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More 'Progressive' inclusionary thinking
Student Says School Persecuted Him for Being Conservative · 17 December 2008
By FoxNews.com A former student at the Rhode Island College School of Social Work is suing the school and several of his professors for discrimination, saying he was persecuted by the school’s “liberal political machine” for being a conservative. William Felkner, 45, says the New England college and six professors wouldn’t approve his final project on welfare reform because he was on the “wrong” side of political issues and countered the school’s “progressive” liberal agenda. Felkner said his problems with his professors began in his first semester, in the fall of 2004, when he objected in an e-mail to one of his professors that the school was showing and promoting Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” on campus. He said he objected because no opposing point of view was presented. He said Professor James Ryczek wrote to him on Oct. 15, 2004, saying he was proud of his bias and questioning Felkner’s ability to “fit with the profession.” “I think the biases and predilections I hold toward how I see the world and how it should be are why I am a social worker. In the words of a colleague, I revel in my biases,” he wrote. Felkner’s complaint, filed two years ago, alleges that Ryczek discriminated against him for his conservative viewpoint and gave him bad grades because of it in several classes. It also alleges discrimination by other professors and administrators. Felkner said he received failing grades in Ryczek’s class for holding viewpoints opposed to the progressive direction of the class. Felkner says he was also discriminated against by Professor Roberta Pearlmutter, who he says refused to allow him to participate in a group project lobbying for a conservative issue because the assignment was to lobby for a liberal issue. He alleges that Perlmutter spent a 50-minute class “assailing” his views and allowed students to openly ridicule his conservative positions, and that she reduced his grade because he was not “progressive.” The Rhode Island College School of Social Work did not respond to a request for comment. Felkner, a self-proclaimed free-market conservative, told FOXNews.com that during his final year, he wanted to do a project on “work first” welfare, which requires that recipients get jobs before they can get benefits. He said the school advocated an “education first” system, in which recipients get job training and don’t have to work for benefits. “Basically it was a system that resulted in 2 percent of [Rhode Island’s] recipients being on welfare for over 10 years. It was just not working,” Felkner said. While at the college he had an internship with the governor’s office on public policy to work on welfare reform. The social work organizing and policy degree program requires a student to complete a project that works for “progressive social change.” He was scheduled to complete his project in January, but he said the defendants’ actions kept him from finishing and graduating. “There were two years worth of discrimination really, there’s no better way to put it, because I had different views than the school does,” Felkner said. “It’s kind of insane to think that someone studying how to help the poor can’t research welfare reform.” Felkner also alleges in his complaint that the school’s treatment of him restricted his ability to express his opinions and that his bad grades damaged his professional reputation and would make it difficult for him to get a job as a social worker. Kim Strom-Gottfried, professor of social work at U.N.C. Chapel Hill, said that faculty members should not impose their politics on students. “My bottom line is I think clearly as faculty we have to appraise our students based on required competencies and demonstrations of that, whether critical thinking or whatever, but there shouldn’t be a belief litmus test for joining the profession or for an assignment,” Strom-Gottfried said. “The questions I have in cases such as his — why would someone choose to affiliate with a profession that’s so at odds with his beliefs and his value-base? That’s always a question for me,” she said. Bruce Thyer, professor of social work and former dean at the College of Social Work at Florida State University, has written about discrimination against conservatives and against evangelical Christians in social work. He said discrimination hurts the profession. “I have seen students actively discouraged from perusing social work because of their politically conservative views. I’ve also seen it happen with students who have held strong religious views,” he said. “I think that the profession is a great and noble discipline and there are occasional episodes like this that cast a black eye, and it’s really unnecessary.” Thyer said liberal and conservative social workers have the same goal — to help people — and that the school overstepped its bounds in Felkner’s case. “I think it’s an overzealous faculty wishing to impose their own political views upon those of their students, and that’s unfortunate because there are many areas in which liberal and conservative thinkers within the discipline of social work have so much to agree upon,” he said. “Nobody’s advocating, certainly not Bill Felkner, that people not be helped.” The college filed a motion for summary judgment this summer, but it was recently denied by the court. Felkner said the school is now seeking a settlement. He said he would still like to receive his masters in social work, and he is still working on government policy on social welfare programs in Rhode Island through the Ocean State Policy Research Institute, which he founded after leaving the school. “You can say what you want about the war on poverty and how it’s going, but I think that it hasn’t gone well and I think there are better alternatives, and I think it was a shame I wasn’t even allowed to research and pursue those interests,” Felkner said. “It’s indoctrination.”
