Ghost of a flea: The apotheosis of freedom

November 08, 2007

The apotheosis of freedom

The University of Delaware doubles down on its Maoist indoctrination program. Student RAs have been forbidden to speak to the media about the curriculum of their program but have been mandated to speak against the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) (via Instapundit).

The RAs are forbidden to talk to outsiders about the residential curriculum, though attacking FIRE is apparently allowed. Adam Kissel of FIRE Reported on November 3 that a parent wrote to say that her son "told me that RAs were 'mandated' to speak out against FIRE to the media. One refused and was told by residence life staff that he would lose his job and the university would not consider him a student anymore. I asked him if he (the RA) would be expelled and he said that was 100 percent correct."

The Chronicle of Higher Education blog said several RAs had been asked to speak favorably about the program to the news media. "When I declined I was taken aside and told that my future as an RA was in jeopardy as was my future as a student, " he said "I decide to stand up for myself."

I have no idea what this last fellow's personal views might be; it is entirely possible I would disagree with him on every point. But his decision to stand up for himself is a decision to be free. It is a decision which in today's academy imposes a stiff price. The University of Delaware almost certainly has no idea its actions are tyrannical and their methods totalitarian; the program appears to be in violation of the 1871 Civil Rights Act - the Ku Klux Klan Act - forbidding a state from denying civil rights to its citizens. I hope the University's officials are held personally liable for this little bubble of evil. Let their lives be an object lesson for the rest of their kind. Unfortunately, it is difficult to see what legal recourse Canadian undergraduate students would have if faced with the same brainwashing program. They would have to face down the entire Canadian establishment were they to complain.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at November 8, 2007 06:51 AM