The College Fix

Professor: ‘We do not need to hear about ‘American superiority'”

An American studies professor at the University of Southern California recently bristled during her lecture at the notion that the Founding Fathers deserve praise.

Student Ricky Oakley, a junior at USC and a student in the class, “Peoples and Cultures of the Americas,” said he was disappointed by the incident, which took place last week.

“I was in my American studies class and we were talking about the Mexican Revolution against Spain,” he said in an email to The College Fix. “[The professor] played a video with a bunch of historians talking about the formation of the Mexican Revolution. One of [the historians] said ‘We don’t know how lucky we are to have had the American Founding Fathers bec-‘ and then she turned it off, saying that we do not need to hear about ‘American superiority.'”

“She continued with her lecture and at the end of class a student asked why we didn’t get to finish the video and she said that many historians view the U.S. as a beacon of freedom.”

Oakley said he interpreted that to mean she did not want students to view America in that way, which may be why she stopped the video short.

The professor teaching this particular course, Alicia Chavez, did not deny turning off the video or her comments. She said in an email to The College Fix that she also did not mean to discourage debate.

“I would encourage the student who ‘felt uncomfortable’ to come and discuss this material with me, or anything that took place in class,” she said. “I certainly was not trying to limit students’ exposure.”

In general, Oakley, a member of the USC College Republicans, said he and other students he’s talked to feel professors are too bold in asserting their disdain for America without presenting both sides.

While higher education is designed to encourage critical thinking within students – to get them to challenge what they hear – right-leaning students often find themselves wondering when the other side of the story is going to be told, he said.

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