Clickmen
Occidental College in Los Angeles is dealing with allegations of ideological bias after the varsity determined to not renew the contract for an financial professor with conservative views.
Daron Djerdjian had taught numerous economics lessons at Occidental or “Oxy” since 2010 and his lessons have been extremely rated by college students on-line, economist Mark Skousen wrote in a brand new op-ed for The Wall Street Journal.
Skousen, who additionally serves as adjunct college for an instructional institute began by Djerdjian in June, mentioned that Occidental didn’t renew the untenured Djerdjian’s contract for this faculty 12 months, regardless of being the “only free-market professor” on campus.
The personal liberal arts faculty, which is dwelling to a number of well-known alumni, together with former President Obama, touts its dedication to variety and fairness in its mission assertion. Skousen questioned if the faculty was “putting those values into practice” by letting the conservative professor go.
“For all its talk about diversity, equity and inclusion, Occidental College, the only small liberal-arts college in Los Angeles, doesn’t seem keen on putting those values into practice,” he continued in his op-ed. “Late last year the economics department opted not to renew the contract of an untenured professor whose libertarian and conservative views went against the grain. So much for its public commitment to diversity of political views.”
Students and college criticized the varsity for not renewing the contract of an economics professor who espoused conservative and libertarian viewpoints. (Izabela Habur)
CONSERVATIVE CALIFORNIA PROFESSOR REACHES MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR SETTLEMENT AFTER FREE SPEECH LAWSUIT
Students and college have been additionally reportedly dismayed by the college’s motion.
When information of his contract not being renewed received round campus, round 400 college students and alumni signed a petition through e-mail asking the varsity to maintain him on, in line with a campus newspaper report from February.
“This will be a colossal loss to his past, present and prospective students, as well as to the marketplace of ideas at Occidental College and the world at large,” the scholars reportedly wrote within the petition.
Students who helped arrange the petition mentioned that the professor supplied extra conservative views than different economics professors on campus, and so they appreciated getting a wider vary of viewpoints within the discipline.
“No other professor teaches free-market economics,” Rayna Singh, a junior who had Djerdjian as her advisor, mentioned.
–
Occidental College denied making choices for college opponents based mostly on political affiliations. (iStock)
Two full-time college members who spoke anonymously with Skousen additionally defended the previous Oxy professor.
One college member known as Djerdjian’s sacking “politically motivated.”
Another defended the varsity’s rights to not renew his contract however mentioned the choice would harm Oxy college students as a result of they”will no longer be exposed to an entirely different free-market perspective that is both stimulating and valuable.”
Skousen claimed the varsity’s economics division — which had as soon as valued variety of thought — had reworked lately.
“The economics department is now largely staffed by graduates of University of California schools who place more emphasis on fair trade than free trade and market failure than government failure, and are more likely to quote Keynesian Joseph Stiglitz than Milton Friedman,” he wrote. “Sadly, political diversity is dying at Oxy and is being replaced by less tolerant wokeness.”
Fresh News Digital reached out to Djerdjian for remark, however didn’t hear again.
A spokesperson for Occidental College supplied the next assertion:
“In the pursuit of academic excellence and discourse, Occidental College values political and other forms of diversity, and the Economics Department remains committed to ensuring students are exposed to diverse perspectives in its curricula. The College does not comment on individual personnel matters. The College makes decisions regarding faculty appointments based on curricular need, student demand, and other relevant criteria, without reference to political or other affiliations. These academic factors change from year to year, which is why non-tenure track faculty appointments can change over time. Non-tenure track faculty are generally eligible for reappointment if and when there is curricular need.”
