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A right-wing activist has founded something called the Bruin Alumni Association and published a list of 31 UCLA professors he claims are "radical" for talking about President Bush, the Republican Party or left-wing views in the classroom—or in their off-campus writings. According to the BAA website, being "anti-Israel, anti-Bush [or] anti-war" is radical. Favoring affirmative action or opposing conservative judicial nominees such as Janice Rogers Brown also qualifies as, yes, radical. The group is offering students $100 to tape class sessions and deliver lecture notes as evidence against the professors—an offer that appears to violate UC rules.
Capitol Weekly has a story up on the controversy and BAA founder Andrew Jones. He claims the support of some prominent Republicans, but his former mentor, conservative publisher David Horowitz, calls Jones "a disturbed individual." The liberal blog Daily Kos and the conservative blog Transterrestrial Musings are on the controversy. And here's an earlier Daily Bruin story about Jones.
According to Capitol Weekly:
Jones, who is the only person listed under the "Who We Are" section of the Association Web site, is already a well-known conservative on the UCLA campus. A former chair of the UCLA Bruins Republicans and founder of the conservative campus publication the UCLA Criterion, he might be best known for his Affirmative Action Bake Sale. The February, 2003, publicity stunt offered lower prices on baked goods to minority students.[snip]
Congressman Rogan said his "one and only" contact with Jones was a phone call several months ago in which he was asked to give advice to the Association. He said he did not give permission for his name to be used in connection to any Web site that targets individual professors.
However, another person listed as a member of the board, conservative activist Mike Spence of the California Republican Assembly, said that he has been in contact with Jones and enthusiastically supports the site's mission....
[Horowitz] said he fired Jones from his job at Students for Academic Freedom two years ago for "unethical behavior." He added that he believes Jones may have stolen his donor list, and said he has been repeatedly forced to explain that Jones no longer works for him.
The BAA website has added a disclaimer, saying "UCLAProfs.com is not conducting a witch-hunt, engaging in police-state surveillance, or targeting privately-held political beliefs. We are concerned solely with indoctrination, one-sided presentation of ideological controversies, and unprofessional classroom behavior, no matter where it falls on the ideological spectrum."
* Makes the paper: Story in Wednesday's L.A. Times