MELBOURNE, Florida -- The scandal at the Brevard Community College Melbourne Campus involving a college algebra associate professor who allegedly asked students during class time on campus to pledge their support for President Barack Obama was front page news early this morning on Foxnews.com.
Despite the national attention, the liberal-leaning local FLORIDA TODAY newspaper only used a small headline of the article further down on its website, opting instead to top headline a Matt Reed opinion article that does not address the scandal.
UPDATE: At around 10:30 a.m. today, the story became the headliner on FLORIDA TODAY.
Despite the national attention, the liberal-leaning local FLORIDA TODAY newspaper only used a small headline of the article further down on its website, opting instead to top headline a Matt Reed opinion article that does not address the scandal.
UPDATE: At around 10:30 a.m. today, the story became the headliner on FLORIDA TODAY.
Brevard County residents, who lean heavily conservative on Florida's Space Coast, were quick to voice their outrage on the BCC Facebook page upon hearing of the alleged political activity.
As early as September 14, one resident wrote "I
hear that one of your Algebra Professors made all the students in her
class sign this oath that they would vote for Obama. I think you need to
investigate this allegation and stop this coercion immediately!!! If
you remove this comment without taking action you will have additional
people with authority contacting the BCC Administration. No teacher, no
person has the right to force or coerce or threaten their students to
sign an OATH to VOTE for ANYONE!!!!"
This was followed by several more posts to the BCC Facebook page demanding an investigation.
BCC replied to the comments yesterday with the following status update:
"Brevard
Community College has received complaints alleging politically-based
inappropriate behavior on the part of Associate Professor Sharon Sweet,
an instructor of mathematics. The allegations center on her soliciting
support in her classes for President Obama in the upcoming election.
As stated in an earlier comment posted here on Friday, College officials learned of the allegations Thursday afternoon, Sept. 13, following a call from a concerned parent and immediately began an investigation.
The College has specific policies that address the political activities of faculty and staff, which state that no College employee shall solicit support for a political candidate during regular College work hours or on College property.
Based on the allegations, Associate Professor Sweet has requested, and been granted, a leave of absence without pay effective immediately.
The College will continue its investigation into the matter, which will include interviews with students in her classes. Additionally, the College is taking steps to reiterate its policy on political activity to all faculty and staff."
As stated in an earlier comment posted here on Friday, College officials learned of the allegations Thursday afternoon, Sept. 13, following a call from a concerned parent and immediately began an investigation.
The College has specific policies that address the political activities of faculty and staff, which state that no College employee shall solicit support for a political candidate during regular College work hours or on College property.
Based on the allegations, Associate Professor Sweet has requested, and been granted, a leave of absence without pay effective immediately.
The College will continue its investigation into the matter, which will include interviews with students in her classes. Additionally, the College is taking steps to reiterate its policy on political activity to all faculty and staff."
Records show that Sharon Sweet is a senator for the Brevard County Chapter of the United Faculty of Florida, a collective bargaining organization that overwhelmingly endorses Democratic candidates.
If this professor had her way, she would stand right by the ballot box to ensure you voted the "right" way.
ReplyDeleteUnbelievable. Still waiting for the Miami Herald and the Associated Press to cover this.
ReplyDeletewow, you are showing your colors Brevard Times! "Liberal leaning Florida Tdoay"? I guess you are really to the right. This is not a real big story here, but you choose to make it so. How about covering some real stories.
ReplyDeleteActually the story has broken wide open nationally. It's been on Fox and other Florida papers. On the front page of Drudge right now.
DeleteI suppose chris is right. This isn't big news since it happens in every school in america. Democratic corruption is the norm. Good catch.
Delete"How about covering some real stories?" LOL! This story is HUGE. Let me guess who you're voting for in November...
DeleteIt is a big deal. No teacher should force any student into pledging votes for any candidate. That's misuse of power, coercion and a misuse of classroom time.
Deletethis is prohibited basically everywhere, either by schools or by law, because of the implicit influence a figure of authority has over those in their charge, such as a teacher over students. see Milgram.
Deletewhich, as a legitimate concern with the teacher's actions, makes it kind of weird that all the right-leaning sources assume force or coercion, neither of which is established or even strongly suggested by the first-hand accounts, which amongst other things report that she was being regularly argued with by a student in her class who held republican views and suffered no retribution.
