The Opening Of the American Mind: Not If Liberal Arts Faculties Can Help It

Horsefeathers ^ | 1-16-2006 | Stephen Rittenberg

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Horsefeathers had the delightful experience this weekend of meeting a young man in his second year at one of our elite universities. Much to our amazement, he turned out to be conservative in his politics and values. He described the life of such a young person in an academic environment, permeated by political correctness and liberal intolerance. It's not pretty. It reminded us of the life of dissidents in Russia towards the end of Communism. Opinions have to be circulated like Samizdat, the authors taking care not to have their identities discovered by their leftist professors. He laughingly told us that there are many others like him, driven into intellectual hiding, sharing their views privately. He and his friends are careful not to express their views openly in an online forum or weblog. Others have paid too high a price for criticizing P.C. dogma. While he is very adept, like most of his generation, at use of the internet and other modern technologies, it’s much safer to talk online about what football team you favor rather than your conservative views. If you are outed as a conservative it could endanger future academic and job prospects...