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Long-Standing professor sees lots of change in Portland State students English Professor Michael Hol­ lister, 53, has in recent years been the subject of controversy for his "anti-politically correct" views, expressed in letters to the Vanguard, the Oregonian, and according to some students, in the classroom. "I've followed the debates on the diversity subject quite close­ ly," says Julie Rea, 22. "I've tak­ en three classes from Dr. Hollis­ ter this year and I'm really sad­ dened by the fact that these de­ bates have obscured the fact that Dr. Hollister is a brilliant instruc­ tor and his knowledge of litera­ ture surpasses that of almost any other instructor I've had." Hollister says he has tended to be apolitical, and has always felt that as a faculty member, he is a public servant and should not ex­ ploit his position to promote his own political views. "I take pride in the fact that some of my colleagues do not know what my politics are," Hollister says. Hollister says that of course, his views will tend to be revealed from time to time. Hollister says that conformity of thought has increased over the last 20 years, and sees this as being the result of "widespread corruption in the academic world," noting that scholars should be judged by their scholarship and not by their political views. Hollister says that universities, particularly public universi­ ties, should seek to have a lot of diver­ sity of views among the faculty, but that the tendency has been to pressure ev­ eryone to conform to "political correct­ ness." Suzanne Levinson "It is destroying some disciplines," Hollister says, adding that he thinks En­ glish departments have been self-de­ structing for the last 15 years or so, that they have "largely abandoned objectivi­ ty, which means they have largely aban­ doned scholarship in favor of propagan­ da." Hollister says that the administration has not tried to inhibit his academic freedom, and that "that reflects very well on Portland State." Hollister says that it is most likely that the administra­ tion would agree with his criticism of the faculty senate, that the senate "did not consult with the rest of the faculty on the new diversity requirement." Hollister suggested that a ballot sys­ tem could have been used to get feed­ back from the faculty. "The political ac­ tivists who control the faculty senate did not dare to allow the faculty as a whole to vote on their diversity requirement. . . .The general sense of my col­ leagues is that it is hopeless, it is futile, it is inevitable that this happen. To return to (the) analo­ gy, it is reminiscent of Germany in the 30's, when faculty acqui­ esced to something of which they disapproved." [Hollister says that, ironically, for years he has been teaching a multicultural course: American Literature and Culture, and that he's included feminist writers, black writers, American Indian writers. Hollister has published on feminist writers such as Mar­ garet Atwood and Alice Walker, as well as on "traditional" writers such as Melville or Poe from a feminist point of view. Hollister says that he is outspoken in advocating the hiring of more minority faculty members in the English department. Hollister says that he feels a universi­ ty should not endorse a political candi­ date nor sponsor a political ideology. He criticizes Portland State for "spon­ soring a single political ideology — feminism— both in its curriculum at large and in its new required category of 'diversity' courses." "It might surprise some people to know that I am a feminist," says Hollis­ ter. "in the tradition of Margaret Fuller. She was a transcendentalist. My criti­ cisms of feminism are from the perspec­ tive of another feminist." —Suzanne Levinson 83