Last March 1, I reported on DePaul's suspension of Thomas Klocek, who defended Israel from exaggerated charges from some Muslim students.
As with most American colleges, there truly is a deep liberal bias at DePaul. For instance, last fall, Dr. Harvette Grey invited that hero of the anti-American Left, Ward Churchill, to speak at DePaul. What's worse, Grey and others at DePaul stymied the efforts of the DePaul Campus Republicans to protest the paid speaking appearance by the controversial University of Colorado professor.
Laura Bollin's DePaulia article doesn't reach the same conclusion that I deduced months ago; she interviewed various DePaul students and faculty members--none of them conservatives-- so Bollin understandably remains uncovinced. Her write-up is an answer-back to Steven Plaut's FrontMage Magazine article DePaul U Confronts Amerikan "Empire." Plaut wrote about DePaul's uber-Left "scholarly" College Theme Series for the current quarter at DePaul, "Confronting Empire," headed by DePaul Professor of Sociology, Chuck Suchar.
For the uninitiated, "Empire" is a code word for anti-Amerikan, or, if you prefer, anti-AmeriKKKan activists who view the United States as the jumping off point for all evil in the world.
But Bollin's piece reaches the conclusion that DePaul probably only leans left, in part because it is a Catholic university. However, in the last presidential election, Republican George Bush won a majority of the Catholic vote over Democrat John Kerry, despite Kerry counting himself as a Roman Catholic.
The article brings up the urban setting of DePaul as another factor for its slight liberalism. DePaul's sprawling Lincoln Park campus is located in Chicago's 43rd Ward, once a liberal bastion, but in 1998, Republican George Ryan carried that ward in his successful race for governor of Illinois. Since then, partly because of Ryan, the Illinois Republican Party has imploded. The 2004 Alan Keyes debacle further weakened the Illinois GOP. But mark my words, those conservative beliefs among Lincoln Parkers are still there.
Chicago's Loop, where DePaul's major campus is, cannot be relied upon as a knee-jerk liberal area. Kerry won the Loop's 42nd Ward, but by one of his lowest percentages over Bush of Chicago's 50 wards.
However, the article does a serve to the DePaul community: At least there is a discussion of liberal bias at the Chicago school.
But next time you write about liberal bias, DePaulia, please contact some campus conservatives. Where to find them? How about at the Lincoln Park Statesman and the DePaul Conservative Alliance.
Oh, I almost forgot. I attended the protest of Ward Churchill's speaking appearance last fall. A 50-ish woman marked confronted me about how I was "against free speech." I brought up the Klocek case, and after I wiped the floor with her in a quickie debate, she stormed away after snarling this statement at me:
"I would never have you in my classroom."
As for her identity, or if she was a DePaul professor, I don't know the answer to either. Assuming she was a DPU prof, then based on that woman's statement, the verdict is in: There is a liberal bias at DePaul. The confidence in her voice was such that she knew she could get away with a comment like that.
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