Professors are now worried that the political bias they bring to the classroom will be easily recorded and exposed to the public now that their courses have been moved online due to the Wuhan coronavirus.
“The coronavirus-prompted shift to remote teaching was stressful enough for faculty members before Charlie Kirk weaponized online learning,” reported the Chronicle of Higher Education on Tuesday, noting a recent tweet by the Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder calling on students to share videos of their professors’ “blatant indoctrination.”
“To all college students who have their professors switching to online classes: Please share any and ALL videos of blatant indoctrination with [TPUSA],” tweeted Kirk on Sunday, including his organization’s contact information.
“Now is the time to document & expose the radicalism that has been infecting our schools,” added the TPUSA founder. “Transparency!”
Kirk’s call to action has caused some faculty members “to be worried,” according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, which added that some professors have said that they are taking precautions, such as professor Dylan Bugden of Washington State University, who says that he has decided not to record his lectures.
With regards to the possibility of professors’ course material being exposed by students, Jeffrey A. Sachs, a lecturer at Acadia University, in Canada, tweeted, “Simply put, faculty are alarmed because they are paying attention.”
Professor Jason Stanley of Yale University also chimed in regarding how to prepare against conservatives seeking to showcase leftist bias in higher education.
“If one of your colleagues gets hit, support them,” said Stanley. “It is not a time to lecture them about you think they did wrong. They need your support, not your moralizing and sanctimoniousness.”
“If you are recording a lecture on anything controversial, be prepared for right wing sites to ask students to share it,” said Texas Christian University associate professor Emily Farris, reported Breitbart News on Monday.
As for TPUSA, the conservative student organization says that if professors are already confident in what they espouse in the classroom, then they should have no problem with their course materials being made public.
“Taking all classes online presents an opportunity for professor biases to be exposed for the world to see. If professors don’t have anything to hide, there isn’t an issue,” said a TPUSA spokesperson to Breitbart News.
“For those that are using the classroom to intimidate conservatives or otherwise lie to, bully, or indoctrinate students to hate America, we will highlight those cases so parents, students, administrations and donors can make better, more informed decisions moving forward,” the spokesperson added.
“Knowing the truth shouldn’t be controversial,” the TPUSA spokesperson affirmed.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.