Most memorable professor - Ivana

The question of free speech and how to lead a productive class discussion has been an important one on UNC’s campus in the last year... Ivana was simply trying to promote good discussion, to encourage a higher level of thinking – and she succeeded.

“Let’s try not to ask stupid questions.” My fellow freshmen and I stared up at the professor in disbelief. It had been drilled into us since Kindergarten that “There are no stupid questions.” And here we were, in our first month of college, watching the professor answer a student’s query (poor girl) with the harsh words, “Let’s try not to ask stupid questions.”

Dr. Ivana Vuletic, who taught my first-year honors seminar on Slavic Literature, insisted that we call her by her first name, Ivana (emphasis on the first syllable), as long as we pronounced it correctly. A native to Eastern Europe, she brought first-hand experience to a class I had not expected to call my favorite. She also brought a teaching style unfamiliar to us soft and naïve young Americans.

The question of free speech and how to lead a productive class discussion has been an important one on UNC’s campus in the last year. After a professor censured a student for his anti-homosexual comments in class, people came out strongly on all sides of the debate. Conservatives touted his right to free speech. Liberals argued that his comments inhibited free discussion. Others disagreed with the professor’s conduct, if not her intent.

I was not in this controversial classroom and never had the professor in question, so I do not know how I feel about this particular situation. But for me, it did raise the more general question: Can a professor ‘censor’ class discussion? I immediately thought of Ivana.

When she saw our horrified looks that day, she sighed. “Alright, let’s try to… not ask not good questions. Is that better?” We had to laugh. Ivana did not intend to be mean, and she never discriminated – we were all subjected to her criticism as some point during the semester. She was simply trying to promote good discussion, to encourage a higher level of thinking – and she succeeded.

Everyone asks and says stupid, I’m sorry, unproductive things sometimes. But the best way to avoid these comments is to recognize them for what they are and, in Ivana’s words, “crumple them up, throw them in the trash, and try again.”