Our friends the left - College edition

Alex Tabarrok at Marginal Revolution points out to some leftie shenanigans on College Campuses: bq. Stupid Professor Tricks Professors at the Claremont schools are at it again. Last year a visiting psychology professor sprayed her own car with racial and religious epithets, slashed her tires and then reported the incident as a hate crime. Why? In order to draw attention to the issue, of course. bq. More recently, SUVS at adjacent Pomona college were painted with anti-SUV messages like "My SUV wastes 33% more gas than a car" and "Is your image a good reason for people to die." (The paint is apparently washable). When the offending students were caught they had a surprising defense: their vandalism was part of an approved class project! bq. Bizarrely the students were taking a class in German Studies and were given an assignment to "develop your own political voice." According to the Dean of Students:

Approximately one week before the assignment was due, the students asked for and received written approval from the professor for several alternate projects, including the one that was carried out. Considering that they acted from what they thought was within the parameters of the class, we believe that they should not be sanctioned for their actions.

bq. The professor claims the approval was "inadvertent." It doesn't inspire confidence, however, when one reads the description of another one of her courses:

132 National Socialism and Today�s Media. Ms. Houy. Attempts to manipulate public opinion have become more effective through mass media; new communication technologies can empower resistance to such attempts. This course studies the propaganda machinery of National Socialism in order to explore current abuses of communication technologies and imagine ways of resisting such abuses.

Alex then comments: bq. Ok Kristallnacht it ain't but this does suggest the professor knew what she was doing. Absolutely. The academics need to come out of their little hermetic worlds and visit with the rest of us time to time... It's a big world out here.