The principles of appropriate classroom behavior and intellectual diversity recently collided in Professor Scott Straus' Politics of Human Rights seminar, resulting in an angry and frustrated class, a student alleging professor incompetence and the student being forced to meet with an assistant dean of students.
Controversy arose when UW-Madison senior Joe McWilliams repeatedly questioned Straus during class.
Straus and other students in the class claim McWilliams' questioning of the professor was off-topic and combative, while McWilliams maintains his questions were not off-topic and his behavior was appropriate.
After several classes where McWilliams spoke out in what the professor and other students deemed an inappropriate manner, Professor Straus brought the issue to the Dean of Students Office, which sent McWilliams a letter requesting a meeting and mentioning possible suspension or expulsion.
\The tone he was setting was having a detrimental effect on the class. He was, in my view, interfering with my ability to teach the class,"" Straus said.
McWilliams feels the professor targeted him because of his outspoken nature and political views.
""To receive a disciplinary letter from the professor and the assistant dean of students-I felt that was me being singled out for having a belief system which was inconsistent with [Straus]'s conformist liberal view,"" he said.
The line between spirited debate and inappropriate behavior is often disputed and in this case, because of contradicting accounts, determining the nature of what happened in the class is difficult.
UW-Madison political science professor Donald Downs is chair of the Committee for Academic Freedom and Rights.
Downs said the terminology of the letter McWilliams received is distressing.
""It suggests predetermination and one has to wonder 'did such a letter need to be sent under these circumstances?'"" he said.
Lori Berquam, Assistant Dean of Students, said the letter sent to McWilliams was standard procedure and that letters must reveal the highest level of punishment a student can face, in order to preserve due process.
The controversy did not end with the letter from the Dean of Students. McWilliams posted an 800-word statement to a website entitled Students for Academic Freedom. In this statement, McWilliams characterizes Straus as partisan and easily offended.
Straus contends that McWilliams' statement contains ""outright lies and serious distortions of fact.""
The statement written by McWilliams mentions biased grading.
""I haven't graded anything. I haven't handed a grade back,"" Straus said.
Students in the class told The Daily Cardinal that McWilliams' behavior made them uncomfortable participating in class discussion in part due to his tendency to interrupt other students.
""He had this chilling effect on the class and it made me afraid me to speak my mind freely,"" said UW-Madison senior Aimee Dreiss, who is in the class.
McWilliams stands by his actions in class and said political science students should be willing to stand up for themselves.
""[The other students] are not going to get anywhere in this world if they can't take any heat,"" McWilliams said.
McWilliams' classmate, UW-Madison senior Randall Baum, stated he and his peers were not offended by what McWilliams said, but how he said it.
""It wouldn't be bad if he raised his hand but he'd just say, 'What are you talking about? How can you even think that?' That's not a civil discourse at all,"" Baum said.
McWilliams has since dropped the class because of his conflict with the professor. He said this issue is connected to overrepresentation of liberal faculty on the nation's campuses.
Straus said he maintains a nonpartisan structure in the classroom, and that this case is not about politics, but rather appropriate conduct.
Downs emphasized the difficulty of the situation.
""We have got to find a way to not discourage intellectual diversity but you don't want to encourage people to be disruptive in the classroom,"" Downs said. ""It's hard to draw the line but we have to try to do it.""
