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Professor ‘Watchlist’ Website Organized By Conservative Non-Profit Calls Out Liberal Academics, Teachers

By Darien Cavanaugh
Published on: 16:42 PST, Nov 21, 2016

A new website called Professor Watchlist is drawing attention to professors “who discriminate against conservative students, promote anti-American values, and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom,” according to the site’s “About Us” page.

The website is a product of Turning Point USA, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that seeks to promote free-market capitalism.

“Turning Point USA educates students about the importance of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government,” reads Turning Point USA’s mission statement. “Through non-partisan debate, dialogue, and discussion, Turning Point USA believes that every young person can be enlightened to true free market values.”

The organization was founded in June of 2012 by Charlie Kirk.

Kirk, who is only in his early 20s, is widely considered to be a rising star in the conservative movement and perhaps even “the future of conservative politics” in America, as a 2015 Atlantic profile by Rebecca Nelson refers to him.

In an interview with Nelson, Kirk described Turning Point USA by saying, “It’s very visible; it’s very aggressive; it’s very grassroots; it’s face to face.”

Professor Watchlist seems to be trying to incorporate all of those elements by relying on an open submission form which anyone can use to file a complaint, which is then used to brazenly call out the professors in a public space.

The landing page for Professor Watchlist is rather basic. There’s a banner across the top with four navigation tabs — “Home,” “About Us,” “Watchlist Directory,” and “Submit a Tip.”

Below that is a brief introduction to the site and profiles for six “featured” professors.

We’re not interested in calling out any of the professors by name at The Inquisitr. We will, however, list the fields of some of the professors targeted, along with the accompanying offenses they supposedly committed, to provide a better sense of what the Professor Watchlist is about.

The below quotes are pulled directly from the site, with only the professors’ names, the names of the institutions they work for, and other obvious identifiers omitted and replaced with ellipses. The field of study is not listed for every professor on the watchlist. All errors and typos are as they appear on the site.

“Political Science [professor]…took over a College Republican discussion with a representative from Pennsylvania Right to Work Defense and Education Foundation. He and some of his students, insulted the speaker and accused him of racism. [He] then exclaimed, ‘Oh come on, f*****g a–. I believe in the religion of foul language.'”

“Assistant Professor…stated that white racism is to blame for Brexit. She tweeted ‘White nationalism gone be the death of all of us. #Brexit’ and went on to say ‘The only thing I know that makes white folks vote against their own economic interest is racism. #Brexit.’ In another interview to Salon she stated that white people need to start recognizing that they are ‘the face of the oppressor.’ [She] has also stated that Christian conservatives worship a ‘white supremacist Jesus.'”

“[T]enured professor…and an admitted socialist. He required students to recite a pledge that describes a racist, sexist, homophobic America. ‘I pledge allegiance to and wrap myself in the flag of the United States Against Anything Un-American and to the Republicans for which it stands, two nations, under Jesus, rich against poor, with curtailed liberty and justice for all except blacks, homosexuals, women who want abortions, Communists, welfare queens, treehuggers, feminazis, illegal immigrants, children of illegal immigrants, and you if you don’t watch your step.'”

“Associate Professor… In her ‘Women and Popular Culture’ class, [she] threatened to give students a failing grade for using verbiage she considers, ‘oppressive and hateful language.’ The punishment includes, ‘but [is] not limited to removal from the class without attendance or participation points, failure of the assignment, and— in extreme cases— failure for the semester.'”

“[p]rofessor…believes that universities would be more dangerous if they had students legally carrying firearms. [He] spoke out against a new bill which allows for concealed carry on campus, claiming that he feared he would be shot by disgruntled students if concealed carry was legal at the university.”

You get the picture. While some of the things these professors say may be unpalatable (if they indeed said them), much of what Professor Watchlist critiques falls well within the norms of academic and political discourse. For the watchlist, something as innocuous as being “an outspoken Marxist activist, who encourages his students to get involved in political activism” can make you a target of their ire.

The watchlist currently contains dozens of entries on professors from across the United States.

There are a few names that are curiously missing from Professor Watchlist. Noam Chomsky, for instance, is not included as of this posting, nor is former University of Colorado – Boulder professor Ward Churchill (shown in the featured image). Both are standard targets of the political right in it’s critique of academia as a supposed hotbed of radical leftism.

[Featured image by Jeffrey Phelps/Getty Images]

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