Of which there are more and more every day. I am a college professor, so this trend is especially disturbing to me. But it should be a concern to every American, even if you don't have, or won't in the future have, a child of yours in college. Colleges are cranking out graduates who don't respect, or often even know about, the most fundamental American values, like The First Amendment.

When I was in college and graduate school, Ph.D.in '74, it was well understood in general that colleges promoted the free exchange of ideas. Classrooms challenged students to think, and defend beliefs with arguments and reason. This was true even where I did all of my graduate work-- The University of Michigan. Michigan and Berkeley are now in a neck-and-neck race to see who leads the way in lock step leftist propaganda and ideology.

Increasingly across the country, colleges are places of ideological leftist indoctrination, and pity the student who challenges and argues. At Kenyon College, which is the article I'm citing, if you are a member of "the whiteness group," you are not allowed to ask a person of color any questions. Got that? If you dare ask a question, you will likely be labeled a racist. For asking a question.

Politcal correctness is not just an annoyance, not just a little wrong turn in the educational roadway. Crank it up and you have The Red Guard. In some places, like Berkeley, we are just about there. Kenyon College seems not far behind.

Political correctness shuts opponents down with shame. In many places, we see what the step after that is: shutting opponents down with threats of violence, and violence.

I know what I am saying is not news to those of us on this site. But it is an important matter. It is something we need to engage, and defeat. If you are in college, you need to be bold and speak out. The result won't be pleasant, but sometimes it's necessary to do what is not pleasant.

If you are on faculty, or if you have a child in college, speak out against this tyranny. Unchecked, it will not go away. Unchallenged, we are on our way to having our very own Red Guard.

Kenyon College Cancels Play About Immigration; Starts 'Whiteness Group'

“Today is the end of [liberal education at Kenyon College],” Fred Baumann, a professor of political science at Kenyon, proclaimed last week to a panel and its audience. The panel had been convened to discuss the retraction of professor and playwright Wendy MacLeod’s latest play, The Good Samaritan.

MacLeod’s work had been circulated to the students and community, with the intention of production in early April. The show centers on the experiences of Guatemalan illegal immigrants working only a few dozen miles away from Kenyon on an egg farm. As MacLeod explained in an email to the campus about the play, these characters “had been working without pay and living in dire conditions.” The Good Samaritan is based on a true story and MacLeod attempted to unearth it in her work, to, with humor, in her words, “[bring] the repressed to light.” Her play posits, satirically, what might happen if one of these illegal immigrants escaped from the egg farm and found their way to a school like Kenyon.

Following the circulation of the play’s transcript, brigades of students, joined by some professors and campus administrators, pressured for the play to be censored. They justified such censorship on the grounds that it was “harmful on many levels.”

One student emailed the administration and faculty complaining about the race of MacLeod, the author: “I personally take issue with The Good Samaritan because it’s yet another narrative written about a person of color from the uninformed perspective of a white academic.” He claimed that the play was “an exercise in cultural hegemony with heavy notes of white savior complex.”

In the Kenyon student newspaper one professor claimed that after reading The Good Samaritan “she has identified 40 instances of ethnic insensitivity.” Among the charges of insensitivity might be a character’s name “Juan Deere” and improperly-rendered Spanish, which at times, resembles Italian. A teaching associate went a good deal further, calling the play “unapologetically racist and mocking. . . . It is an act of violence, dehumanizing and degrading the suffering that immigrants endure in coming to this country, and the many acts of racism and violence that members of the Latinx community endure every day, including on this campus.” She declared that “this play has no place on our campus. I call on the college leadership to responsibly answer the concerns of students and faculty, and withdraw it from production.”

But the college leadership didn’t have to do anything, because MacLeod decided to censor herself. MacLeod canceled the production, she says, “out of respect for the concerns of students and members of the faculty.” She insisted this move was “solely my decision as the administration has supported the principles of freedom of expression.”

Which then led Kenyon’s president, Sean Decatur, to invite students to the panel discussion in order “to participate in the conversation, and to play an active role in shaping the discourse” surrounding the play and its retraction. Evidently discussions are acceptable only after the mob has gotten its witch.

The Good Samaritan’s retraction comes serendipitously at the same moment as the creation of a new student group at Kenyon: “the whiteness group.”

The group was founded by a student, Juniper Cruz, and is notable not just for its name, but for its rules, which state that “no white person can ask a person of color questions; white people must try to answer their questions for themselves. And no spreading rumors about what people say during the meetings.”

