We’re not quite sure how this will help students learn Freshman English or American Literature.
Dr. Beth Lueck , a University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Freshman English and American Literature teacher, offered extra credit to students who participated in a College Democrats-led protest against Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed state budget, the MacIver Institute, a conservative Wisconsin-based think tank, reported.
Walker’s proposed budget includes $300 million in cuts to the University of Wisconsin system.
Lueck announced the opportunity to receive extra credit for the event on an internal university website that posts homework assignments and class announcements, MacIver reported. She said it was open to any students who join, observe or protest.
And despite the protest’s affiliation with the campus’s College Democrats chapter, Lueck said it was “nonpartisan” because it was just against Walker’s “proposed $300 million cut” and his “attacks on shared governance and faculty.”
Lueck herself can also hardly be considered “nonpartisan.” She was previously a Democrat candidate for the State Senate in 2012 and the Assembly in 2014, MacIver noted.
In a press release obtained by Campus Reform, Allison Strauel, Vice Chairman of the Wisconsin Federation of College Republicans and Chairman of UW-Whitewater College Republicans, denounced the extra credit assignment.
“Professor Lueck, in a display of irresponsible partisanship, has used her position to boost attendance for an Anti-Walker budget rally on campus. The nature of Dr. Lueck’s faculty status, gives her influence over her students and she wrongfully abused it,” Strauel said.
“As a student at UW-Whitewater I believe it is imperative that the partisan beliefs and biases of Professors remain outside of the classroom, especially in instances where students’ grades can be affected. Unfortunately, Professor Lueck is not the first faculty member at UW-Whitewater to take a partisan position on the budget, and I doubt she will be the last.”
