Louisiana State Sen. Stewart Cathey Jr. (R-33) says “unhinged professors have gone crazy” nationwide, and certain scholars who reside and teach in the Pelican State are no exception.
What exactly are these “unhinged professors” getting away with?
“Twitter is a great avenue to see some of the things that professors put out. A few years ago, a professor who went on Twitter and said she would monitor her students’ social media. Any student whom she felt promoted things contrary to her beliefs, she would have them removed them from her class,” Cathey told The Hayride.
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“I said ‘Whoa. This is absurd. This faculty member should not be allowed to remain on campus, much less be afforded the highest privilege that a professor can get, and that is tenure.’ She has now proven that she has a bias. She has proven that she is willing to take that bias out on her students, and while I agree she cannot disenroll someone from her class. She has now proven she will not be fair when grading that student.”
Cathey filed legislation, SB 174, that would require university officials throughout Louisiana to review faculty members’ job performances on an annual basis. Faculty members with two years of substandard reviews would automatically enter a plan of remediation. Those faculty members who don’t successfully address their shortcomings would lose their tenure.
“That does not seem irrational to me,” Cathey said.
Campus Reform covered the story about the LSU teacher three years ago. That woman, Alyssa Johnson, is still listed as an associate professor at the LSU Department of Biological Sciences.
Cathey’s district includes, Monroe, Ruston, and Grambling, which have the University of Louisiana at Monroe, Louisiana Tech University, and Grambling State University. Cathey said he knows of no instances of professors at those schools indoctrinating students.
Campus Reform, however, documented one instance of a Louisiana Tech professor tweeting that members of the public must accost anyone he considers a fascist. The same professor also tweeted “Where do I donate to Rand Paul’s neighbor’s senate campaign.”
Paul’s neighbor, as the media widely publicized in 2017, physically attacked the senator and broke his ribs. Paul later said the attack caused a “significant injury that I have lifelong symptoms from.”
‘TENURE WAS CREATED TO PROTECT RESEARCH’
As Cathey pointed out, professors in Louisiana can get away with things other civil servants may not.
“My staff attorney, who is paid for with state tax dollars, just as university professors are, cannot put a political campaign sign in her yard, yet professors on social media can attack anyone they want, even the president of LSU,” Cathey said.
“If anyone at the capitol did that they would be fired immediately, there are certain things you cannot do when you receive your salary from the state.”
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The state senator also said “the explosion of social media, whether it’s Instagram, Tik-Tok, or Facebook,” allows college students to document and expose professors’ aberrant behaviors.
“Tenure was created to protect research. It was not there to allow professors to say whatever they want about whomever they want. It was to make sure a professor in the middle of research cannot lose his or her job because of insert whatever here,” Cathey said.
“That is the whole basis of tenure, it is not to allow professors to go woke and go unhinged and take it out on students whom they disagree with.”