by John Patrick | October 11, 2018 10:00 AM
A taxpayer-subsidized university in Maine has apologized after a professor created a last minute “pop-up course” for college credit that involved traveling to D.C. to lobby Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to vote against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Last week Susan Feiner, a retired professor from the University of Southern Maine, found a way to bypass the official USM review protocol for new courses, and hastily arranged a one-credit course on “Engaged Citizenship” that consisted of a two-day bus trip to Washington, where students would “join activists, political action groups, and social justice groups to meet with Senator Collins (R-ME)” and “rally up around the FBI investigation of the Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh.”
After the course was publicly advertised using the official University of Southern Maine email system, many citizens expressed their outrage at the partisan nature of the course, and the Maine Republican Party posted a screenshot of the email to their official Facebook page.
According to a statement from university President Glenn Cummings, the actions taken by the professor were done without school approval, and completely unacceptable for a publicly funded university.
"Dr. Feiner is technically retired,” said Cummings. “Dr. Feiner acted in a very rogue manner. Her behavior was inappropriate. It was unacceptable.”
Cummings went on to stress that the university has a policy of being completely nonpartisan on political matters since they are a taxpayer-funded institution.
“University policy makes it absolutely clear that our public, taxpayer-funded institutions must be nonpartisan in terms of political activity and institutionally impartial in all political, religious, and social matters that are unrelated to our universities’ core mission of education, research and public service,” stated Cummings.
Collins eventually voted in favor of Kavanaugh's nomination. Her vote proved crucial, with Kavanaugh narrowly earning confirmation in a 50-48 vote.
source: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/red- ... -kavanaugh
references:
- rogue: used to describe something or someone that is different from others in usually a dangerous or harmful way; old-fashioned : a man who is dishonest or immoral
- taxpayer-subsidized university: publicly funded university 纳税人资助的大学，公立大学
- pop-up course: Pop-up classes are short workshops which provide students with the opportunity to engage in hands-on activities not found in the typical curriculum. These classes are not offered for college credit but allow students to learn new material while encouraging design thinking. Pop-up classes are offered for a variety of different topics, formats, and skills. In pop-up classes, collaboration is urged and, in stark contrast to conventional education, innovation is more important than instructions.
Also pls refer to Pop-Ups Offer Classes on Today’s Hot Topics - partisan: often disapproving: strongly supporting one leader, group, or cause over another
1. What do you think of Prof. Feiner's course?
2. What's your comment on the university's reaction and its response?
3. How do you evaluate Glenn Cummings' statement on a publicly funded university?