Parents,
taxpayers and donors have little idea of the levels of lunacy, evil and
lawlessness that have become features of many of today’s institutions of higher
learning. Parents, taxpayers and donors who ignore or are too lazy to find out
what goes on in the name of higher education are nearly as complicit as the
professors and administrators who promote or sanction the lunacy, evil and
lawlessness. As for the term “institutions of higher learning,” we might start
asking: Higher than what? Let’s look at a tiny sample of academic lunacy.
During a
campus debate, Purdue University professor David Sanders argued that a logical
extension of pro-lifers’ belief that fetuses are human beings is that pictures
of “a butt-naked body of a child” are child pornography. Clemson University’s
chief diversity officer, Lee Gill, who’s paid $185,000 a year to promote
inclusion, provided a lesson claiming that to expect certain people to be on
time is racist.
To reduce
angst among snowflakes in its student body, the University of California,
Hastings College of the Law has added a “Chill Zone.” The Chill Zone, located
in its library, has, just as most nursery schools have, mats for naps and
beanbag chairs. Before or after a snooze, students can also use the space to do
a bit of yoga or meditate. The University of Michigan Law School helped its
students weather their Trump derangement syndrome — a condition resulting from
Donald Trump’s election — by enlisting the services of an “embedded psychologist” in a room
full of bubbles and play dough. To reduce pressure on law students, Joshua M.
Silverstein, a law professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock,
thinks that “every American law school ought to substantially eliminate C
grades and set its good academic standing grade point average at the B- level.”
Today’s
academic climate might be described as a mixture of infantilism, kindergarten
and totalitarianism. The radicals, draft dodgers and hippies of the 1960s who
are now college administrators and professors are responsible for today’s
academic climate. The infantilism should not be tolerated, but more important
for the future of our nation are the totalitarianism and the hate-America
lessons being taught at many of the nation’s colleges. For example, led by its
student government leader, the University of California, Irvine’s student body
voted for a motion, which the faculty approved, directing that the American
flag not be on display because it makes some students uncomfortable and creates
an unsafe, hostile environment. The flag is a symbol of hate speech, according
to the student government leader. He said that the U.S. flag is just as
offensive as Nazi and Islamic State flags and that the U.S. is the world’s most
evil nation
In
a recent New York Times op-ed, New York University provost Ulrich Baer argued:
“The idea of freedom of speech does not mean a blanket permission to say
anything anybody thinks. It means balancing the inherent value of a given view
with the obligation to ensure that other members of a given community can
participate in discourse as fully recognized members of that community.” That’s
a vision that is increasingly being adopted on college campuses, and it’s
leaking down to our primary and secondary levels of education. Baer apparently
believes that the test for one’s commitment to free speech comes when he
balances his views with those of others. His vision justifies the violent
disruptions of speeches by Heather Mac Donald at Claremont McKenna College,
Milo Yiannopoulos at UC Berkeley and Charles Murray at Middlebury College.
Baer’s vision is totalitarian nonsense. The true test of one’s commitment to free
speech comes when he permits people to be free to say and write tho!se things
he finds deeply offensive.
Americans
who see themselves as either liberal or conservative should rise up against
this totalitarian trend on America’s college campuses. I believe the most
effective way to do so is to hit these campus tyrants where it hurts the most —
in the pocketbook. Lawmakers should slash budgets, and donors should keep their
money in their pockets.
Walter E.
Williams is the John M. Olin distinguished professor of economics at George
Mason University, and a nationally syndicated columnist. To find out more about
Walter E. Williams and read features by other Creators Syndicate columnists and
cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page.
Copyright © 2017 Creators.com
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