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The mixed support and condemnation that erupted this past week when 180 professors made their personal opinions on the war widely known to the public mirrors the wide range of feelings about whether professors should express their political opinions inside the classroom.

Some students want to know what is on their instructors’ minds, while others find it inappropriate in a classroom setting.

Regardless of the sway, the larger concern is how professors’ opinions affect students in class discussions and graded papers.

Many students do not see anything wrong with professors bringing their personal opinions into the classroom.

They say educators are paid to have opinions and that expressing them in the classroom aids students in critically analyzing the information presented.

Students are mature enough to filter the different opinions they are exposed to, especially if they have access to all sides of a story, said Khanum Shaikh, a first-year women’s studies graduate student.

As a teaching assistant, Shaikh said she could not imagine a teacher who would grade a student down for arguing a divergent opinion in a paper.

“We want students to challenge the teacher’s opinion, to challenge everything, to think about who is producing knowledge and why,” she said. “I constantly emphasize that students don’t get an A for agreeing with me.”

Many students agreed that the professor’s opinion does not affect what they write in their papers, citing the professor’s expectation for an objective argument supported by other readings, not anyone’s opinions.

Additionally, some students say it’s only fair to let professors express their opinions in class.

“Students can wear whatever they want to class – T-shirts with political slogans, etc. – yet that professor is going to teach them regardless,” said Erin Bertiglia, a fourth-year English student.

But there are other students who say political opinions have no place in the classroom, because teachers are supposed to teach proven facts rather than personal opinions.

While Alexander Tsai, a second-year economics student, said he agreed with his bioterrorism professor who made Saddam Hussein “out to be a bad guy,” he did not agree with how the professor went about doing so.

“It was so subjective … as a professor, he should make his class more neutral and let the students decide for themselves,” Tsai said.

Mike Ash, a fifth-year molecular cell developmental biology student, echoed a similar sentiment by relating his experiences in an introduction to women’s studies class he took his first year.

Many guys in the class were afraid to voice their opinions because they contradicted those expressed by the female professor, Ash said.

Additionally, Ash said his minority status as a conservative in the primarily liberal class made him feel uncomfortable at every lecture, and that he would have preferred it if the class were more objective.

Many students agreed that the nature of a class determines whether the expression of political opinions in the classroom is appropriate.

North Campus classes in the social sciences and humanities are more likely to accommodate professors’ political views than South Campus classes, because such opinions may better relate to the course objective.

“If my neuroscience professor starts talking about the war, it’s totally irrelevant,” said third-year psychology student Julie Glover.

“But if it relates to the class subject, then it’s a good thing, as long as it doesn’t get out of hand,” she added.