A California State University, Northridge (CSUN) professor of political science and Africana studies, Dr. Karin Stanford, has been out on sick leave since January after she began worrying about online comments posted about her.
The comments came in connection to a report in Campus Reform that revealed her politically tinged test questions on a final exam she gave to her students.
The exam was for the professor’s African Studies 161 course, the Los Angeles Daily News reported late last week. Stanford says the online comments, including one that said, “This is government abuse. Somebody shoot her in the face,” coupled with “hate mail and other hateful messages,” made her feel anxious, the publication reported.
Violence or threats of violence are never to be tolerated — they’re absolutely abhorrent.
But the professor’s bias is clear as day. Her two final exam items were of the multiple choice variety. One read: “Donald Trump made statements of a ______________ nature throughout the presidential campaign.” Students had only the following choices to select from, in order to answer the exam question correctly: “anti-Mexican, anti-Muslim, anti-woman, and all of the above.”
And look at how the professor worded a question related to failed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. This question read: “In her 2016 concession speech, what groups did Hillary Clinton address in terms of breaking down barriers and bringing people together?” Again, students were prompted to select one alternative from the list. Their alternatives were: “races, religions, genders and sexualities, and all of the above.”
Stanford’s request for worker’s compensation was denied, the Daily News said. Further, despite the CSUN campus police’s conclusion that the disturbing comments posted online did not constitute a criminal threat (they consulted with local police as well), the professor said she feared for her safety and was unsatisfied with the college’s response to her concerns.
The school, for its part, said it has taken her concerns “very seriously.” Spokeswoman Carmen Chandler told the Daily News, for example, that the school is “actively working to find solutions that will ‘balance the principles of academic freedom and free speech’ while ensuring the safety of students, instructors and staff.”
Related: Look How Many College Kids Can’t Speak Freely on Campus Today
Additional context may be helpful in understanding what some may believe to be an overreaction on the professor’s part. It is possible she is sensitive to unwanted media attention given her background.
The single mother and her family were “stalked” following civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson’s confirmation of a National Enquirer story that he had fathered a child with Stanford, Diverse Education reported back in March 2001. “After Jackson’s public admission, old allies turned against Stanford. She was vilified in the media and demonized as a woman out for financial gain,” the article continued.
The faculty schedule for the 2018 spring semester lists no courses or office hours for the professor, nor does Stanford’s faculty profile.
An email to CSUN regarding the professor’s current status was not immediately returned.
Michele Blood is a Flemington, New Jersey-based freelance writer and regular contributor to LifeZette.
(photo credit, homepage image: Cal State University Northridge, CC BY-SA 3.0, by Cbl62)
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