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I think political interference is a horrible thing for university education. But that particular part - "laws requiring professors to publicly post their cours

by theamk 9mo ago

I think political interference is a horrible thing for university education. But that particular part - "laws requiring professors to publicly post their course outlines in searchable databases" - is great, and should be done everywhere. There are actually universities who _claim_ to have great math (or physics or other science) program, but actually just teach it at "advanced high school" level. So public syllabi - something that was very common in 2000's but going out of style today - are critical for anyone choosing the university to go to.

mmooss 9mo ago
> There are actually universities who _claim_ to have great math (or physics or other science) program, but actually just teach it at "advanced high school" level. What do you mean by that? And could you give an example? It's hard to imagine any university teaching science majors at 'advanced high school' level, as I understand it. I could see a US community college or almost any university teaching intro courses that way. I can't iamgine what a 4th year chemistry major would be studying that fits the scope of 'advanced high school'.
rahimnathwani 9mo ago
"I think political interference is a horrible thing for university education." The University of California is one of the largest universities in the US. It is governed by a Board of Regents. The majority of those Regents are appointed by the state Governor. Do you consider that 'political interference'? One of the things those Regents did was vote to end the use of SAT scores in admissions. They did during a meeting in which several spoke of the value of the SAT. And they acted against the recommendations of the Academic Council's Standardized Testing Task Force. You might think that the staggered and long terms protect against political interference/influence. But if that's the case, how do we explain how so many votes are unanimous when, on the day of the vote, some regents express opposing views?
- kyboren 9mo ago
  > how do we explain how so many votes are unanimous when, on the day of the vote, some regents express opposing views? That reminds me of the Politburo voting scene in The Death of Stalin. Small group politics at their finest. Anyway, the UC Board of Regents is full of political hacks and corrupt cronies. Diane Feinstein's husband was famously a regent, while simultaneously serving as Chairman of both CBRE and his own leveraged buyout private equity firm.
- UncleMeat 9mo ago
  Boards of Regents consistently suck shit. The rather famous "put your body upon the gears" speech was about the Berkeley Board. Leftists largely hate the boards of both public and private universities. They are often megarich people with minimal understanding of pedagogy or even university administration.
ebiester 9mo ago
So, that sounds fine in theory. What's happening in practice, though, is a group of people (like Campus Watch) are looking specifically for anyone teaching gender, trans issues, race, and religion, and analyzing the coursework through their ideologies and harassing professors on account of it. And they're going through past years as well as present.
- Eddy_Viscosity2 9mo ago
  Not sharing course outlines is not going to help make this problem better. Better to face those groups head on than hide.
  - UncleMeat 9mo ago
    It observably does make it better. A friend of mine was harassed by these sorts of groups for their teaching. They received death threats, hardcore pornography, and gore in their inbox from these chuds. The trigger was the availability of their course material online.
  - Larrikin 9mo ago
    Why should professors face death threats head on? What are they going to do differently besides self censor?
  - solid_fuel 9mo ago
    > Better to face those groups head on than hide. Cool, if you feel that way then go face them. Don't force professors to stand in the firing line in your stead. > Not sharing course outlines is not going to help make this problem better. It would make finding targets more difficult than just doing a ctrl-f, which obviously would make the problem better just by making it harder to find professors to harass.
- belviewreview 9mo ago
  I see what you are saying, but not publishing the materials is not going to solve the problem. That's because the people who are attacking the professors will just get it by some other means, like having someone attend the class. Remember, the attackers are not a few oddballs. The are members of a vast MAGA movement that has enough member to elect the present president and that encourages this sort of behavior. And they have tons of money behind them.
janice1999 9mo ago
Intent matters though. Malicious actors, who are very much in power, will use the information to target universities and ideas [1] they don't like. Don't build databases for your enemies. Censuses were a great tool too, until certain people took power, then destroying them became the moral thing to do [2]. [1] https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2026/01/07/plato-censored-texas-am-carries-out-course-review https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_Amsterdam_civil_registry_office_bombing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_Amsterdam_civil_registry_...
- vibeprofessor 9mo ago
  [flagged]
  - juliusceasar 9mo ago
    Telling the history of your country about how you enslaved, murdered and tortured are considered "grievance narratives" by the current administration. Declaring scientists public enemy because they don't follow your politics.
    - vibeprofessor 9mo ago
      [flagged]
      - mindslight 9mo ago
        While this has some valid points, constructively addressing these issues is clearly not the political thrust of the destructionists who wish to simplistically downplay the history rather than framing it in a more productive manner. Also the condemnation of "treats political disagreement as moral evil" landed harder back before the other tribe decided to embrace the dynamic and fortify their political stances with blatant immoral evil.
    - like_any_other 9mo ago
testing22321 9mo ago
> But that particular part - "laws requiring professors to publicly post their course outlines in searchable databases" - is great, and should be done everywhere. You have to think about the consequences. It seems like a great thing until doors are smashed down and people are taken away for discussing topics the current regime doesn’t want discussed.
coldtea 9mo ago
Nobody (roughly) is choosing the university to go to based on the syllabus. They choose it based on cost, exclusivity, and networking considerations.
- theamk 9mo ago
  Everyone I know chose based on quality of education (for which syllabus is an important signal) and cost. This is various STEM-related fields. The "exclusivity" and "networking considerations" stop mattering if you not looking into Ivy League.. and most people don't go there.

