Prof. Bans Fox News as Source for Class Assignments, Calls Network 'Too Biased'
A West Liberty University educator caused controversy by banning her students from using various references like Fox News for assignments in her political science class.
Local reports indicate that Professor Stephanie Wolfe gave her students a syllabus outlining that they were not to use the cable news network as a source; she felt the news agency is far too biased for her class.
A copy of the syllabus was ironically published by Fox News. The instructions added that satirical comedy publication The Onion was also not to be used for class assignments.
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"DO NOT use:
1) The Onion - this is not news this is literally a parody
2) Fox News - The tagline "Fox News" makes me cringe. Please do not subject me to this biased news station. I would almost rather you print off an article from the Onion," the syllabus stated.
Since news broke of the educator's unique rules for her class, some have objected that a university professor would limit the choices of students when gathering information for school assignments.
Robin Capehart, President of West Liberty University, took exception to the professor's actions and encouraged all students to use any number of sources to obtain an objective opinion of the topic in question.
"One of our values at West Liberty is to encourage students to go out and inquire and gather information and look at as many different sources as possible on any side, before you reach your opinion," Capehart told WTOV.
"Any attempt to limit the breadth of a student's ability to investigate is obviously something at which we have a concern," he added.
The professor, who was temporarily filling in for another colleague on leave, has since amended her syllabus and dropped any limits on students' research options.
