The Big Brother Program at UCLA
PLEASE CIRCULATE TO ALL YOUR STUDENTS ASAP.
Bruin Alumni Association Targets 'Radical' Faculty
by Malcolm Maclachlan
Published January 17th, 2006
An organization calling itself the "Bruin Alumni Association" that has no official affiliation with the University of California has published on online list of UCLA professors it deems "radical." The Association also posted an online offer to pay students for evidence proving that instructors have been espousing left-wing views in class, in violation of University of California rules.
The Association lists an advisory board of UCLA alumnae that includes Senator and current Congressional candidate Bill Morrow, R-San Diego, former Congressman Jim Rogan, and former California Republican Party head Shawn Steel. The group's founder is Andrew Jones, a 2003 UCLA graduate who has worked as a research assistant to David Horowitz, the right-wing commentator closely identified with criticizing universities for being too liberal.
The Web site, www.uclaprofs.com, lists 31 current and former professors in disciplines such as African-American studies, Chicano studies, education, history and political science. These names are linked to detailed profiles of professors and their activities. There is also a ratings system in which faculty are rated from one to five "black power" fists to indicate how radical they are.
The site, which states that it was launched Jan. 7, also includes a button that reads, "UCLA Students: Help UCLAprofs and get paid!"
This invitation leads to a page that states: "Do you have a professor who just can't stop talking about President Bush, about the war in Iraq, about the Republican Party, or any other ideological issue that has nothing to do with the class subject matter? It doesn't matter whether this is a past class, or your class for this coming winter quarter. If you help UCLAProfs.com expose the professor, we'll pay you for your work. Full, detailed lecture notes, all professor-distributed materials, and full tape recordings of every class session, for one class: $100."
This offer was followed by a list of another 24 professors who had yet to be profiled but were "of special interest." The text of the offer matched that sent to Capitol Weekly by several listed professors.
Offering to pay students for notes and recordings violates University of California rules, according to UCLA campus counsel Patricia Jasper. A 2003 policy gives instructors copyright on their class materials. Another rule precludes the recording off classes without explicit permission and disclosure of the purpose of the recording.
The original offer was taken down over the weekend, then reposted with numerous legal disclaimers. However, Jasper said, it was still not fully in compliance, and that she planned to contact Jones. Jasper said that she her only contact with Jones so far occurred last year, when she sent him a warning that his website and donation materials were causing confusion among some UCLA alumni, who thought the group was officially connected with the school.
Jones, who is the only person listed under the "Who We Are" section of the Association Web site, is already a well-known conservative on the UCLA campus. A former chair of the UCLA Bruins Republicans and founder of the conservative campus publication the UCLA Criterion, he might be best known for his "Affirmative Action Bake Sale." The February, 2003, publicity stunt offered lower prices on baked goods to minority students. Jones did not return calls and e-mails requesting comment for this story.
One targeted professor, Ellen Dubois of the History Department, said that the website concerned her, especially considering that the California legislature has taken up the issues in two recent bills: SB 1335, the "student bill of rights"? stalled in the Senate last year, but has reemerged as SB 5. Both bills have been attacked by academics as "McCarthyism."?
Dubois said sent a letter to several members of the Association's advisory board. Some of these, she said, said they did not know their names had been listed. At least one of these names has since been taken off the Web site. The letter noted: "Information about the existence and nature of this organization is circulating rapidly through the Web and will no doubt reach the press quite soon. You may want to reconsider your relationship to this organization in light of its activities."
For Congressman Rogan said his "one and only"? contact with Jones was a phone call several months ago in which he was asked to give advice to the Association. He said he did not give permission for his name to be used in connection to any Web site that targets individual professors.
However, another person listed as a member of the board, conservative activist Mike Spence of the California Republican Assembly, said that he has been in contact with Jones and enthusiastically supports the site's mission.
"The joke is always the UCLA is ACLU rearranged," Spence said. "There is a radical, left-wing bias among faculty, not just at UCLA but at other colleges as well. I don't think there is a problem with sharing that information."
Professors' right to privacy is outweighed by citizens' right to know that their tax dollars are being used to fund "anti-American" activities, Spence said.
"I wish every UC had a group like this," Spence added.
However, Jones' one-time mentor, Horowitz, has distanced himself. He said he and Jones had a falling out and that he fired Jones from his job at Students for Academic Freedom two years ago.
One of the professors profiled, political science faculty Mark Sawyer, said his profile included details about his life going back to high school, and left his parents quite concerned when they saw it. He added that it appears that black and Latino faculty were disproportionately targeted.
"What underlies it is a sense of intimidation, the sense that anything you say could be taken out of context and put on a Web site,"? Sawyer said.
Another profiled faculty member, law professor Jerry Kang, agreed. He compared the list to the infamous Nuremberg Files Web site, which listed abortion doctors, names and addresses, then crossed out their names when they were murdered. The site made no explicit threats, but was eventually shut down for inciting violence.
But Kang said he has a new side project he's going to be working on "finding out everything he can about Andrew Jones and the Bruin Alumni Association".