If you were going to set out to create a more illiberal student group possible at a college, you would be hard-pressed to do so.

And as for Baumann’s suggestion that liberal education was finished at Kenyon, he’s certainly on to something. Following the panel where Baumann made his stand, one student took to Facebook, saying that if liberal education “necessitates the silencing of marginalized communities, the protection of racism, and our complicity with both, then let the damned thing die.”

http://www.weeklystandard.com/...roup/article/2011470

And the cost to indoctrinate your kid at Kenyon?
65K per year.
And when the kid graduates, he can apply his social awareness and progressive enlightenment while he flips burgers. Or helms the counter at the gas station.

I am sure I will get roasted here but here goes anyway. These uber leftist are the loud minority, yes even on college campuses. The idea that you can raise your child with good moral character and have them go to college and return brainwashed is way overblown. Does stupid radical leftist shit happen at most, if not all, campuses? Sure it does. Do colleges indulge it way too much and even encourage it by bending to such nonsense? Sure they do. Do 75+% of college student simply go to class, hit the bars and cheer on the football team oblivious to these shrill leftist crybabies? I guarantee it.

quote:

Originally posted by TXJIM:
I am sure I will get roasted here but here goes anyway. These uber leftist are the loud minority, yes even on college campuses. The idea that you can raise your child with good moral character and have them go to college and return brainwashed is way overblown. Does stupid radical leftist shit happen at most, if not all, campuses? Sure it does. Do colleges indulge it way too much and even encourage it by bending to such nonsense? Sure they do. Do 75+% of college student simply go to class, hit the bars and cheer on the football team oblivious to these shrill leftist crybabies? I guarantee it.

Jim, I'm going to have to disagree. You place a mature sane professional in a psych ward and they tend to become crazy over time. This is a risk for those who work in such places.

Put a young person in a college campus and it's going to shape that person in its own image. It's just how peer pressure and cultural immersion works.

quote:

Originally posted by TXJIM:
I am sure I will get roasted here but here goes anyway. These uber leftist are the loud minority, yes even on college campuses. The idea that you can raise your child with good moral character and have them go to college and return brainwashed is way overblown. Does stupid radical leftist shit happen at most, if not all, campuses? Sure it does. Do colleges indulge it way too much and even encourage it by bending to such nonsense? Sure they do. Do 75+% of college student simply go to class, hit the bars and cheer on the football team oblivious to these shrill leftist crybabies? I guarantee it.

If what you are saying were true, propaganda-- especially unchallenged propaganda as in totalitarian regimes-- would not be effective. But history shows the opposite.

When we hear a message over and over, and the people around us apparently believe it, that is a very powerful influence on us to also believe it. Not only propaganda, but the whole multi-billion dollar advertising industry is predicated on the same goal: repeat a message over and over, and suggest that it is what other people believe (or want) as well.

quote:

Originally posted by TXJIM:
I am sure I will get roasted here but here goes anyway. These uber leftist are the loud minority, yes even on college campuses. The idea that you can raise your child with good moral character and have them go to college and return brainwashed is way overblown. Does stupid radical leftist shit happen at most, if not all, campuses? Sure it does. Do colleges indulge it way too much and even encourage it by bending to such nonsense? Sure they do. Do 75+% of college student simply go to class, hit the bars and cheer on the football team oblivious to these shrill leftist crybabies? I guarantee it.

Check out what Jonathan Haidt has to say about it. I think he's similar to Jordan Peterson in many of his concerns and arguments:




Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTQr1B4jGjk

He appears in several other videos regarding the same topic, and founded an organization of 1700 professors and grad students, Heterodox Academy, to combat the problem.

This graph is a quick look the trend on campuses:



There are lots of other videos of Haidt speaking on the issue, and plenty of videos and podcasts where academics like Jordan Peterson and even cearly "progressive" academics like Bret Weinstein (Evergreen) and Nicholas Cristakis (Yale) express serious concern about the matter.

I hear what you all are saying but I say again, the loud minority gets the press. The off the wall stupid policies go viral. Hell, I live in Austin so by most people on this forum it is inevitable that my whole family will turn into unwashed hippie liberal communist any day now. Kids go to college, they get exposed to a wild range of viewpoints and they settle somewhere near the moral compass that was set in the 18 years before they showed up at campus, for the most part anyway.

