A new math course at Penn State University this semester has a bizarre focus on Hillary Clinton’s “strong character.”
According to a report from Campus Reform, a new math course at Penn State University focuses on everything besides math. Professor Marc Fabbri’s “Finite Mathematics” course covers everything from Hillary Clinton’s “strong character” to the “cultural intolerance” to President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s Clean Water Act.
On the Penn State website, Fabbri’s course is described as an “introduction to logic, sets, probability.” But students who took Fabbri’s new course last spring say that the course is focused on other topics.
Take for example the following excerpt from a text provided to students by Fabbri. “The emergence of the Tea Party played a central role in the 2008 U.S. presidential election,” the document reads. “The victor was Barack Obama who, like Bill Clinton, served as U.S. president for 8 years — the two men guided always by the strength of character and force of intellect of First Lady Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton.”
In another section of the document, Fabbri asks students to explain why the following statement is incorrect: “all those who enjoy religious freedom promote cultural toleration.” That portion of the document was accompanied by a scholarly criticism of imperialism.
A Penn State spokesperson said that they are working to ensure that Fabbri maintains his academic freedom. The spokesperson “encourage(d) any student who believes that an instructor has acted beyond the limits of academic freedom to consult the policies and procedures in place for seeking a faculty conference and mediation.”
A RateMyProfessor review of Professor Fabbri seems to suggest that he has a history of getting off topic in his math courses. “Hated his class,” one former student wrote. “He mumbled and went off on tangents to talk about things that were completely irrelevant.”
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