Horowitz Fabrication?

Since Fall 2003, David Horowitz has told a story of how a student at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) received an "F" on a test because she refused to write an essay arguing that President Bush is a "war criminal." The story is false, according to officials at UNC and the professor at the center of the allegation.

According to two stories on Inside Higher Education Today, a spokesperson for UNC was willing to talk about the two-year old case (the student did file a complaint): "The claim that Horowitz makes is incorrect. That didn't happen."

Because of privacy laws and regulations, the University cannot provide the actual student transcript in order to validate their version of the story. On the other hand, the accusing student could wave her right to privacy and allow the University to release the transcript. That would put to rest, forever, the question of her grade.

There are at least two holes in the Horowitz version of the complaint, according to UNC:

• The student did not receive an "F".
• The question, which was optional was not "explain why George Bush is a war criminal," as Horowitz characterizes it:

  The American government campaign to attack Iraq was in part based on the assumptions that the Iraqi government has "Weapons of Mass Destruction." This was never proven prior to the U.S. police action/war and even President Bush, after the capture of Baghdad, stated, "we may never find such weapons." Cohen's research on deviance discussed this process of how the media and various moral entrepreneurs and government enforcers can conspire to create a panic. How does Cohen define this process? Explain it in-depth. Where does the social meaning of deviance come from? Argue that the attack on Iraq was deviance based on negotiable statuses. Make the argument that the military action of the U.S. attacking Iraq was criminal.

In his response to the Inside Higher Ed story, Horowitz leads with an attack on the "left" for not investigating "extremist ideologues like Ward Churchill." He also states that this student's plight is only "one of the hundreds of cases we have identified" of political discrimination.

He asserts that:

Until now the university has denied us all information about the incident, which is why we relied on the student herself.

However, Robert Dunkley, the assistant professor of criminal justice at Northern Colorado at the center of this allegation, says Horowitz never contacted him about the allegation: "He's cooked this whole thing up."

A Google search of the site shows that on 13 Sept 2004, Horowitz supported his legislative agenda by citing two student allegations of bias. He said that a legislative hearing in December 2003 included

... testimony from a student at the University of Northern Colorado who told legislators that a required essay topic on her criminology mid-term exam was: "Explain why George Bush is a war criminal." When she submitted an essay explaining why Saddam Hussein was a war criminal instead, she was given an "F."

The article links to a transcript of the hearing, which is where this story first came to light, according to Horowitz. However, in the linked copy of the transript, there is no testimony from UNC and the phrase "Explain why George Bush is a war criminal" does not appear.

The story, which made its way into public discourse through Horowitz, is sexy enough that the Christian Science Monitor, The London Times and The Washington Times used it to lead stories about conservatives "under seige" on campuses.

It appears several times on Horowitz's web site, FrontPageMagazine.com: On 5 December 2003, it was one of four student experiences cited to support an allegation of liberal bias on campus. On 21 Jan 2004, it was the only student experience cited; ditto on 6 Mar 2004 and 13 Apr 2004. On 14 Dec 2004, it is one of two student cases cited. It was one of four alluded to (no details on where the alleged incidents occurred) on 12 Jan 2005.

Also see Inside Higher Ed, 15 Mar and Inside Higher Ed, 14 Mar