If loud mouthed liberals can wipe away the 18 years you spent with them before they got to campus they are probably doomed anyway.

I have a large extended family of staunch conservatives, many of the younger generation have graduated recently from schools such as Wake Forest and Boston College, none have flipped to the dark side. Hell, my wife went to UT and was raised by card carrying liberals and is more conservative than me

quote:

Originally posted by TXJIM:
I have a large extended family of staunch conservatives, many of the younger generation have graduated recently from schools such as Wake Forest and Boston College, none have flipped to the dark side. Hell, my wife went to UT and was raised by card carrying liberals and is more conservative than me

I don't disagree that "kids" who come from a conservative background (and who haven't already rejected it) aren't necessarily likely to be converted to stark-raving leftists (though it is possible for some). However, kids from an already left-leaning background, or a mostly apolitical background, are certainly more likely to be swayed left/farther left due to the nature of campus culture, IMO.

quote:

Originally posted by rusbro:

quote:

Originally posted by TXJIM:
I have a large extended family of staunch conservatives, many of the younger generation have graduated recently from schools such as Wake Forest and Boston College, none have flipped to the dark side. Hell, my wife went to UT and was raised by card carrying liberals and is more conservative than me

I don't disagree that "kids" who come from a conservative background (and who haven't already rejected it) aren't necessarily likely to be converted to stark-raving leftists (though it is possible for some). However, kids from an already left-leaning background, or a mostly apolitical background, are certainly more likely to be swayed left/farther left due to the nature of campus culture, IMO.

I don't think it's as bad as you think, here is why. The vast majority of college kids have a list of priorities that include:

Classes
Beer
Sex
Parties
Greek Life
A thousand other things
Politics

A very small fraction of college age kids are politically aware, much less active. Way less than half even vote and many vote conservative. We see all this crazy leftist shit that hits the news and we extrapolate it into a crisis that underestimates the sheer apathy of this demographic. Bluntly, they don't give a fuck about much that is not about them.

^^^ It's not just about politics per se, it's also about behavior and what's considered acceptable speech. Students (and professors) with no interest in politics can still be ostracized for language which a few years ago was perfectly acceptable. I'm not saying this from personal experience, rather from what I'm hearing from some professors, such as those mentioned in my post containing the video and graph. There are some folks in the middle of it who are genuinely concerned with what's going on.

If you are curious about it, spend some time watching Haidt talk on the matter, if you have not yet. He (and Peterson) dig into how child rearing has changed, and produced many young adults who have little to no experience and having to cope with hurt feelings without an authority figure nearby to intervene, soothe, and dispense "justice."

Guys, I went to Ohio State. I graduated within a decade ago. It's a solid school but I don't think you'll find it's a bulwark of conservative thought. Probably the opposite.

I still vote (R) and I still hang out here. Hell, I found this place my sophomore year. Assclown profs and campus politics are something a student has to endure, not something that determines who they are.

Though who knows. Maybe I had good parents or maybe I'm just of a contrary nature.

quote:

Originally posted by TXJIM:
I am sure I will get roasted here but here goes anyway. These uber leftist are the loud minority, yes even on college campuses. The idea that you can raise your child with good moral character and have them go to college and return brainwashed is way overblown. Does stupid radical leftist shit happen at most, if not all, campuses? Sure it does. Do colleges indulge it way too much and even encourage it by bending to such nonsense? Sure they do. Do 75+% of college student simply go to class, hit the bars and cheer on the football team oblivious to these shrill leftist crybabies? I guarantee it.

Clearly you don't live in Silicon Valley. I teach on two college campus' here, the core mantra on both is social justice - equailty and diversity, such thoughts permeate and dominate most of the curriculum. You say 75+% of college students go to class, etc oblivious to the leftists. I have 20 years teaching college here, my three children did K-12 here, you couldn't be more wrong as it pertains to my neck of the woods.

quote:

Originally posted by justjoe:....If what you are saying were true, propaganda-- especially unchallenged propaganda as in totalitarian regimes-- would not be effective. But history shows the opposite.

When we hear a message over and over, and the people around us apparently believe it, that is a very powerful influence on us to also believe it. Not only propaganda, but the whole multi-billion dollar advertising industry is predicated on the same goal: repeat a message over and over, and suggest that it is what other people believe (or want) as well.

