We reported last week that a small number of influential politicians in Wisconsin are calling for a lecturer, Kevin Barrett, to be fired for controversial comments he made during a radio show alleging that the federal government played a role in orchestrating the 9/11 attack.  It’s bad enough that State Rep. Nass and Rep. Green (a gubernatorial candidate) are calling for his dismissal, but it now appears that their calls are not falling on deaf ears. 

Comments made by Gov. Doyle indicate that he agrees, at least in part, with the calls from Nass and Green.  In an interview with WKOW, Doyle says, “It isn't a question so much of academic freedoms.  It's a question of someone who has this totally irrational idea is somebody who should be really teaching students at the University of Wisconsin.”

At least this situation provides us a clear example of why politicians shouldn’t be messing with the content of students’ education.  I’ll fully admit that I find Barrett’s theory a little off the wall.  But that’s not the point here.  Neither I nor these politicians know what the guy actually teaches and how.  It’s generally a good idea to explore more than one theory of how/why things happen.  That’s how students learn to debunk bad arguments. 

What’s not a good idea is to subject the content of education to the whims of political campaigns.  Even if the administration at UW Madison decides that Barrett’s class measures up to their standards, the fact that their investigation was launched because of a set of politicians decided they didn’t want to see a certain view taught is highly problematic.  It sends other faculty the message that they too will come under scrutiny if their class discusses ideas the gubernatorial campaigns find controversial.