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"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy" Current Monika '74 450 SL BrownHilda '79 280SL FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee Krystal 2004 Volvo S60 Gone '74 Jeep CJ5 '97 Jeep ZJ Laredo Rudolf ‘86 300SDL Bruno '81 300SD Fritzi '84 BMW '92 Subaru '96 Impala SS '71 Buick GS conv '67 GTO conv '63 Corvair conv '57 Nomad |
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Those whining conservatives!
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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC] ..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis. |
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Welcome to the wussification of America.
That's okay, these students will succeed in life as they (still) have minds of their own, but it is really hard when you get a bad grade because your work content does not share the same fundamental viewponts of your nut case socialist teacher. Just tell them to come to school in the south where there are still a few good teachers out there that don't drink the communist manifesto cool-aid.. |
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Reason why I posted this
I had a personal reason to post this. When I was in college, back during the Reagan years, Most of the Professors were avowed Communists and absolutely none were Republicans or conservative. One actually failed me and a friend of mine for wearing 'Better Dead Than Red' T shirts. When we protested (we had had very good grades) he told us that we needed to get with the program and understand that there was no place in this college for people like us.
This was a college that was so inclusive that there was a Student Union, a Gay Student Union, a Black Student Union, a Wymyn's Collective, and so on. What there was not was any place for people who did not think like they did. It is sad to think that nothing has changed in 20+ years
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"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy" Current Monika '74 450 SL BrownHilda '79 280SL FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee Krystal 2004 Volvo S60 Gone '74 Jeep CJ5 '97 Jeep ZJ Laredo Rudolf ‘86 300SDL Bruno '81 300SD Fritzi '84 BMW '92 Subaru '96 Impala SS '71 Buick GS conv '67 GTO conv '63 Corvair conv '57 Nomad |
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When I was in college, back during the Reagan years, there was a fairly substantial presence of the Young Republicans. There were some real noise-makers too, who did much worse things than wearing a T-shirt. And I don't know that even one of my professors were "avowed communists."
Where did you go to school anyway, and who was paying the bill? I paid my own way and made my own choices. |
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I think this fellow was lucky to be around people that did not share his views. If his arguments were convincing enough perhaps they might have seen his way of thinking. Not change their minds, understand you, but at least see where he is coming from.
Professors in undergratuate courses do not like to be challanged, but who cares what they like? When I was in school I ran into a ROTC professor that was so pro Veitnam it was unreal. I pointed out my objections to it and we had a sensible discussion on the pros and cons of the whole thing. He never agreed with me nor I with him, but I did see his side and he saw mine. (Note: My side was that the war was unwinable since the last big war the Veitnamiese fought was with China and had lasted 900 years.) I know a fellow that has been working on his Phd. in History for seven years and has been told by one school after another that he will likely never get it. He has his views of European history and they don't seem to line up with the accepted facts. No school wants to give him a Doctorate as it would reflect badly on them once this guy starts teaching. I wonder what the schools' side of this story looks like? Pooka |
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Quote:
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"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy" Current Monika '74 450 SL BrownHilda '79 280SL FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee Krystal 2004 Volvo S60 Gone '74 Jeep CJ5 '97 Jeep ZJ Laredo Rudolf ‘86 300SDL Bruno '81 300SD Fritzi '84 BMW '92 Subaru '96 Impala SS '71 Buick GS conv '67 GTO conv '63 Corvair conv '57 Nomad |
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Quote:
As for your Doctoral candidate fellow, he should be allowed to pursue his work as he sees fit. If we only listened to accepted views, the Earth would still be considered flat. I am all for an open debate on any subject. What is sad is when one side feels that it is 'THE RIGHT VIEWPOINT' and does whatever it can to stifle the other side. This goes for both left and right. All viewpoints should be allowed to be heard. This is one reason why I like Mercedesshop. If only the universities were as open to debate as this site is. It is most depressing when this happens at the collegiate level. College is where you are supposed to develop your OWN views and the ability to think for yourself. To me toeing a party line is the exact opposite of this.