by theamk 9mo ago

mmooss 9mo ago

> There are actually universities who _claim_ to have great math (or physics or other science) program, but actually just teach it at "advanced high school" level. What do you mean by that? And could you give an example? It's hard to imagine any university teaching science majors at 'advanced high school' level, as I understand it. I could see a US community college or almost any university teaching intro courses that way. I can't iamgine what a 4th year chemistry major would be studying that fits the scope of 'advanced high school'.

rahimnathwani 9mo ago

"I think political interference is a horrible thing for university education." The University of California is one of the largest universities in the US. It is governed by a Board of Regents. The majority of those Regents are appointed by the state Governor. Do you consider that 'political interference'? One of the things those Regents did was vote to end the use of SAT scores in admissions. They did during a meeting in which several spoke of the value of the SAT. And they acted against the recommendations of the Academic Council's Standardized Testing Task Force. You might think that the staggered and long terms protect against political interference/influence. But if that's the case, how do we explain how so many votes are unanimous when, on the day of the vote, some regents express opposing views?

kyboren 9mo ago
> how do we explain how so many votes are unanimous when, on the day of the vote, some regents express opposing views? That reminds me of the Politburo voting scene in The Death of Stalin. Small group politics at their finest. Anyway, the UC Board of Regents is full of political hacks and corrupt cronies. Diane Feinstein's husband was famously a regent, while simultaneously serving as Chairman of both CBRE and his own leveraged buyout private equity firm.
UncleMeat 9mo ago
Boards of Regents consistently suck shit. The rather famous "put your body upon the gears" speech was about the Berkeley Board. Leftists largely hate the boards of both public and private universities. They are often megarich people with minimal understanding of pedagogy or even university administration.

ebiester 9mo ago

So, that sounds fine in theory. What's happening in practice, though, is a group of people (like Campus Watch) are looking specifically for anyone teaching gender, trans issues, race, and religion, and analyzing the coursework through their ideologies and harassing professors on account of it. And they're going through past years as well as present.

Eddy_Viscosity2 9mo ago
Not sharing course outlines is not going to help make this problem better. Better to face those groups head on than hide.
- UncleMeat 9mo ago
  It observably does make it better. A friend of mine was harassed by these sorts of groups for their teaching. They received death threats, hardcore pornography, and gore in their inbox from these chuds. The trigger was the availability of their course material online.
- Larrikin 9mo ago
  Why should professors face death threats head on? What are they going to do differently besides self censor?
- solid_fuel 9mo ago
  > Better to face those groups head on than hide. Cool, if you feel that way then go face them. Don't force professors to stand in the firing line in your stead. > Not sharing course outlines is not going to help make this problem better. It would make finding targets more difficult than just doing a ctrl-f, which obviously would make the problem better just by making it harder to find professors to harass.
belviewreview 9mo ago
I see what you are saying, but not publishing the materials is not going to solve the problem. That's because the people who are attacking the professors will just get it by some other means, like having someone attend the class. Remember, the attackers are not a few oddballs. The are members of a vast MAGA movement that has enough member to elect the present president and that encourages this sort of behavior. And they have tons of money behind them.

janice1999 9mo ago

Intent matters though. Malicious actors, who are very much in power, will use the information to target universities and ideas [1] they don't like. Don't build databases for your enemies. Censuses were a great tool too, until certain people took power, then destroying them became the moral thing to do [2]. [1] https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2026/01/07/plato-censored-texas-am-carries-out-course-review https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_Amsterdam_civil_registry_office_bombing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_Amsterdam_civil_registry_...

vibeprofessor 9mo ago
[flagged]
- juliusceasar 9mo ago
  Telling the history of your country about how you enslaved, murdered and tortured are considered "grievance narratives" by the current administration. Declaring scientists public enemy because they don't follow your politics.
  - vibeprofessor 9mo ago
    [flagged]
    - mindslight 9mo ago
      While this has some valid points, constructively addressing these issues is clearly not the political thrust of the destructionists who wish to simplistically downplay the history rather than framing it in a more productive manner. Also the condemnation of "treats political disagreement as moral evil" landed harder back before the other tribe decided to embrace the dynamic and fortify their political stances with blatant immoral evil.
  - like_any_other 9mo ago

testing22321 9mo ago

> But that particular part - "laws requiring professors to publicly post their course outlines in searchable databases" - is great, and should be done everywhere. You have to think about the consequences. It seems like a great thing until doors are smashed down and people are taken away for discussing topics the current regime doesn’t want discussed.

coldtea 9mo ago

Nobody (roughly) is choosing the university to go to based on the syllabus. They choose it based on cost, exclusivity, and networking considerations.

theamk 9mo ago
Everyone I know chose based on quality of education (for which syllabus is an important signal) and cost. This is various STEM-related fields. The "exclusivity" and "networking considerations" stop mattering if you not looking into Ivy League.. and most people don't go there.