On Wednesday, Feb. 12, University of Iowa economics professor Luciano I. de Castro gave the committee a presentation advocating for the establishment of the School Intellectual Freedom at the university.
Data was presented showing the massively skewed leftwing outlook of university faculty in the United States noting that registered Democrats among faculty outnumber registered Republicans eight to one. At the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, Democrats outnumbered Republicans eleven to one. When it comes to dollars donated, nationally faculty donated 21 times more dollars to Democrats than Republicans. At the UI the ratio was 42-1 in favor of Democrats and 7-1 in favor of Democrats at Iowa State.
Prof. de Castro argues that a university education is the key predictor when it comes to how someone will vote. According to Wallethub, the five most educated states are all blue states, while the five least educated states are all red states. His argument is left-leaning faculty hire like-minded colleagues who produce interesting (persuasive) ideas (research) which in turn (teach) students into believers in the causes the faculty cherish.
He outlined several points:
- All incentives are aligned against a faculty who wants to present a different point of view.
- It is very hard to publish articles with contrarian views in good academic journals.
- Without publishing in well regarded journals, you are not recognized as a productive scholar.
- Left-leaning faculty do not like to hire outspoken conservative professors. Even top scholars who wish to relocate find it hard.
- Thus, in general professors pay a high price for writing or saying anything that departs from academic orthodoxy.
Prof. de Castro added the university asked professors to propose new courses that might be offered. A course titled “Political Economy and Capitalism” is what de Castro proposed. He described the course this way, “The course adopts a market-friendly perspective on current political issues. Students will learn how to have an informed and well-reasoned response to criticisms of capitalism and assess the benefits and shortcomings of some governmental policies.”
What happened?
According to de Castro, university staff prevented this course proposal from being included in a survey that was solely intended to gauge student interest. In other words, his idea wasn’t even put in front of students to see if there was interest. It wasn’t even given a chance.
As reported in the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Rep. Jennifer Konfrst, D-Windsor Heights, asked, “Are you saying that there is not a single course at the University of Iowa that teaches about capitalism?“
In fact, if you look at the current course catalog of available economics courses, not a single course even mentions the word “capitalism” in the course description.
The UI does offer the following classes however:
Social Justice 2135: Rhetorics of Diversity and Inclusion
How language is at the root of oppression while also being a powerful tool to enact social justice; students explore the roles of rhetoric in constructing diversity and examine how different bodies and minds are ascribed value based on their alignment with cultural attitudes toward normalcy, ability, race, gender, sexuality, and more; students use written, spoken, and/or signed language and digital forms of expression to create a more inclusive environment in and beyond the classroom. GE: Diversity and Inclusion.
History 2250: The History of Social Justice Movements
History of contemporary social movements in the U.S. and how these movements have directly affected policies related to environment, food, reproductive justice, civil rights, immigration, labor, race, and gender; students read, explore, discuss, and write about the history of contemporary social movements in the U.S. that had lasting effects on policies related to environment, agriculture, health, reproductive justice, civil rights, labor, race, gender, and immigration; exploration of multiple modes of representation and resistance including protests, boycotts, strikes, music, art, writing, riots, civil disobedience, theater, poetry, dance, and poetry.
Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies 2700: Transgender People, Politics, and Cultures
How people live across and beyond social differentiation of sex and gender; how practices of identity building and political resistance transform or negotiate with social structures of gender, race, and class; burgeoning field of transgender studies which pushes to interrogate some fundamental aspects of human societies and question how supposedly “natural” categories of sex and gender are constructed and transformed; exploration of lives, politics, and subcultures of people who differ from gender norms in the United States and across the world; how transgender cultures and politics negotiate with structures of race and class. Recommendations: background in gender studies or social sciences.
Prof. de Castro summarized his presentation with these conclusions:
“It is not about ideology; it is about truth!” He also added, “Incidentally, people that criticize initiatives like this one (school of intellectual freedom) as “ideologically motivated” never criticize heavily ideological enterprises developed inside universities…”
We need, in our state, vigorous debate, not narrowminded group think where only one ideal or philosophy is taught. Multiple views should be the norm and right now, as demonstrated by Prof de Castro’s presentation, that is not what we have in our Iowa Universities. This is why we propose the School of Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa. To offer that option to our students.
