While Penn professors accused of being among the most dangerous academics in America are brushing off that title, the man behind it is getting much more serious consideration from the Pennsylvania government.
David Horowitz, the author of The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America -- which names three Penn professors -- is also a driving force behind a movement to stamp out a perceived bias in academia.
Horowitz recently testified in front of a Pennsylvania House of Representatives committee investigating whether there is political bias at state-funded colleges and universities in Pennsylvania.
Horowitz has been leading a campaign against what he says is the increasing politicization of higher education for several years.
Horowitz is among the leaders of an effort to get an "academic bill of rights," guaranteeing that students will not be penalized for political beliefs, passed in state legislatures.
He is head of the Los Angeles-based Center for the Study of Popular Culture, a conservative lobbying group.
Horowitz is one of about 25 people who have testified to the state legislature so far, according to Democratic Rep. Lawrence Curry of Montgomery County, the minority chairman of the Subcommittee on Higher Education.
The committee has held two sets of public hearings since it was formed last July -- one at the University of Pittsburgh last November and one at Temple University last month -- and plans to hold two more in the spring.
The issue touched Penn last week when Horowitz' book accused Law professor Regina Austin, History professor Mary Frances Berry and Religious Studies professor Michael Eric Dyson of attempting to indoctrinate students with liberal ideology.
Though sales of his book at the Penn Bookstore are "pretty decent" -- four copies out of six sold in the past week, according to employee Stacey Smith -- experts say that the book will have little or no impact on the the hearings.
"I think [the book] will excite his followers. ... Other people will look at it with scorn," Curry said.
Political Science professor Rogers Smith agreed that the book will do nothing more than "reinforce the like-minded."
Bruce Rankin -- a legislative aid to State Sen. Gibson Armstrong (R-Lancaster), who proposed the resolution creating the select committee -- said that although the book and Horowitz' appearances on television news programs won't affect the Pennsylvania hearings directly, he is raising awareness of the issue nationwide.
Horowitz' detractors, however, maintain that his arguments are rife with inaccuracies.
Curry -- who was a history professor at the University of the Arts in Center City for 40 years -- called Horowitz "unstable" and said that he "sells the profession [of teaching] short."
Rogers Smith joked that since conservatives currently control all three branches of the federal government, "liberal professors are doing a lousy job" indoctrinating students.
Those testifying before the state committee have included university officials, professors, students and representatives from outside organizations according to Dustin Gingrich, the Republican research analyst for the House Education Committee.
Academic rights? - Pundit David Horowitz wrote a book called The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America, which included three Penn professors on its list - Horowitz also testified in front of a Pennsylvania House of Representatives committee investigating potential political bias in classrooms at state-funded universities
