Professor's letter to Christians goes viral on Reddit.

[clarinetpower]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/1 ... 89406.html

Hello, Cross-Cultural students, I am writing to express my views on how some of you have conducted yourself in this university course you are taking with me. It is not uncommon for some-to-many American students, who typically, are first-generation college students, to not fully understand, and maybe not even appreciate the purpose of a university. Some students erroneously believe a university is just an extension of high school, where students are spoon-fed “soft†topics and dilemmas to confront, regurgitate the “right†answers on exams (right answers as deemed by the instructor or a textbook), and then move on to the next course.

Not only is this not the purpose of a university (although it may feel like it is in some of your other courses), it clearly is not the purpose of my upper-division course on Cross-Cultural Psychology. The purpose of a university, and my course in particular, is to struggle intellectually with some of life's most difficult topics that may not have one right answer, and try to come to some conclusion about what may be “the better answer†(It typically is not the case that all views are equally valid; some views are more defensible than others). Another purpose of a university, and my course in particular, is to engage in open discussion in order to critically examine beliefs, behaviors, and customs. Finally, another purpose of a university education is to help students who typically are not accustomed to thinking independently or applying a critical analysis to views or beliefs, to start learning how to do so. We are not in class to learn “facts†and simply regurgitate the facts in a mindless way to items on a test. Critical thinking is a skill that develops over time. Independent thinking does not occur overnight. Critical thinkers are open to having their cherished beliefs challenged, and must learn how to “defend†their views based on evidence or logic, rather than simply “pounding their chest†and merely proclaiming that their views are “valid.†One characteristic of the critical, independent thinker is being able to recognize fantasy versus reality; to recognize the difference between personal beliefs which are nothing more than personal beliefs, versus views that are grounded in evidence, or which have no evidence.

Last class meeting and for 15 minutes today, we addressed “religious bigotry.†Several points are worth contemplating:

Religion and culture go “hand in hand.†For some cultures, they are so intertwined that it is difficult to know with certainty if a specific belief or custom is “cultural†or “religious†in origin. The student in class tonight who proclaimed that my class was supposed to be about different cultures (and not religion) lacks an understanding about what constitutes “culture.†(of course, I think her real agenda was to stop my comments about religion).

Students in my class who openly proclaimed that Christianity is the most valid religion, as some of you did last class, portrayed precisely what religious bigotry is. Bigots—racial bigot or religious bigots—never question their prejudices and bigotry. They are convinced their beliefs are correct. For the Christians in my class who argued the validity of Christianity last week, I suppose I should thank you for demonstrating to the rest of the class what religious arrogance and bigotry looks like. It seems to have not even occurred to you (I'm directing this comment to those students who manifested such bigotry), as I tried to point out in class tonight, how such bigotry is perceived and experienced by the Muslims, the Hindus, the Buddhists, the non-believers, and so on, in class, to have to sit and endure the tyranny of the masses (the dominant group, that is, which in this case, are Christians).

The male student who stood up in class and directed the rest of the class to “not participate†by not responding to my challenge, represented the worst of education. For starters, the idea that a person—student or instructor—would instruct other students on how to behave, is pretty arrogant and grossly disrespects the rights of other students who can and want to think for themselves and decide for themselves whether they want to engage in the exchange of ideas or not. Moreover, this “let's just put our fingers in our ears so we will not hear what we disagree with†is appallingly childish and exemplifies “anti-intellectualism.†The purpose of a university is to engage in dialogue, debate, and exchange ideas in order to try and come to some meaningful conclusion about an issue at hand. Not to shut ourselves off from ideas we find threatening.

Universities hold a special place in society where scholarly-minded folks can come together and discuss controversial, polemic, and often uncomfortable topics. Universities, including UCF, have special policies in place to protect our (both professors’ and students’) freedom to express ourselves. Neither students nor professors have a right to censor speech that makes us uncomfortable. We're adults. We're at a university. There is no topic that is “off-limits†for us to address in class, if even only remotely related to the course topic. I hope you will digest this message, and just as important, will take it to heart as it may apply to you.

Charles Negy

Of course, when I posted it, my resident pet fundie declared that it was scary that this guy is a professor because he has no idea what objectivity is. Yeah, right.

