Voices in the marketplace of ideas

The organization on campus representing free speech for academics* issues a statement, and two more former students offer their thoughts:

Ok, I support academic freedom, no prob. But what about some critical thought, too? If Kaplan's provoking students is a teaching method, it sucks. I had Kaplan in 1991. He was, and I assume still is, one who does not teach by "conventional" methods. I remember coming out of his classes angry, for all the baiting he did. I don't remember whether it was feminists, gays, liberals, or what particular group was the bait de jur, but it hit me where I lived. Did I learn more about criminal law because he provoked me? I don't think so. My lousy grade in the class proves it. Academic freedom, sure. But let's also be open to critique of methods. 6:39 PM

and

John Kindley said...
While in a comment above I expressed the wish that law students would speak up and have the courage to challenge their professors in class when they say something dubious and/or offensive, instead of running to the Dean and creating a media circus, I also have to second communitygal's observation above as a former student of Kaplan, about Kaplan's teaching style.

There did seem to be a lot of unnecessary baiting, and the free association lecture style, typically delivered while pacing back and forth, often seemed to smack more of the personal and subjective than the substantial and objective. I remember being surprised at some of the things he said in class on that score, and fellow students expressing dissatisfaction outside of class with things he said.

Oddly, I also remember once being surprised when he said something, in the space of about 15 seconds, that was actually quite lucid, insightful and substantial about the point of law or policy under discussion. Kaplan seemed to realize it was out of the ordinary for him too, as he followed it up with something like, "Now how about that?" I regretted that he did not lecture in that manner more often.

I hesitated to say this, because I have nothing personal against Kaplan and liked him, and I agree wholeheartedly with the Committee's statement. On the other hand, perhaps this very unfortunate incident will motivate Kaplan to re-evaluate his lecture style in a positive way. 8:56 AM

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*Interesting when the names overlap: those commenting externally in various news sources, and internally representing the school's interests. Nothing wrong with that, just something unique to our new media**, who also seem to have the ear of the old grey lady. Win win? Win lose?

** IN the more traditional media, if possible there's a tendency to avoid what might be seen as conflicts of interest, or having too many forks stuck in one dish.

*** For the record, I had no classes nor outside classroom discussion with Professor Kaplan during my time on campus, 2002-2005.