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For many years, we have been told that conservatism was all about individual strength and courage, whereas it was those wimpy liberals who whined for protection from the government.
But now it appears that this perception was wrong, since a powerful state senator is stepping forward to protect the huddled and beleaguered conservatives on Colorado's college campuses.
That's not quite how state Sen. John Andrews, a
Republican from Centennial, puts it. Last week, he sent a
letter to the presidents of all 29 public institutions of
higher education in Colorado, inquiring as to how well
they're protecting academic freedom.
He said students and faculty have told him that they
fear for their grades or their careers if they don't
keep a lid on their patriotism or their faith,
and
there have been reports -- unsubstantiated, of course --
about a student getting some kind of criticism from a
professor because the student, who was enrolled in ROTC,
wore a military uniform to class.
For a moment, let us assume that this is true. Now consider what military officers do, especially at the company level. They lead soldiers under hostile fire in combat.
Now, would you want to be commanded by some poltroon who couldn't handle a few words from a professor, let alone an enemy machine gun? Do you think our country could be well defended by such officers? Wouldn't we be better off if such light-weights were removed from the officers' training program long before they ever got near combat?
To put this another way, that's not anybody I'd ever
want to share a trench with. Andrews ought to thank
whatever hostile environment
there is for improving
the quality of our officer corps.
Similarly, you have to wonder about the commitment and faith of anyone who can't handle a skeptical environment. There were the early Christians, who faced lions in the coliseum of Rome rather than betray their faith. And then there are the mousy modern believers in Colorado, who need protection?
Andrews seems to be confused about how colleges operate.
One of his four questions asks What formal policies
exist at your institution to guarantee that no student,
faculty member or employee is subjected to discrimination,
harassment or a hostile academic environment on account of
his or her political or religious beliefs?
That sounds noble, but now imagine there a student who believes that the earth came into being at 9 a.m. on Oct. 23, 4004 B.C., as calculated by Archbishop James Ussher in the 17th century.
Now put that student in a college class -- say, Petroleum Geology 201. And every time the professor starts to explain why crude oil might pool in 250 million-year-old Permian structures, this student objects. The professor tells him that they're not there to discuss his religious beliefs, but to learn how to find oil deposits, and the student should shut up and learn the material.
Obviously, this student has been subjected to a
hostile academic environment
on account of his
religious beliefs. But what are the other students going to
get out of the class if it turns into a discussion of
creationism rather than an explanation of geology? And
where are we going to find competent geologists in the
future if our colleges are busy protecting the feelings of
students, rather than educating them?
Another item in the Andrews inquisition asks What is
your institution's process for handling complaints and
determining remedies in the event someone experiences a
violation of academic freedom?
I wish Andrews would define academic freedom.
If
it means freedom to pursue truth,
or freedom to
interpret events in a way different from the Bush
Administration's line,
then I'm all for it.
However, I recall only one encounter with it during my
student days. I enrolled in a course whose title was
20th Century American Literature.
On the first day, the instructor informed us that we
were really going to study Modern American Protest
Poetry
because it was so much more relevant than
Sinclair Lewis and H.L. Mencken. Since the regular campus
classroom was so sterile,
we would meet at her
apartment, which was on the other side of town and a major
inconvenience to my schedule. And because she didn't like
any bookstores in Greeley, the texts were available only at
a little bookstore in Boulder, which just happened to be
owned by a friend of hers.
This struck me as breach of contract,
but my only
recourse was to drop the course, which I promptly did. In
the process, I ran into the department chairman, explained
why I was there, and asked if there was anything he could
do about this.
Not really, he said, since it could be a matter of
academic freedom.
Oh well. It's sort of fun to speculate about how Andrews will defend that sort of thing.
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