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"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy" Current Monika '74 450 SL BrownHilda '79 280SL FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee Krystal 2004 Volvo S60 Gone '74 Jeep CJ5 '97 Jeep ZJ Laredo Rudolf ‘86 300SDL Bruno '81 300SD Fritzi '84 BMW '92 Subaru '96 Impala SS '71 Buick GS conv '67 GTO conv '63 Corvair conv '57 Nomad |
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Yeah, esp those 'Outfoxed Hannity Dorkhead Followers'. No backbone, those pranksters.
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You guys ask for it.
I imagine just like you are putting down liberals here on the forum. you were doing the same in college. You have not learned the difference between holding a belief and trying to push it onto others. You guys have definatly shown an inabilty to interact with others in a group withou purposly causing disturbances. You chose to attend a liberal university. You chose to proselitize about conservatism. You whining about how people treated you for doing so. There are a few conservative colleges out there. not many tho. Hmmmmm, I wonder why ?????? Leninism and наэлектризованность the countries will triumph!
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When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace. Jimi Hendrix |
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Quote:
By the way -- nice yank of my tag line. If you want the full and correct translation ask me
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"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy" Current Monika '74 450 SL BrownHilda '79 280SL FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee Krystal 2004 Volvo S60 Gone '74 Jeep CJ5 '97 Jeep ZJ Laredo Rudolf ‘86 300SDL Bruno '81 300SD Fritzi '84 BMW '92 Subaru '96 Impala SS '71 Buick GS conv '67 GTO conv '63 Corvair conv '57 Nomad |
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I was in college choir and complained about the repertoire being overly religious in nature. Turns out that there is hardly any contrapuntal choir music that isn't religious in nature. Social work is somewhat the same. A social worker is not an agent for change, rather a social worker is an advocate for those who need it. Friend of mine has a kid with FAS and all the associated complications. (you name it he has it) Despite "good" health insurance he has to shell out close to $20k/year for his kid's treatment. It took him two months to complete the paperwork, and this is with the help of a social worker.
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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman |
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January 2009
Guarding the boundaries by Anthony Daniels Since I’ve received no education in philosophy whatever, it is no doubt very rash of me to make a broad generalization concerning the subject, but I shall risk it nonetheless: that in the whole history of philosophy not a single important philosophical problem has ever been solved beyond all possible dispute. I know that the late Sir Karl Popper claimed to have solved the problem of induction not merely to his own satisfaction, but also to the satisfaction of all rational men; alas, I do not think that all rational men have reciprocated by agreeing with him. Pace Popper, the philosophy of science is not now at an end, any more than is mental, political, or moral philosophy. Unless I am much mistaken, the metaphysical foundations of aesthetic and moral judgment have not been established with anything like the certainty with which, say, the circulation of the blood has been established. I know that it is fashionable to state that all scientific knowledge is provisional, and itself rests upon metaphysically uncertain foundations. Perhaps in the abstract this is correct; yet I do not think anyone seriously expects a future researcher to discover that the blood does not in fact circulate. Evidently, there are degrees even of scientific tentativeness. If every moral judgment is metaphysically uncertain, unsupported by any philosophical lender of last resort, it appears to some people that the only answer to the question of how people ought to behave is a complete relativism, possibly backed up by some version of John Stuart Mill’s principle that everything is permissible that does not harm another person. This conclusion is strengthened by the observation, first made by Herodotus, I believe, that what men have thought good (or for that matter beautiful) has been infinitely various, or nearly so; and since there is no reason to believe that any group of men has become either better or more intelligent than men in Herodotus’s day, our judgment of what we consider good (or beautiful) is arbitrary, or aleatory, that is to say contingent upon such matters as when and where we are born, into what social class, with what mental apparatus, etc. Nothing is good or bad but thinking makes it so; and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What we think and see in matters of moral and aesthetic judgment is to a large extent determined by our circumstances; for neither goodness nor beauty is out there in the world awaiting discovery, like the planet Pluto, by men armed with telescopes and mathematical equations. Now let us, for the sake of argument, grant that this is so: that we can not place any moral or aesthetic judgment on firm, which is to say indubitable, metaphysical foundations; and that as a matter of observable fact men have