[PennySycamore]

Bravo, Professor Negy, Bravo! :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

[BravaAmica]

Remind me to buy this guy a beer the next time I see him.

[SpeakNow]

Love love love that!

[Anxious Girl]

This guy's an awesome professor!

[Gil]

Has there been any confirmation of this (screenshots, etc.)? I like it, but it seems weirdly expository for an email supposedly addressed to a classroom full of students that were present.

[clarinetpower]

IDK, just found it via addictinginfo on huffpo. Perhaps he was expository because it would go to the entire class, and he didn't know who had and hadn't attended?

[LadyBlue]

If it was a large lecture class, there could have been several hundred students. Even most smaller classes could easily be a couple dozen. I didn't find the exposition weird at all. He could have been trying to avoid using names for some reason or he might not have known people's names.

I saw it posted several months ago.

[Cran]

I applaud this professor, but the article scares me at the same time. It has happened. In an university. And when this professor and his generation are dead, who might hold his office...?

The behaviour some students have exhibited there is beyond me. Even I, having studied theology at a Catholic, Jesuit-lead university, have discussed the merits of Christianity as objectively as possible, and used the best possible ARGUMENT to explain why I thought Christianity was the best possible answer to problems like "Where do we come from and where do we go?" ;)

Anyone who would have said "Christianity is true because it is true" (which those students obviously did) would have been thrown out, and not gotten a quite nice lecture explaining to them what university is for. We're expected to know that latest after the course in our first semester "Introduction to scientific methods and practices".

[kolga]

As a professor who's encountered some of the same behavior from students in the past, I can tell you that I want to write this letter (specific to my field) every year.

And if I did, I'd get fired so fast it would break the sound barrier, even though I have tenure.

If it's true that he wrote this, he might face the same fate if he doesn't have tenure. Higher education is a consumer market now, with students as customers, and the customer must always be happy.

[Palimpsest]

A quick Google tells me Charles Negy is still employed as an Associate Professor at the University of Central Florida. Yay! :D.

Kolga -- I think he must be tenured. He has been there since 1998 and probably would have moved on before now had he not been given tenure.

Yes, writing that letter was a risk that someone without tenure would be unwise to take. With tenure he might be brought in for a chat with the Department Chair, but it is very unlikely that he would be fired. I've seen much worse behaviors than an irate letter to a class from tenured professors go unpunished. That is not necessarily a good thing!

However, he covered himself nicely with the intellectual/academic freedom argument. Hard for a university receiving federal funding to argue with that, although it would not necessarily fly at a Bob Jones.

FWIW, he also gets a 3.8 rating on Rate-My-Professor as of May this year. Looks as though there are 500 students in some of his classes. A minority of students find him obnoxious, arrogant, and his classes way too hard bringing down his rating overall, but I think we can guess who they are!

[crassy]

As a professor who's encountered some of the same behavior from students in the past, I can tell you that I want to write this letter (specific to my field) every year.

And if I did, I'd get fired so fast it would break the sound barrier, even though I have tenure.

If it's true that he wrote this, he might face the same fate if he doesn't have tenure. Higher education is a consumer market now, with students as customers, and the customer must always be happy.

That's sad. I've had professors write stuff similar to this (the last one came about a month ago and was an open letter to the crazy conspiracy theory morons who seemed to be taking over the class and being disruptive) and there is no way they would be sacked for doing so.

[Esther]

This guy is awesome. Seriously, if any kid displayed the type of behavior that he describes here in any class I was teaching, I'd tell them to leave the classroom and return once they've decided to put their arrogance to the side. That's the point of university. You don't want to come to class or participate in a discussion? Fine, but then you don't get credit either. Go away.

ETA: But then I teach in the UK right now. I imagine this would be trickier in the US. In the UK, tolerance levels for crazy religious bigotry within a university are... pretty damn low.

[crassy]

This guy is awesome. Seriously, if any kid displayed the type of behavior that he describes here in any class I was teaching, I'd tell them to leave the classroom and return once they've decided to put their arrogance to the side. That's the point of university. You don't want to come to class or participate in a discussion? Fine, but then you don't get credit either. Go away.

