AIM'S FOUNDER FORMS CAMPUS WATCHDOG UNIT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403060006-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: July 19, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403060006-6
WASHINGTON TIMES
19 July 1985
AIM's founder forms
campus watchdog unit
By Carol Innerst
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Reed Irvine, the founder of Accuracy in
Media, has formed a new conservative
watchdog agency designed to stem the flow
of disinformation from liberal college profes-
sors, he said yesterday.
"I decided that the problem in journalism.
the problem we find with the media, is the
education of journalists," said Mr. Reed.
AIM's chairman. "I thought maybe we ought
to go to the root of the problem instead of
working on the manifestation of its ailments."
Accuracy in Academia will make its pres-
ence known on campuses this September. Mr.
Irvine said.
His plan is to focus mainly on liberal arts
colleges and such subjects as political sci-
ence, history and sociology, rather than on
technical fields.
"I don't have huge problems with the tech-
niques of laying out a newspaper," he said.
when asked specifically about monitoring
schools of journalism.
Charging that there are "10.000 to 20.000
Marxist professors" on college campuses in
the country, Mr. Irvine said his plan is to have
knowledgeable senior citizens, who in many
areas can audit classes at public universities
at no charge, volunteer to observe, challenge
and expose professors who disseminate inac-
curate and biased information to students.
He also expects to find some students of
sturdy character willing to challenge what
they hear at the risk of incurring professorial
wrath and possibly a poor grade. he said.
The University of Maryland at College
Park will be the prime target in the Washing-
ton area, he said.
College Park Chancellor John B. Slaughter
said: "Research efforts of lesser value have
been suggested, though it's hard for me to
imagine what. We would not find it necessary
to act on his findings one way or the other.
Universities are likely to be more liberal than
other institutions because part of liberalness
is having openness to inquiry"
One of the professors Accuracy in
Academia is interested in tracking is Bertell
Oilman, once at the University of Maryland
and now at New York University, Mr. Irvine
said.
Maryland in 1978 denied Mr. Oilman the
chairmanship of the Government and Politics
Department at College Park. He sued,
charging that the denial was based on his
Marxist political beliefs. The courts upheld
the university administration, although fellow
professors in the department found him
acceptable, a university spokesman said.
When they spot a blatant case of disinfor-
mation. Mr. Irvine said the course auditory,
would question professors. If the class format
is a lecture and there is no opportunity for
discussion, he said they could take up the
issue with the professor or teaching assistant
after class. If not satisfied, the auditors would
expose the teachers through campus publica-
tions and an Accuracy in Academia news-
letter.
They also might distribute alternate
reading lists and materials. he said.
Auditors would not "disrupt" classes, he
said. "We want people to behave themselves."
Accuracy in Academia was incorporated
early this year. said Mr. Irvine. He is on its
..worktnu- hoard of directors, but will not
become executive director fie hopes to hire
a recent college graduate as national coordi-
nator.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403060006-6