Conservative Alumnus Pulls Offer to Buy Lecture Tapes

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"A 24-year-old conservative alumnus who announced earlier this month that he planned to pay students at the University of California, Los Angeles, to tape-record the lectures of left-leaning professors backed down after U.C.L.A. officials informed him on Monday that he would be violating school policy.

The alumnus, Andrew Jones, said he abandoned the plan to save his student supporters from possible legal action by the university, even though he believed they would be engaged in a "newsgathering" effort protected by the First Amendment.

Mr. Jones says he is confident that students will volunteer to tape lectures or take detailed notes in an effort to expose their professors as liberal partisans who do not tolerate dissent in their classrooms.

But a U.C.L.A. official said Monday that even without the monetary incentive, students who passed tapes of lectures to Mr. Jones would be in danger of sanctions by the university and possibly the professors who were recorded without permission."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/national/24ucla.html

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I was thinking that use of those tapes to threaten the job security

of certain professors might open the Alum up to a legal action called "tortious interference with a contract" wherein the defendant is held liable for going to a contractee and persuading him/her/it to breach and nullify an existing contract with another contractee.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Here's a pic of Mr. Jones, who was fired by David Horowitz...

according to the article:

Mr. Jones worked briefly during and after college for the conservative activist David Horowitz, who has been lobbying state legislatures to pass an "Academic Bill of Rights" to protect students with minority viewpoints from partisan professors.

Mr. Horowitz says he fired Mr. Jones, accusing him of pressing U.C.L.A. students to file false reports that they had been physically attacked by leftist activists.




Monica Almeida/The New York Times
Andrew Jones offered to pay U.C.L.A. students to tape lectures by left-leaning professors.

[mikeytherat]

3. Wow. Fired by David Horowitz for being unethical? I mean, wow.

To get fired by Horowitz for being unethical, you must be vying with John Edwards for the "Supreme Douche of the Universe" award.

mikey_the_rat

[DBoon]

4. He looks 24 going on 50

no I take that back, there are many 50-year olds who look better than him

[devilgrrl]

6. He's just another Young Geezer

A young old man.

[endarkenment]

8. 24 in dog years.

What bullshit. Where is the money coming from for this rightwing attempt at a purge of the universities? Is this '24 year old' actually an alumnus?

[KurtNYC]

10. Yes. This story shows again how when one little RWer shouts

into the MSM echo chamber, they uncritically give him $$$$ in free publicity. Twisted version of this story appeared widely in news sources as diverse as The Guardian UK. Few of the stories made much of the fact that Jones is the only registered member of his "group"

His prior escapades include holding an "Affirmative Action Bakesale" where he sold the same cookies to different people charging them different prices based on their skin color.

To paraphrase Barnum: "There is a Jeff Gannon born every minute."

[gratuitous]

13. Yeah, who IS bankrolling young Mr. Jones?

I know that when I was fresh out of college with my newly-printed degree, I didn't have an extra $300 to offer to anyone with a tape of a lecture. Where is Jones getting his money?

I am also amused that as soon as the UCLA administration and professors began insisting that their legal rights be respected, young Mr. Jones skedaddled like a Little Leaguer from a busted window. It probably comes as a shock to our ideological firebrand that even lowly college professors have rights, too.

What a tool.

[wicket]

5. Wow, fired by Horowitz???

Must be a MAJOR right-wing nut job! Sheesh. :wow:

[yorkiemommie1]

7. training to be the next Rove or Cheney or O'Lielley

n/t

:puke:

[Kber]

9. exactly right

remember his name and start the file now.

[TrogL]

11. Projection at its best

He wants all professors to be right-wing partisans who do not tolerate dissent, hence he accuses professors of the opposite.

[6th Borough]

12. Bet it wouldn't be long before he began selling the lectures.

...if it hadn't already been planned.

How long would it take for a Young Republican to become distracted from his "moral outrage" once he considered the potential revenue stream he could generate?

Hell, he could even start up a website to sell streaming audio lectures to those who would rather kick back on the beach then attend class.

...

At an ethical level, this is cut and dry. Not much different than stealing intellectual property.