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Exposing Leftist Dogma in Academia Matthew Schuster Liberals, who pride themselves on being heroes of the "little man," should love Evan Coyne Maloney's new documentary, "Indoctrinate U."
The documentary takes aim at the entrenched academic establishment, confronting a powerful elite that is trampling freedom of speech. The leftist stranglehold on academia not only prevents diversity of thought but also punishes those who dare to present dissenting views. "Indoctrinate U" illuminates this crisis by bringing the viewer to universities across the nation and showing professors and administrators intent on creating ideologically homogenous institutions. The film, produced by On the Fence Films with funding from the Moving Picture Institute (www.thempi.org), provides examples such as a California Polytechnic State University student named Steve Hinkle who was accused of promoting racism simply for advertising a speech by Mason Weaver, the black conservative author of "It's OK to Leave the Plantation." Hinkle was subjected to a seven hour hearing where he was found guilty of being a "disruption." All of this for posting a flyer with the title of the book. As the film points out, in many universities in the U.S., the ratio of Democratic to Republican professors is as high as 30-to-1. "Indoctrinate U" interviews professors who have been ostracized for expressing alternative views on campus. One professor, Laura Freberg, was stripped of her position as department head of the Psychology Department at a major public university when her "horrible secret" was revealed — she is a Republican.
Facing Hate With Humor
Filmmaker Maloney repeatedly encounters university spokespeople who refuse to speak to him, respond with ambiguities and lies, and even call in the police to remove him from campus. At Foothill College in California, an administrator in the student activities office dances around Maloney's question: Why did the office give its stamp of approval to a flyer comparing a Kuwaiti student, who wrote a pro-American essay for one his courses, to Hitler and suicide bombers?
Story Continues Below
With both humor and insight, Mahoney explores the politically correct tyranny of academia and exposes the left's transformation into the powerful authority it once opposed.
Professor Jay Bergman, at Central Connecticut State University, describes a panel organized to discuss slavery reparations in which all seven speakers supported the idea. When Bergman "questioned the lack of diversity on the panel," he was compared to a Nazi and a Ku Klux Klan member.
The "intellectual and academic thuggery" which Bergman attributes to American universities is revealed in "Indoctrinate U," as it documents the dangerous and disturbing trends that have engulfed academia.
"Indoctrinate U" interviews students across the nation who indict their professors not only for flouting their own political views in classroom lectures, regardless of the subject of the course, but also for ridiculing and even persecuting students who challenge these views. The students also refer to the bias in the content of political science and history classes, where most professors only assign books from leftist writers.
The New Free Speech Movement Maloney describes his encounter with the Stanford University Diversity Office and comments that "they are so busy making sure people look different that they really don't care if people think the same." He points out that the ratio of Democratic to Republican professors is 144-to-10 in the humanities and social science departments at Stanford.
Towards the end of the film, Maloney invites the viewer to join the "new free speech movement." "Indoctrinate U" is a powerful, thought-provoking call to arms for those who refuse to be silenced. The film will succeed in coming to a theater near you if you "sign-up" for a screening on the film's Web site: www.IndoctrinateU.com. The site includes the trailer for the film and more information about how everyone can participate in restoring freedom to our nation's troubled colleges and universities.
* * * As editor in chief of Tufts University's journal of conservative thought, The Primary Source, I have become all too aware of the techniques used by universities to dismiss opposition and silence dissent of any sort.
Following the publication of articles in our journal opposing the soft racism of affirmative action and exposing the radical elements of fundamentalist Islam, The Primary Source was put on trial in the Tufts judiciary system for "harassment" and "creation of a hostile environment" and found guilty on both counts by virtually unanimous decisions.
From the conservative Washington Times to the liberal Boston Phoenix, all sides have condemned Tufts University for silencing free speech. The ACLU even wrote a six-page letter charging Tufts with distorting the concept of harassment in order to stifle dissent.
Matthew Schuster is editor in chief of Tufts' student-run journal of conservative thought, The Primary Source.
Editor's note:
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