formed very different judgments about the good and beautiful over the ages and in different regions of the world. Does it follow that the only resort left to us is a kind of multiculturalism in which each ego is an entire culture of its own? I do not think so. Men can no more avoid making moral and aesthetic judgments than they can avoid eating: It is built into their very nature to make such judgments. Accordingly, there is no human society that has no concept of the good or of the beautiful, even if it is only pre-philosophical, which is to say implicit rather than explicit. Of course, what societies believe to be good or beautiful may vary, as their diet does; but judgment is as inescapable as nutrition. Even the popular desire to make no judgment is based on a judgment, that it is wrong to make a judgment. I remember a patient of mine who told me proudly, with the unmistakable smile of the anointed, that her greatest virtue was that she was non-judgmental; more recently, in response to an article I wrote, I received an email which denounced me as a judgmental illegitimate. Now men, as I suppose I don’t have to tell you, live in societies, unless they are anchorites in the Syrian desert subsisting on honey and locusts (and even then they usually came from societies, the general rule being no societies, no anchorites in the Syrian desert). In order to rub along, more or less, men must put limits or boundaries upon their own behavior; and it certainly helps them to do so if those limits or boundaries are backed by some kind of moral principle, though the articulation between boundary and principle may be loose or contentious. What is new about the current relativism, it seems to me, is not that it contends the positioning of boundaries, for such positioning has, I think, always been contentious: It is always possible, after all, to argue that any given boundary contributes more to the misery than to the happiness of man. Rather, the current relativism contests the very need for boundaries itself, or at any rate has the effect, once it filters down from the intelligentsia into the general population, of destroying the appreciation of the need for boundaries. And if no boundaries are needed, then any attempt to impose them is without legitimacy. Only what comes from the self is legitimate. Recently I read in a French newspaper the obituary of a novelist of the 1960s and 70s who was quoted as saying that sex and the state ought to have nothing whatever to do with one another. In other words, he was arguing not that what was legally permissible should be extended in such and such a way, the boundaries set there rather than here, but that everything should be permissible, and boundaries abolished altogether; and on his principle, it is hard to see how public authority could intervene in sexual activity short of Jeffrey Dahmer’s. Under his dispensation, even rape would be just common assault, no worse than, say, a slap on the face. Readers will not be altogether surprised, perhaps, to learn that the novelist in question died alone, and that his body was not discovered until a month after his death. More at: http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Guarding-the-boundaries-3979 |
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Youse pays your monies, youse dances to the tune they play...
I learned (a little too late) how to play their game... Barf back the crap they feed you...they pat you on the head and say, "Nice Commie!" and grade you accordingly... Think of it this way...who's more intelligent? The guy that thinks he's getting his "message" across and eaten by the masses, or the the guy that pulls the "fast one" by getting through the BS classes and pats-on-the-backs, then ends up with a full degree and still has his morals and ethics in place...away from the sheister-school-of-tools? McCain and his fellow prisoners came back from 'Nam and they didn't start 'lil girlie schools of Commie-communes and flower-power dribble...they held up under EXTRAORDINARY CONDITIONS that no college egg-head would ever be able to dream up... If McCain and company can do it...the college-kids can sing the song too...there's nothing in the diploma that says you had to dance to it also... Besides, doesn't having a diploma from some "school" just prove you were able to sit still and parrot long enough to keep from getting kicked out of class...for FOUR YEARS? Does to me...
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. . M. G. Burg'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K .'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K ..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K ...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K ....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K .....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K ......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp .......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125 . “I didn’t really say everything I said.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~ |
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Quote:
- Peter.
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2021 Chevrolet Spark Formerly... 2000 GMC Sonoma 1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021 2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels 1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles. 1984 123 200 1979 116 280S 1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille 1971 108 280S |
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