"That's the problem with messing with a cyber-law professor," Kang said. "He's seeing the negative side of surveillance."
Bruin Alumni Association Targets 'Radical' Faculty
by Malcolm Maclachlan
Published January 17th, 2006
An organization calling itself the "Bruin Alumni Association" that has no official affiliation with the University of California has published on online list of UCLA professors it deems "radical." The Association also posted an online offer to pay students for evidence proving that instructors have been espousing left-wing views in class, in violation of University of California rules.
The Association lists an advisory board of UCLA alumnae that includes Senator and current Congressional candidate Bill Morrow, R-San Diego, former Congressman Jim Rogan, and former California Republican Party head Shawn Steel. The group's founder is Andrew Jones, a 2003 UCLA graduate who has worked as a research assistant to David Horowitz, the right-wing commentator closely identified with criticizing universities for being too liberal.
The Web site, www.uclaprofs.com, lists 31 current and former professors in disciplines such as African-American studies, Chicano studies, education, history and political science. These names are linked to detailed profiles of professors and their activities. There is also a ratings system in which faculty are rated from one to five "black power" fists to indicate how radical they are.
The site, which states that it was launched Jan. 7, also includes a button that reads, "UCLA Students: Help UCLAprofs and get paid!"
This invitation leads to a page that states: "Do you have a professor who just can't stop talking about President Bush, about the war in Iraq, about the Republican Party, or any other ideological issue that has nothing to do with the class subject matter? It doesn't matter whether this is a past class, or your class for this coming winter quarter. If you help UCLAProfs.com expose the professor, we'll pay you for your work. Full, detailed lecture notes, all professor-distributed materials, and full tape recordings of every class session, for one class: $100."
This offer was followed by a list of another 24 professors who had yet to be profiled but were "of special interest." The text of the offer matched that sent to Capitol Weekly by several listed professors.
Offering to pay students for notes and recordings violates University of California rules, according to UCLA campus counsel Patricia Jasper. A 2003 policy gives instructors copyright on their class materials. Another rule precludes the recording off classes without explicit permission and disclosure of the purpose of the recording.
The original offer was taken down over the weekend, then reposted with numerous legal disclaimers. However, Jasper said, it was still not fully in compliance, and that she planned to contact Jones. Jasper said that she her only contact with Jones so far occurred last year, when she sent him a warning that his website and donation materials were causing confusion among some UCLA alumni, who thought the group was officially connected with the school.
Jones, who is the only person listed under the "Who We Are" section of the Association Web site, is already a well-known conservative on the UCLA campus. A former chair of the UCLA Bruins Republicans and founder of the conservative campus publication the UCLA Criterion, he might be best known for his "Affirmative Action Bake Sale." The February, 2003, publicity stunt offered lower prices on baked goods to minority students. Jones did not return calls and e-mails requesting comment for this story.
One targeted professor, Ellen Dubois of the History Department, said that the website concerned her, especially considering that the California legislature has taken up the issues in two recent bills: SB 1335, the "student bill of rights"? stalled in the Senate last year, but has reemerged as SB 5. Both bills have been attacked by academics as "McCarthyism."?
Dubois said sent a letter to several members of the Association's advisory board. Some of these, she said, said they did not know their names had been listed. At least one of these names has since been taken off the Web site. The letter noted: "Information about the existence and nature of this organization is circulating rapidly through the Web and will no doubt reach the press quite soon. You may want to reconsider your relationship to this organization in light of its activities."
For Congressman Rogan said his "one and only"? contact with Jones was a phone call several months ago in which he was asked to give advice to the Association. He said he did not give permission for his name to be used in connection to any Web site that targets individual professors.
However, another person listed as a member of the board, conservative activist Mike Spence of the California Republican Assembly, said that he has been in contact with Jones and enthusiastically supports the site's mission.
"The joke is always the UCLA is ACLU rearranged," Spence said. "There is a radical, left-wing bias among faculty, not just at UCLA but at other colleges as well. I don't think there is a problem with sharing that information."
Professors' right to privacy is outweighed by citizens' right to know that their tax dollars are being used to fund "anti-American" activities, Spence said.
"I wish every UC had a group like this," Spence added.
However, Jones' one-time mentor, Horowitz, has distanced himself. He said he and Jones had a falling out and that he fired Jones from his job at Students for Academic Freedom two years ago.
One of the professors profiled, political science faculty Mark Sawyer, said his profile included details about his life going back to high school, and left his parents quite concerned when they saw it. He added that it appears that black and Latino faculty were disproportionately targeted.
"What underlies it is a sense of intimidation, the sense that anything you say could be taken out of context and put on a Web site,"? Sawyer said.
Another profiled faculty member, law professor Jerry Kang, agreed. He compared the list to the infamous Nuremberg Files Web site, which listed abortion doctors, names and addresses, then crossed out their names when they were murdered. The site made no explicit threats, but was eventually shut down for inciting violence.
But Kang said he has a new side project he's going to be working on "finding out everything he can about Andrew Jones and the Bruin Alumni Association".
"That's the problem with messing with a cyber-law professor," Kang said. "He's seeing the negative side of surveillance."