Professor Yoram Lubling’s American Philosophy class hosted a panel discussion on academic integrity and free speech Wednesday, April 27 in Whitley Auditorium. Details...
The five panelists included Brooke Barnett, assistant professor in the School of Communications; Dean Paul Parsons of the School of Communications; Lee Barnes, executive editor of the Burlington Times-News; Dr. Jeffrey Pugh, professor of religious studies, and Dr. Yoram Lubling, associate professor of philosophy.
The panelists were asked a series of questions about free speech and the responsibilities a professor has when teaching a class. A consensus was reached between academic integrity and the rights a professor has to voice his or her opinion to their students.
Providing a journalistic perspective, Barnes said the major difference between being incorrect in a classroom and in a newspaper is that the paper has to print a retraction in the next issue, and the writer or editor responsible for the mistake could be fired. A tenured professor has no such worries.
Barnett opened with her view that not all speech is free, including speech in a classroom. The panelists agreed that classroom content should be checked to an extent. Parsons said he tries to give his teachers as much freedom as possible in the classroom, trusting they will make good decisions.
Pugh was asked if students can receive an unbiased education. Like everything in life, Pugh said, bias exists in education.
The original idea for the panel stemmed from comments made by Ward Churchill, a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, about the reasons Americans were attacked on 9/11. Churchill claimed that the victims of the attacks were “little Eichmanns,” referring to Adolf Eichmann, head of the Nazi Gestapo during World War II. Eichmann did not like his job or believe in the Nazi ideals, but carried out his duties anyway. Churchill compares the victims of 9/11 in this way: not wanting to, but helping to carry out genocide.