http://www.cavalierdaily.com/CVArticle.asp?ID=15030&pid=974
I would like to comment on Laura Sahramaa's Feb. 11 column, "Calling Out Biased Professors." A focus of the column is to inform "all students" about Campus Watch, which airs complaints about "biased professors," making these statements without any further necessary qualifications.
As a site that is "simply a place for students to air complaints," the column made it sound as if all students can post their frustrations about professors on Campus Watch. A quick look at the Web site reveals that you cannot view postings from other students, the information you provide will be used in "reports." Secondly, the site is only concerned with "anti-Israel" ideals, and provides the viewers with information on professors that have what the site calls, "analytical failures," or pro-Palestinian tendencies. The only students that have any use of this Web site are those who hold serious pro-Israeli opinions. A student concerned with a professor who is pro-Israeli and neglects Palestinian points of view will only encounter the same neglect from Campus Watch.
Sahramaa argued that the site was only a forum for students and "the result isn't threatening." I know individuals who have been placed on this list as "anti-Israeli," and consequently have received hate mail and death threats. When bringing in forum speakers who have been labeled by Campus Watch, the University police must be called for security. Is this not threatening?
Campus Watch hails all those who speak strongly in favor of Israeli policy, do not believe in the term "Palestinian," and think all Arabs in the region are terrorists. Its purpose is to attempt to silence those individuals and professors who speak negatively in any minute way in relation to Israeli policy. The site is not concerned with student opinions or how professors handle opposing viewpoints in class.
Campus Watch is not a forum for any type of free expression, it is a political statement, a pressure site, and certainly not for "all students" or opinions.