By Matt Klaber

ST. PETER, MINN. – Liberal-turned-conservative author and commentator David Horowitz railed against a liberal bias in academia Tuesday night at Gustavus Adolphus College.

“You can’t get a good education if they’re only telling you half the story,” Horowitz said to a crowd of over 200. “You need to defend your freedom to get an education and not just be force fed packaged doctrines.”

Students expecting a heated debate similar to Horowitz’s presentations at other schools would have been disappointed. Other than sporadic rumbling from audience members in response to the Horowitz’s conservative chiding of women’s studies and anthropology departments, among others, the evening’s presentation was void of shouting.

Horowitz spent much of his time speaking against the alleged tendency of professors to add irrelevant “controversial content” to their course curriculum. Institutions of higher learning should “not teach students what to think but how to think,” as students were “not paying for their uniformed opinions,” Horowitz said.

During a question-and-answer session following the presentation, students prefaced their questions by agreeing with Horowitz in principle, but defending their own instructors as academically honest and free of political pressuring.

The most vocalized disagreement to Horowitz came in opposition to his “academic diversity” argument.

“How far are you willing to go? Would you give equal time to Holocaust deniers? Or to intelligent design?” demanded Gustavus senior Tane Danger.

Horowitz agreed that neither theory would be appropriate in a classroom, and cited a spectrum to determine what theories warrant academic attention. Not satisfied with Horowitz’s vague description, Danger was the first to raise his voice and demand that the orator answer the question.

Horowitz reportedly cited Macalester as a prime example of a college whose professors indoctrinate their students with liberal ideology.

Horowitz is the author of several published works including, including an article titled “Guns Don’t Kill Black People, Other Blacks Do,” and the books “Hating Whitey and Other Progressive Causes” and “The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America.”

Gustavus’ Student Senate, Campus Activities Board and the Young America Foundation, a conservative student group, paid $7,500 to bring Horowitz to campus, Student Senate co-president Eric Nelson said.