- Regardless of age, we have all heard the phrase, "First
Amendment Rights," bandied about. Free speech has been the rallying
cry of the liberal elite since the 60s, and every time violent protesters
are beaten back by police or cordoned off from a rally, the ACLU comes
a calling. However, the same team of trial lawyers, rebel billionaires
and Deaniacs turn a blind eye toward the abuses of their academic brethren.
America's colleges and universities are anything but free speech zones.
Contrary to their mantra of universal tolerance, Stalinist professors
and administrators see intellectual diversity as a disease. Unpopular
viewpoints, like a belief in absolute truth or the Republican Party, are
actively discouraged.
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- The reality of liberal bias on campus is so overwhelming
that columnists and commentators are forced to choose between countless
illustrations. Whether examining the anti-Christian bent at the University
of North Carolina, where one student was labeled a sexist bigot for asserting
his personal belief that homosexuality is immoral and Alpha Iota Omega
Christian Fraternity was derecognized as a student organization for refusing
to admit non-Christians, or the age-old liberalism of Berkeley, where researchers
found that conservatism is a disease shared by Hitler and Ronald Reagan,
the bias is clear. Liberal professors see conservative beliefs as vermin
and our universities as their own, private roach motels. Ideally, conservative
minds check in, but they don't check out.
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- Our professors have at least four years to scare us Democrat,
and they seldom waste an opportunity. Studies show that liberals hire
liberals; the faculty at elite institutions like Duke and Yale fall to
the Left of Hillary Clinton. More frightening, however, is the condition
of our average campus. Along with the elites, most state schools are stacked
with Democrats and Socialists. Perhaps conservatives are just too stupid
for academia, as Dr. Robert Brandon, chairman of Duke's philosophy department,
once asserted. Myself, I tend to believe that hiring committees prefer
"fellow travelers." And as for self-selection, I think most
Right-wingers are smart enough to see the "CONSERVATIVES NEED NOT
APPLY" sign hanging beneath the ivy.
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- Of course, campuses are larger than the classroom and
the message of liberal professors might be drowned out by inappropriate
speakers. That's why our faculty and administrators are careful to allocate
the lion's share of funding to invite still more liberals. After all,
if not for men like Ward Churchill, how would students come to understand
the innate evil of America? A true conservative would never think to compare
9/11 victims to Nazis!
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- However, unfortunately for our Stalinist friends, control
over class time and tuition only goes so far. Outspoken students might
still convince their peers that John Kerry and Karl Marx don't have all
the answers. Darn that First Amendment. It was so useful for flag burning.
- Some universities try to institute campus speech codes,
limiting dialogue to their understanding of political correctness. Most
just lambaste conservative students. At UNC-Charlotte, the resident College
Republican chapter recently hosted their third annual "affirmative
action" bake sale. Treats were offered at lower prices to traditionally
recognized minorities, protesting how "affirmative action universities"
accept minorities with comparatively lower academic credentials. Kristen
McManus, UNC-Charlotte's Associate Director for Academic Initiatives for
Mentoring Students, was quick to label her students as racist. Titling
the communiquÈ, "Racist Practice at UNCC," McManus e-mailed
the press and warned them of the College Republicans' "egregious methodology."
After this slur, will members of the UNC-Charlotte College Republicans
remain comfortable coming to McManus for academic assistance? Would you
feel safe around someone who called you a racist?
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- All considered, however, campus conservatives shouldn't
feel too badly. The Stalinists will even cannibalize a Clintonite for
speaking out of turn. When President Lawrence H. Summers of Harvard University
speculated aloud that "innate differences" between the sexes
might explain why fewer women succeed in careers of math and science, he
was attacked by feminists and academics alike. The former treasury secretary
has been threatened with a vote of no confidence by Harvard's faculty and
thus far, no one is willing to let him forget his flub. I find it ironic
that the presidents of Stanford, MIT and Princeton are in an uproar over
their colleague's mere speculation, when none of them were offended by
the Berkeley study that labeled conservatives as mentally ill.
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- Perhaps this sentiment is just a product of my diseased,
conservative mind, but I get the feeling that academia isn't even fooling
itself anymore. After all, if professors pretend that free speech rights
exist on campus, someone might try to exercise them.
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- John T. Plecnik (JTP) is a 21-year-old law student at
Duke University and a Featured Columnist at The Conservative Voice (www.theconservativevoice.com),
Lincoln Tribune, a weekly newspaper in Lincolnton, N.C., and various other
online and print publications. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting
with a Minor in Mythology and graduated summa cum laude, sharing the title
of Valedictorian, from Belmont Abbey College. Email your comments to John
at John.Plecnik@law.duke.edu.
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