ETA: But then I teach in the UK right now. I imagine this would be trickier in the US. In the UK, tolerance levels for crazy religious bigotry within a university are... pretty damn low.

That is pretty much how my classes are. My professors and my classmates have very little tolerance for this bullshit. We are grad students and have no need for this crazy bullshit. I'm pretty sure her access to our online blackboard was revoked as well. I haven't seen her around in a while, I am not sure if she was removed from the class completely.

Different opinion? Great. Being a giant dickwad? Not so great!

[tankgirl]

I much prefer this guy, to a Professor I had back in my college days. I am still mad at my younger self for not reporting her unprofessionalism. The first day of a Psychology class she asked us, "Who controls your destiny?" We all sat and sort of thought, "Us?". She suddenly said, "God does! Without him you have nothing.". And went off on a rant about how great Christianity was. I should have dropped that class that day. I did terrible in that class because everytime she brought up God I felt the need to argue her, or point out, her personal beliefs had nothing to do with the discussions. She was horrible, she needed a kick in the head from a guy like this, while back in school herself.

[Deleted07]

While I agree with his sentiments, at the same time I feel this Professor is almost bigoted about his views on other peoples bigotry... If that makes any sense at all.

IE; Quick to point out others flaws, but not see those same flaws in themselves. (do as I say, not as I do!)

I agree that religious arrogance is gross, and you can't just get pissy about something you disagree with. However, I wonder what he said to get the responses he did, that were so extreme?

His long pompous letter, pointing out specific students as arrogant, bigoted and anti-intellectual, are funnily enough all pointed at people who disagreed with him. Which leads me to believe that he himself is guilty of the same things he is accusing many of his students of, and making it obvious that he initiated the defensiveness stance some students had about his subject matter.

I'm not religious, but I can't say I wouldn't feel or react the same ways if a professor came in and started a Athiestic lecture that only remotely related to the subject matter.

[Cran]

I do not have the impression he held an "Atheistic" lecture but a lecture about cultural differences, and demanded students look upon religion as part of culture, too, and therefore realize that the religion of the country has its valid place and role even if it is not Christianity, the ONE TRUE RELIGION .

[Esther]

I do not have the impression he held an "Atheistic" lecture but a lecture about cultural differences, and demanded students look upon religion as part of culture, too, and therefore realize that the religion of the country has its valid place and role even if it is not Christianity, the ONE TRUE RELIGION .

Exactly. There comes a point where even the almighty Christians have to take a step back and say: hey, actually my religion is, just like all the others, basically a collection of myths and stories based in little to no real-world proof aside from the faith we have in them. It's that realization that makes an academic discussion possible. It's that realization that can lead to a truly interesting debate on the way culture and religion are intertwined and the way religion has shaped various cultures around the world.

I am fairly religious - Jewish - but I get along better with (most) atheists than with (most) Christians. This is one of the reasons.

[emmiedahl]

The Christian students were refusing to engage in the exercise, either by refusing to consider their own bias or refusing to participate at all. It does not sound like the prof was pushing an atheist POV, but asking everyone in the class to consider their own biases and that they might have sprung from culture. Damn, you can read the name of the class and know that you will need to be able to put aside your own biases. Any class with culture, social context or anthropology in the description is going to ask this.

I have seen this happen in classes so I absolutely believe it happened. One bio professor gave them exactly X minutes to whine about evolution before they would have to learn it just like everyone else. I got to here a lot of judgmental bullshit in a class on Gender and Society, even though the prof said from the very beginning that the anthropological perspective is inherently non-judgmental. Of course they only judged the non-Christian cultures; any Christian perspectives of gender were viewed from a much more sympathetic lens. If my professor had sent out this letter, I would have stopped by his/her office to thank him or her.

It's about time someone points out that they need to put on their big girl panties. College is not the SOTDRT.

[Deleted07]

Quotes from the Rate MY Professor site about him:

He tries to push his beliefs and ideals down people's throats, and then says he hates christians bc they want to push their beliefs onto others. How ironic!

He is a little confrontational, do NOT take if easily offended.

Expect to be offended by at least one or two things he says.

he is very opinionated. Beware: if you try to argue against him, you WILL lose and he'll make you look stupid.

