Although the University of Missouri designated ombudsmen to take complaints from students who think professors discriminated against them, Ohio University professors said the current system on campus is effective.
The OU professors added it is unlikely the school would implement a similar policy to review alleged bias based on political or religious views because OU already has a system for grade appeals.
I see (the Missouri plan) as a little bit of a grandstanding
attention-getting thing said John Gilliom, chairman of the political science department at OU. It would be in some ways adding an unnecessary tool to the system that makes me wonder about what is going on in Missouri but I don't know about their system.
OU students are asked to evaluate every instructor and class at the end of each quarter, and those opinions are an important aspect of the professor's overall evaluation, Gilliom said.
The University of Missouri has a separate grade appeals process that is similar to OU's. Students first discuss the grade with the professor, then submit a written appeal to the chairman of the department, and, if they are still dissatisfied, they can appeal to the dean of their college.
Kandis Smith, the assistant vice president for Academic and Student Affairs at the University of Missouri, said no one has used the new system yet. The university does run programs for incoming students and faculty about intellectual pluralism.
Gilliom said most professors he has worked with don't care where students stand on political or religious topics.
It's like when my dad used to watch basketball and he didn't care who won and who lost. He just wanted to watch good basketball
he said. And in my experience with college professors
that's how they are.
Professors at the University of Missouri expressed concerns that the system would censor what they could say in the classroom.
A professor in OU's College of Arts and Sciences who spoke anonymously because of tenure concerns, said he doesn't censor himself now but that he's very concerned about the topic.
I don't feel like I censor myself because I don't try to censor students
he said. It would be wrong to single out a student and grade them in a bias fashion. All professors understand that's not an appropriate way to grade students.
The professor sees systems like the one in Missouri as potentially allowing for false claims.
Part of the danger of these sorts of policies is that students could use them for fraudulent reasons
the professor said. They can use it to kind of make a point to their professor.
He explained that during Fall Quarter 2002, he had a class observe a moment of silence on the one-year anniversary of Sept. 11, though he did not discuss the event in the classroom.
Probably around week seven or eight
I received an e-mail from a person I don't know
and this person threatened me
he said. The e-mail read something like
'Dear Professor
