XPost: alt.college, alt.teachers, school.teachers   
   XPost: alt.education   
   From: docmartian@verizon.net   
      
   Subj: Ruth Nolan of College of the Desert is using her Creative Writing   
   class as a political soapbox.   
      
   She has spent at least half of five sessions yammering about the Iraq war   
   instead of anything remotely related to Creative Writing. Today, when I   
   responded at a rational, cognitive level to her political diatribe, she cut   
   me off three times. So, I stood up, and as I was leaving the class, she said   
   "goodbye, Kevin" and I responded that it wasn't right for her to be using   
   the class as a political soapbox, at which point she said... well, everyone   
   except you (the sole vocal divergent opinion) is enjoying it and she   
   continued yammering... I said YabitaYabitaYabitaYabita as her empty words   
   continued and left the class. When I returned after cooling down 10 minutes   
   later, she said "you disrupted the class and i'm asking you to leave or i'll   
   call security". I left, and promptly dropped the class. She disrupted the   
   class when she interrupted her political diatribe to address a student who   
   was peacefully exiting her forum. A college classroom should not be used as   
   a political soapbox. She has used at least 4 hours of class time to discuss   
   her views on the Iraq war, usually while talking vociferously over any   
   divergent opinion. I have spent at least 20 hours of my life attending and   
   preparing for her class, my having to drop it means a loss of my time and   
   effort and I think at bare minimum the College should effort to erase my W.   
   I'm willing to accept other suggestions that result in a grade for the class   
   other then W. While at other times Ms. Nolan has allowed divergent opinions,   
   today, with perhaps 10 people remaining of a class of 25, she made her   
   singleminded and unswerving political beliefs (with dutiful echoes from   
   similarly biased students) the sole allowed voice in the class. Please   
   provide a solution that is equable both to a student who has had his time   
   sucked by a professor who shuts down any divergent thought and to a college   
   who has at bare minimum poorly screened it's faculty.   
      
   Thank you,   
   Kevin Anderson   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)