Caroline Heldman — a white professor of politics at Occidental College (Oxy) who has been known by her students for “[getting] angry with any small challange to her philosophy” — accused white people of propagating a “white supremacist society…[that] dehumanizes people of color” on MSNBC on Friday.
Heldman was being interviewed on The Ed Show — Campus Reform reported — about what the Confederate flag symbolized in the wake of the Charleston, S.C. shooting.
“I do think that that flag is very much a symbol of hatred and for some it is a symbol of heritage,” Heldman said. “But that is a heritage of hate.”
The academic continued to declare that American society is one that automatically “values white people” and that once white youth recognize that they are immediately “valued” above people of color, they can never break free from that “white supremacy” mode of thinking.
“We are a society that on its face values white people, what they do, and their body, their integrity, more than people of color,” Heldman stated. “We dehumanize people of color in this country and so once a white person recognizes this…it is a constant struggle throughout the course of your lifetime to overcome it.”
A student in one of Heldman’s political science courses at Occidental College reviewed their experience in the class on RateMyProfessor.com.
“Professor Heldman doesn’t like to be challenged, or to be presented with questions which contradict her philosophies,” the anonymous student wrote. “I viewed my time in her classroom as more of an indoctrination, rather than as an educative class.”
Heldman is not the first Occidental College professor known for being defensive about left-wing political views — both in and out of the classroom — and trusted to contribute to major news networks.
Last year an unidentified male student was expelled from Oxy for being accused of rape. Following his expulsion, John Doe filed a Title IX lawsuit against the college after Occidental sociology professor, Danielle Dirks, announced that Doe “fit” the image of what Dirks believes is the archetype of a college rapist.
Dirks stated that Doe “fit the profile of other rapists on campus in that he had a high GPA in high school, was his class valedictorian, was on [a sports] team, and was ‘from a good family,'” the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) reported.
Another Oxy politics professor took to national media to comment on Occidental’s 2014 pledge to divest completely from all companies that manufacture what the school considers military-style assault assault weapons and ammunition.
“It’s a statement of principle about the mission of higher education to be a voice of reason in a world of a lot of violence. [Colleges] should be held to higher standard in their investment portfolios.” professor Peter Dreier told the Los Angeles Times.
However, Dreier’s national “statement of principle” on Occidental’s “voice of reason” in divesting was quickly debunked by the fact that at that time, Occidental had zero funds invested in military assault weapons and ammunition — thus there was nothing to divest from the college’s endowment.
Occidental professors have historically been called out expressing bold, leftists political views on national media.
But Oxy students have taken to the internet to advise future students on how to have a chance in class.
“[Heldman’s] class has a seeming overly liberal agenda,” the anonymous student forewarned. “As a guideline just don’t disagree or debate liberal teachers, they don’t do debate well because often their stance isn’t argued with hard facts.”