Chloe Clark, a professor at Iowa State University in the USA, has threatened to punish students who oppose abortion in their work, which she says is “grounds for dismissal”. Dr Daniel Frampton, SPUC Communications Officer, said: “The attempt to censor students by threatening them with dismissal is an appalling abuse of power that is also an affront to free enquiry and debate. A university is exactly where such a dialectic should take place.”

Describing the syllabus for her English 250 course at Iowa State University, Professor Chloe Clark issued a “GIANT WARNING” that written work arguing against abortion would be “grounds for dismissal”.

“You cannot choose any topic that takes at its base that one side doesn’t deserve the same basic human rights as you do”, she wrote: for example, “no arguments against gay marriage, abortion, Black Lives Matter, etc. I take this seriously.”

Dr Frampton said: “Of course, this line of reasoning takes no account of the fact that pro-lifers take the ‘basic human rights’ of the unborn to life very ‘seriously’.”

“Monster theory”

Professor Clark’s course claims to help students “become, not only a more perceptive consumer of information, but also a communicator better able to make effective decisions in your own academic life and work”.

Tackling what it refers to as “monster theory”, the syllabus is designed to assess and reflect on the demonisation of the “other”, what Clark refers to as “othering”. Accordingly, she writes that “any instances of othering that you participate in intentionally (racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, sorophobia, transphobia, classism, mocking of mental health issues, body shaming, etc.) in class are grounds for dismissal from the classroom”.

Dr Frampton said: “The lack of self-awareness in Professor Clark’s syllabus is staggering. Engaging in a type of ‘othering’ herself, she has vilified, and accordingly attempted to exclude, those she disagrees with. By her own logic, she has essentially dismissed herself.

“However contentious an issue might be, such a subject as abortion should be debated in the open in a civilised and rational manner. Professor Clark’s instinct to censor is, I daresay, indicative of her own intellectual insecurities and desire for power over her students. She is in danger of becoming the very ‘monster’ her syllabus aspires to examine and condemn.

“My advice to Professor Clark is that she should learn to communicate with her students rather than dismiss them. Arguments ‘are all around us’, indeed, as her syllabus says. It is a key hallmark of a healthy and mature civilization that we don’t seek to suppress certain kinds of them.”

Iowa State University responds

After a whistle-blower leaked the syllabus, Iowa State University released a statement saying that Clark’s course was “inconsistent with the university’s standards and its commitment to the First Amendment rights of students”.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the right to free speech.

The statement continued: “Iowa State is firmly committed to protecting the First Amendment rights of its students, faculty, and staff… After reviewing this issue with the faculty member, the syllabus has been corrected to ensure it is consistent with university policy. Moreover, the faculty member is being provided additional information regarding the First Amendment policies of the University.”