That needs a repeat.

btw, what do you teach?

quote:

Originally posted by TXJIM:

quote:

Originally posted by rusbro:

quote:

Originally posted by TXJIM:
I have a large extended family of staunch conservatives, many of the younger generation have graduated recently from schools such as Wake Forest and Boston College, none have flipped to the dark side. Hell, my wife went to UT and was raised by card carrying liberals and is more conservative than me

I don't disagree that "kids" who come from a conservative background (and who haven't already rejected it) aren't necessarily likely to be converted to stark-raving leftists (though it is possible for some). However, kids from an already left-leaning background, or a mostly apolitical background, are certainly more likely to be swayed left/farther left due to the nature of campus culture, IMO.

I don't think it's as bad as you think, here is why. The vast majority of college kids have a list of priorities that include:

Classes
Beer
Sex
Parties
Greek Life
A thousand other things
Politics

A very small fraction of college age kids are politically aware, much less active. Way less than half even vote and many vote conservative. We see all this crazy leftist shit that hits the news and we extrapolate it into a crisis that underestimates the sheer apathy of this demographic. Bluntly, they don't give a fuck about much that is not about them.

I've got to agree with Jim here.
What he says was true 30+ years ago and it is still true to a large extent today (at least here in the midwest).
Yes, you get the liberal loudmouth a-holes in every college and there quite a number of them.
Many of the kids here, in my local college, are farm kids and they could give a flying F*** about the opinions of vegan, gender challenged, pajama boys.
Most of the kids around here know they have one chance to get through college. "Mummy and Daddy" don't have a trust fund to keep funding them if they screw up.
If you bring your kids up right, they are going to see through all the PC mumbo jumbo. For the most part, they will recognize propaganda for what it is.

quote:

Originally posted by xl_target:....Many of the kids here, in my local college, are farm kids and they could give a flying F*** about the opinions of vegan, gender challenged, pajama boys.
Most of the kids around here know they have one chance to get through college. "Mummy and Daddy" don't have a trust fund to keep funding them if they screw up.
If you bring your kids up right, they are going to see through all the PC mumbo jumbo. For the most part, they will recognize propaganda for what it is.

Therein is the difference, where you live vs where I live. Most kids around here quickly learn that liberal gov't is a sugar daddy. Parents must proactively and repeatedly instill correct principles in their children to offset the prevalent brainwashing by society and the media.

quote:

Originally posted by Scoutmaster:

quote:

Originally posted by TXJIM:
I am sure I will get roasted here but here goes anyway. These uber leftist are the loud minority, yes even on college campuses. The idea that you can raise your child with good moral character and have them go to college and return brainwashed is way overblown. Does stupid radical leftist shit happen at most, if not all, campuses? Sure it does. Do colleges indulge it way too much and even encourage it by bending to such nonsense? Sure they do. Do 75+% of college student simply go to class, hit the bars and cheer on the football team oblivious to these shrill leftist crybabies? I guarantee it.

Clearly you don't live in Silicon Valley. I teach on two college campus' here, the core mantra on both is social justice - equailty and diversity, such thoughts permeate and dominate most of the curriculum. You say 75+% of college students go to class, etc oblivious to the leftists. I have 20 years teaching college here, my three children did K-12 here, you couldn't be more wrong as it pertains to my neck of the woods.

The 99.9% of campuses outside of the left coast balance the scales It the UC system and some other extreme examples that usually make the news and have us all in a tizzy that the whole country is circling the drain to the left at the college level. Not for nothing but what plays in Silicon Valley is not the same music in every college town in the free parts of the nation. Hell, in Texas you can carry concealed on every public university campus, even the big hippie one here in Austin.....how would that play out at San Jose State or UC Irvine?

quote:

Originally posted by TXJIM:
I am sure I will get roasted here but here goes anyway. These uber leftist are the loud minority, yes even on college campuses. The idea that you can raise your child with good moral character and have them go to college and return brainwashed is way overblown. Does stupid radical leftist shit happen at most, if not all, campuses? Sure it does. Do colleges indulge it way too much and even encourage it by bending to such nonsense? Sure they do. Do 75+% of college student simply go to class, hit the bars and cheer on the football team oblivious to these shrill leftist crybabies? I guarantee it.

I think some aren't quite that resistant, but I do think many are. Some will be changed by a lefty college, but I think most aren't "turned."

Also, remember that lefties tend to go to lefty schools. Not many members of the John Birch Society sign up to go to Berkeley. Not many members of the Communist Party enroll at Texas A & M. They self-select for colleges that suits their world view.