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A Crisis of Competence:
The Corrupting Effect of Politcal Action in the University of California
A Report Prepared by the California Association of Scholars

Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 7:30 pm

Featuring:

John Ellis, President, California Association of Scholars

Prof. Charles Gesheckter, Professor of African Studies, California State University, Chico

Richard Redding, Professor, Chapman University School of Law

Location: Home Theater of Howard and Sonia Waldow
11963 Crest Place Beverly Hills CA 90201

Directions: Directions: Take Coldwater Cyn south from the 101 frwy coming from the valley. Take Beverly Dr. north from Sunset Blvd coming form the city. Beverly Dr. turns into Coldwater Canyon. Take Coldwater Canyon to the top of the mountain and take Mulholland going east. (Do not take Mulholland going west!) Go 1/4 mile on Mulholland, and on the left or Valley side is the gate for The Summit community. Guard will direct you to our home.

Admission: $15.00

Parking: Street (in gated community. ID may be required)

In its recently published 81-page report, A Crisis of Competence: The Corrupting Effect of Political Activism in the University of California, the California Association of Scholars found that radical faculty members and politicized courses are rapidly compromising the quality of education in the University of California.

The report, the result of an intensive two-year study finds:

• A sharp increase in faculty members who self-identify as radicals, leading to ‘one-party’ academic departments, such as at Berkeley, where left-of-center faculty members outnumber their right-of-center colleagues in Political Science by a ratio of 28:2, in English 29:1 and in History 31:1.
• Curricula that promote political activism, in violation of UC regulations. An example: Critical Race Studies at UCLA’s School of Law which unabashedly aims to be a “training ground” for “advocates committed to racial justice theory and practice.”
• Departments that erase the study of Western tradition. History majors are not required to take a survey course in Western civilization on any of the nine University of California undergraduate campuses.
• Suppression of free speech. Speakers at U.C Berkeley who have been shouted down by protesters include Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

John Ellis, president of the California Association of Scholars and one of the report's co-authors, states, “The quality of education at the University of California has been jeopardized by political activism. Dogmatism is rapidly displacing open-minded inquiry, especially in the social sciences and humanities, to the severe disadvantage of students. This has ultimately resulted in an erosion in public confidence in the University and has ominous consequences for the future of our country"

Richard E. Redding is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Graduate Education, and Professor of Law and Psychology, at Chapman University. He received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Virginia and J.D. degree from Washington and Lee University School of Law. Prior to joining Chapman University, he taught at the University of Virginia, Drexel University, and Villanova University. He is the co-editor of the book, The Politically Correct University: Problems, Scope, and Reforms (2010), and writes about the importance of sociopolitical diversity in higher education and beyond.