He loves challenging student's ideas (especially religion). I thought it was hilarious hearing people get defensive, and he seemed to be amused too.

This is my problem, with either side... Either an Atheist or a Fundie or anyone in between, to be SO confrontation like this, in my opinion, isn't helpful in any situation and is indeed bigoted. Either side you look at it.

Its clear this is his tact, he loves to rile people and get them defensive and loves the monopoly he has over the students. I personally don't care for it. I agree, students shouldn't be molly coddled, they have to learn to respond to difficult questions and listen to anothers views, but when he is in a situation of such uneven distribution of power, such as a student/professor dynamic, and he is deliberately going out of his way to push a certain agenda, I can't help but feel he is abusing that power here.

[Cran]

Challenging beliefs is his JOB. You can't be a good scientist if you go about without challenging your preconceived notions. Perhaps he goes a bit overboard with it, entirely possible, but in my opinion, this is better than to let student stew in their own sauce.

And those portals... I have my own name on some German ones, although I do not teach at university, but at school. It is rather amusing what my pupils have to say about me, and how different the things are.... *g*

[Swamptribe]

I attended a small Southern Baptist college in the mountains of North Carolina. Decades ago. Took a comparative religions class, taught by a conservative Minister. He did an excellent job. Did not make judgements on other religions, covered their beliefs and brief histories objectively. Barely went over Christianity except to point out the different mainstream (protestant, Catholicism, Eastern orthodox kind of differences) differences. Not one person in the class (it was a small class) pulled any "Christianity is the only religion" crap. Though I expected it. By the way, I was pretty much the token atheist at the college.

This kind of anti-intellectualism is frightening, but growing. Over the last ten to fifteen years there seems to be a huge distrust of anyone 'intellectual' developing in main stream American culture. Intellectual, or educated, is automatically defined as untrustworthy. Intellectuals are out to persecute all those other 'little' people. One of the worst examples of this is the anti-science sentiments we see in society.

Frankly, I see this as part of the reason we have a rise in 'homeschooling' among the religiously conservative. Look at how conservative politics in the US has swung towards the extreme since 9/11. Hell, my husband asked the question just yesterday "Do you ever remember politics being so polarized in this country"? For reference, we were both born in the early 60's, and no, I never remember it being this polarized.

[fakepigtails73]

While I agree with his sentiments, at the same time I feel this Professor is almost bigoted about his views on other peoples bigotry... If that makes any sense at all.

IE; Quick to point out others flaws, but not see those same flaws in themselves. (do as I say, not as I do!)

I agree that religious arrogance is gross, and you can't just get pissy about something you disagree with. However, I wonder what he said to get the responses he did, that were so extreme?

His long pompous letter, pointing out specific students as arrogant, bigoted and anti-intellectual, are funnily enough all pointed at people who disagreed with him. Which leads me to believe that he himself is guilty of the same things he is accusing many of his students of, and making it obvious that he initiated the defensiveness stance some students had about his subject matter.

I'm not religious, but I can't say I wouldn't feel or react the same ways if a professor came in and started a Athiestic lecture that only remotely related to the subject matter.

Yup. Exactly my thoughts as well.

[Mustang Sally]

If you are secure in your beliefs, you are not personally threatened when they are challenged. I don't understand why so many self-proclaimed faithful Christians don't understand this.

I have some unconventional beliefs myself, and it is always uncomfortable to have them challenged, but I no longer feel so threatened by being challenged that I can't engage in a discussion. If anything, learning to respond to those challenges has clarified my own positions for me, and allowed me to examine them more deeply.

If you can't understand this, then your beliefs are shaky at best. Hardly the stuff of strong faith.

[tankgirl]

I want to also write that I understand how a professor would need to write this, and could be forced to when Christians get caught up in the stuff they were raised with. In a college course on Women in History, Well one student stood up in one early class and told the teacher she was wrong, she was taught in her Mormon teachings thing were different, damn if I totally forgot the situation being taught, but this girl lost her shit when the teacher politely at first explained that, no that wasn't what happened, it ended up with the girl insisting what she was taught was correct because it came from the church, and the teacher was wrong. I can imagine with a much larger class, my old professor would have sent a letter, instead she talked to the class, the girl who started the debate and another did leave the class, but that was their choice.