Republican offers cash to students who inform on left-wing professors

The University of California's Los Angeles campus is in turmoil after a Republican graduate offered students money to record classes of professors they suspect of left-wing bias and "indoctrination".

Andrew Jones has drawn up a hitlist of professors he refers to as the "dirty 30" at UCLA. He has devoted many pages of his website to denouncing their supposed malfeasance.

"Do you have a professor who just can't stop talking about President Bush, about Howard Dean, about the war in Iraq... or any other ideological issue that has nothing to do with the class subject matter?" he asks in his recruitment statement. He adds: "If you can help... collect information about abusive, one-sided or off-topic classroom behaviour, we'll pay you for your work."

Mr Jones's targets have accused him of trying to conduct McCarthy-like witch-hunts at one of the most prestigious universities in the United States. They also think his offers of cash for lecture notes and recordings of professors violate university rules and intellectual property law.

"These are young ayatollahs declaring a fatwa against the infidels," said Andrew Apter of the history department. He is not on the list, but several of his friends and colleagues are.

So far, only one student has signed up to record his professor, leading many targeted faculty members to believe their best strategy might be to lie low and let the right-wing ideologues tear each other apart.