Economics Professor Evan Osborne of Wright State University in Ohio, wants to teach a course that is critical of Marxism, and claims he is being prevented from doing so.
He has been allowed to offer the course to honor students, but he wants to offer it as an economics elective, open to all students.
Jennifer Kabbany reports at The College Fix:
Economics professor barred from teaching class critical of Marxism to student bodyA longtime economics professor at Wright State University who has repeatedly requested permission to teach a class critical of Marxism has been rebuffed by his bosses and peers who appear unwilling to allow the topic to be taught to the general student population.Meanwhile, the university frequently offers courses that praise Marxism, economics Professor Evan Osborne told The College Fix.Osborne said the “short version” of his predicament “is that we have an angry, radical-left cohort in the department, they praise Marxism in the classroom, they will not let me teach critically about it, and numerous people in the university have refused to do anything about it.”While Osborne has recently been given permission to teach the class this fall to honors students, he is not allowed to open the class to the entire student body, he said. Only honors students may enroll in honors courses.
Osborne gave this comment to the Fix:
“That my department is full of extremists who probably don’t belong in a business-college economics department, to be sure, is a manifestation of academic freedom,” Osborne told The College Fix via email. “And I do not want to change how economics is taught at WSU, broadly speaking. I just want my academic freedom to offer a different view to also be respected.”
It’s no secret that the works of Marx are promoted in higher education, as noted by this report from the Tennessee Star:
Osborne had taught the class in 2014 to honors students. In the syllabus, the class’ learning objectives were detailed; the goal was to ensure students understood what communism was about, “what Marx and his acolytes thought,” and what happened “during the process of implementing communist regimes.”A report from 2016 showed that Marx’s works were the most prescribed of any economists in American colleges. In fact, the only books more assigned across all fields of study were a book on college-level writing and Plato’s The Republic. Marx is considered the father of communism, an ideology which some scholars estimate caused around 100 million deaths in the 20th century.
Professor Osborne clearly recognizes that one of the reasons so many college students support socialism, is because they are only getting one side of the story.
Evie Fordham writes at FOX News:
“The honors class … sharply limits who can take it,” Osborne said. “The biggest damage is being done to students in business, in the college of economics. Most of them are not honors students. … They deserve to hear.”His non-honors class got blocked after objections from faculty, including anonymous complaints. No other Wright State faculty have been told they can’t teach a class because other professors anonymously objected, Osborne said. He has taught there since 1994 and has tenure, he said.Osborne taught the class as an honors elective before in 2014 to counter the “dumb” criticisms of capitalism he said students were exposed to.
This is alarming. Courses like the one Professor Osborne wants to offer should be taught everywhere, and be open to all students. It’s not just about academic freedom, it’s about accurately teaching history.
Featured image via YouTube.
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