls, they're in the extra-curricular student clubs and newspapers. They're also in the readings that can sometimes be assigned by professors.
I'm going to Laurentian in Sudbury right now. My academic advisor/professor (Economic Geo in Canada) tries to stay objectional but then always throws his super strong, passionate anti-Harper opinions in class and then says "BUT THAT'S JUST ME!!" It's actually really funny.
I haven't noticed anything radical here for the year I've been coming, but most people tend to be pretty liberal about most things.
Look up the Canadian Federation of Students, the left-wing lobbying organization that the majority of college students in Canada are forced to pay dues to. If anything, Canadian universities are more universally left-wing than even public U.S. universities.
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