Professor Ridiculed for Banning Fox News, Onion in Student Research

By KSEE News

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February 15, 2013 Updated Feb 15, 2013 at 3:22 PM PDT

A professor at West Liberty University in Wheeling, West Virginia has been criticized on campus and off for telling her students not to use Fox News as a “serious academic reference.”

Political science prof Stephanie Wolfe's course syllabus listed the sources her students were banned from citing in their research. The Onion was first, followed by Fox News.

"The tagline ‘Fox News’ makes me cringe," she wrote. "I would almost [rather you] print off an article from the Onion."

Concerned parents contacted the administration (and the local news) until the school responded. “Any attempt to limit the breadth of a student’s ability to investigate is obviously something [that causes] concern,” University President Robin Capehart said.

Wolfe has since lifted the ban.

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