Stressed UC-Berkeley Students Demand Take-Home Tests

From FreedomProject Media:

It is a rare occasion when college students desire to take an exam. Unfortunately it has become a common occurrence for students to grandstand and verbally attack the administering professors.

Enter the University of California, Berkeley, a university once the bastion of free speech but now is synonymous with student upheaval and outrageous acts. Professor Harley Shaiken had difficulty last week beginning a midterm for The Southern Border, a 100-level course offered through the Ethnic Studies, Education, and Geography Departments. 

When students arrived in class for their exams, they were rightly confused to find a protest by a small group of students reading from scripts. The protesters were addressing Shaiken and began making demands for the structure of the class. One student took out a recording device and captured the more than 11-minute escapade. (Audio can be heard throughout, but quality video begins at about the 1:50 mark). 

A female protester questions Shaiken’s credentials and qualifications to teach the course. Shaiken, who has been chair of the Center for Latin American Studies at UC Berkeley since 1998, focuses his study on the issues of economic and political integration between the United States and Mexico. In 1991, Shaiken received the Outstanding Teaching Award at the University of California, San Diego. 

“Have you ever checked ‘unlisted’ or ‘undocumented immigrant’? I don’t think so!” rhetorically asked the protester. “Have you ever checked ‘student of color’? I don’t think so.” 

Yes, Shaiken is white.

To read the rest of the article and view a related video, click here.

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