'College Professor Offers Students Extra Credit for Attending Occupy Protest'

Professor Jeanne M. Lorentzen (Media credit: Northern Michigan University website)

 

College Professor Offers Students Extra Credit for Attending Occupy Protest

(from the blaze) 

• Posted on October 15, 2011 at 10:45am by Madeleine Morgenstern

A sociology professor at Northern Michigan University has purportedly offered her students extra credit for taking part in a local Occupy protest.

According to an email obtained by The Blaze, Professor Jeanne Lorentzen is offering students in her introductory sociology course 20 extra credit points if they attend an Occupy the Upper Peninsula demonstration with her on Saturday. Students who do not wish to attend the protest have the option of writing a 20-page term paper about a social movement to receive the same extra credit. Neither assignment is compulsory.

The email says students who choose to attend must make a protest sign that can say anything as long as it’s not “offensive, rude or divisive.” To qualify for the extra credit, students must sign an attendance sheet twice, at the beginning and end of the march.

Lorentzen did not return multiple phone call and email requests for comment to confirm the extra credit offer, but a Facebook profile for “Jeanne M. Lorentzen, prof @ NMU” is filled with pro-Occupy Wall Street articles, photos and postings. She “likes” both the pages for “Occupy the UP” and “Occupy the UP: NMU Students and Faculty.”

On Thursday, she posted a MoveOn.org petition asking New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg not to evict the Occupy Wall Street protesters with the comment, “Please sign the petition!“ An earlier post notes ”Occupy Marquette is happening this Saturday.”