This is a real story if somebody in position of authority is trying to force people to vote for a certain candidate. What's tragic is that the media continues to shamelessly show bias towards a certain candidate.
ReplyDeleteChris, the Florida Today line was about news suppression. FT self-admittedly has a liberal editorial bias.
ReplyDeleteAlthough many conservatives would not have liked it as headline news, when Clint Eastwood was the story, that was Brevard Times top front page headline.
http://government.brevardtimes.com/2012/08/clint-eastwood-steals-rnc-spotlight.html
Brevard Times has both a liberal and conservative columnist and reporters.
http://davopinion.blogspot.com/
http://cp.opinion.brevardtimes.com/
The rest of the staff can be described as either Ron Paul supporters or apolitical.
http://government.brevardtimes.com/2012/01/brevard-times-endorses-ron-paul-for-gop.html
So you see, Chris, there is a mix of political views here at Brevard Times reflective of the diverse political views in Brevard County - and that is our true colors.
ok, thanks BT for setting me straight. I guess I have to read more of your articles.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Anonymous... I really don't watch Fox news as it isn't really news, but an opinion outlet. Drudge? Used to read all the time, then I learned about the all the fake news that Breheit wrote, then went to Huffington Post. They can get over the top too, but at least they aren't outright lies.
LOL! Chris, I live in another STATE and it's news here. I have a cousin who is a professor at a university in Georgia (yet another state); she's the person that told me about it! It's big news everywhere! Helloooooo!
DeleteFOX News is consistently rated as one of the most unbiased national news sources. Huffington Post is openly liberal/leftist.
DeleteHuffington post.....not lies???? You can not be serious! After reading their fabrication of "truth" for three years i quit going to them for news.
ReplyDeleteJust read their pie in the sky made up take on the 2nd amendment!
Huffington Post is notoriously left leaning. I think Chris's colors are showing, which is why he wishes this story would go away.
DeleteI agree that this professor's request goes against voters rights. But I also wonder what will happen to all colleges and students that can't exist without gov't help. As mitt sez: "ask your parents for money for college". Who has that much money? The 1%ers would would be getting the tax breaks if mitt is elected. Schools like BCC could be a thing of the past.
ReplyDeleteThe school won't go away, but the teacher needs to be dismissed.
DeleteStudents should earn their way, or at least part of it. Hundreds of thousands of hard-working students and parents pay their own way, and they should. Mitt is right and was right. College is NOT a free gift; if you qualify for a partial grant, be thankful. We have raised a generation of young adults who EXPECT to have their college tuition paid for free. They need to work, ask their parents, get a loan, ask God for help, and stop EXPECTING the government to pay for everything for free.
Deletecollege education is an overwhelming social good that's been established in dozens and dozens of sound scientific papers to be strongly correlated with things like public health and overall gdp.
Deletethe cost you pay to provide free-at-point-of-sale college education (student loans, for example) is most likely far less than the cost you pay for not doing so.
But isn't it the right that always violates voting rights during an election year?
ReplyDeleteNot at all, it is the left who wants to cheat, vote early vote often! That is why we need to show IDs. I recall the new black panthers intimidating whites during the last presidential election that Holder refused to prosecute? So Lame!!!!!!
DeleteI'm a purple finger fan myself. Wish we would do that here...
DeleteIF this were Mitt Romney this "teacher" was rooting for? The world would have stopped so that Chrissie Matthews could get off the ground shake out his tingly leg and "report" this "earth stopping news"!!
ReplyDeleteBrevard Community College needs to be concerned about their accreditation,along with violation of voter laws and their tax exempt status (not to mention reputation). This is an extreme breech of trust and "rape" of students rights. This is yet another example of why tenure is outdated and used as cover for bad behavior! I hope this "professor" is fired, sued and prosecuted, how does that"compute" SKANK!!!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lp.org/platform
ReplyDeleteWhat you don't seem to realize is what if the allegations are false? Students do tend to exaggerate...besides who's holding your hand when you go into the voting booth?
ReplyDeleteThe teacher did it in ALL her classes. It wasn't just one student who voiced a legitimate concern. Get your facts straight.
Deletethis story also needs to get its facts straight; the first-hand accounts do not report force, coercion, or "making" people vote. she was handing out bookmarks and being argued with during class time.
Deleteshe should lose her job, but it's important to be clear about what happened.