10 MOST CONTROVERSIAL COLLEGE PROFESSORS
February 6th, 2011
Students aren’t the only ones who can stir up a controversy on a college campus. Sometimes the faculty is the source of great speculation, public outcry and media controversy. These ten professors have been some of the most talked about, hated and controversial in the past few decades, sometimes spurred on by what they’ve said or taught and other times their own actions or associations. Read more to learn about some of the most contentious professors ever to teach in the United States.
William Ayers. More popularly known as Bill Ayers, this controversial figure was an elementary education theory professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago, before recently retiring. That alone doesn’t sound particularly controversial– and it isn’t– it’s Ayers’ views on politics that have gotten him into hot water. Ayers was an outspoken anti-war activist during the Vietnam War, but is perhaps most controversial for his involvement with the Weather Underground, a violent communist revolutionary group responsible for bombings during the 60′s and 70′s. Ayers became a household name when connections between this so-called socialist revolutionary and Barack Obama were made by political pundits.
Alberto Gonzales. Alberto Gonzales was the 80th Attorney General of the United States under George W. Bush, but accusations of perjury forced him to resign. It is these allegations and his potential involvement in multiple illegal government activities that made him a controversial figure when he was chosen to teach a class in political science at Texas Tech. After it was announced that Gonzales would be taking on a role at Texas