A professor at Duke University found herself in hot water after the editor-in-chief of the school’s student newspaper, The Chronicle, questioned a controversial policy listed on her course syllabus.
On the online syllabus for “Inside Hedge Funds,” economics lecturer Linsey Lebowitz Hughes appears to have banned journalists under a heading entitled “IMPORTANT NOTES.”
“Anyone who is on the staff of The Chronicle is not permitted to take this class. Please honor this in order that we can continue to get high quality visitors & information,” the syllabus reads.
Likhitha Butchireddygari, the editor-in-chief of The Chronicle who broke the story, reveals that the specification isn’t new. Fall 2014 and Fall 2015 course syllabi spell out the same restriction.
While the wording seems pretty clear, Duke’s associate chair in economics, Emma Rasiel, told The Chronicle that the language was not supposed to be taken at face value. Rasiel argues that it was just a “poorly worded attempt to remind students that the comments of guest speakers should be considered ‘off the record’ and not reported in the media or on social media.”
Michael Schoenfeld, Duke’s vice president for student affairs and government relations, added that, “No one was, or ever will be, barred from enrolling in any class because they are affiliated with the Duke Chronicle or any other student organization.”
This might be true, but that doesn’t mean that this note in the syllabus didn’t dissuade journalists from taking the course this year or in past years. According to Schoenfeld, the administration doesn’t review every course syllabus each semester.
Schoenfeld’s explanation actually makes the situation even more concerning, as it means that professors and lecturers have the freedom to discriminate against whoever they want until they get caught.
“This syllabus with the provocative wording has been around for three or four years,” said Butchireddygari. “If these administrators didn’t even know about this syllabus, how can they claim to know about perhaps more covert attempts to exclude students?”
Butchireddygari worries that there is nothing “stopping professors from excluding certain students” and she makes a good point. If professors can add whatever language they want to their syllabi, what is stopping them from blocking students with specific religious or political affiliations?
Could conservative students be the next victims of “syllabus discrimination” once Duke is no longer operating in “damage control” mode?
Brendan Pringle (@BrendanPringle) is a freelance journalist in California. He is a National Journalism Center graduate and formerly served as a development officer for Young America’s Foundation at the Reagan Ranch.
