UMASS Amherst to give credit to students who campaign for Barack Obama

UMass chaplain fails in effort to boost Barack Obama’s chances By Associated Press Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - Updated 2h ago

University of Massachusetts officials yesterday quashed efforts by an Amherst campus chaplain to offer two college credits to any student willing to campaign in New Hampshire this fall for Democrat Barack Obama.

Chaplain Ken Higgins told students in a Sept. 18 e-mail, “If you’re scared about the prospects for this election, you’re not alone. The most important way to make a difference in the outcome is to activate yourself. It would be just fine with McCain if Obama supporters just think about helping, then sleep in and stay home between now and Election Day.”

Here is something I submitted to the student paper (daily collegian) that I am hoping but doubting they will print:

For those who do not know me, I am graduated from UMASS in 2007 with a BA in Political Science and a second degree in History. Among my many activities, I served as treasurer in the UMASS Republican Club and along with Graduate Student Ed Cutting ran as part of the only conservative ticket for SGA President-Student Trustee. The most recent national news about UMASS giving credits to campaign for Barack H. Obama unfortunately does not surprise me.

As a former member of the UMASS Republican Club, I have for years been told how crazy I was to think there was even the slightest bias at the school. When I received death threats from crazed individuals on Facebook, the University administration refused to get involved. When Professor Milton Cantor of the History Department threatened to fail me from his course if he could prove that I was a conservative Republican, absolutely no action was taken. And now, Professor Audrey Alstadt really has the guts to say "We do not engage in or sponsor partisan political activity"? How was having a professor threatening to fail me because of my political beliefs not sponsoring partisan political activity? Apparently in the world run by leftists such behavior is acceptable, or so I learned when I complained to the department a few years back.

Perhaps even more laughable is the second part of professor Alstadt's comment "we certainly do not give academic credit for participation in partisan politics." Sure, perhaps the history department does not do so (but then again, Cantor's "class" had credits attached to it) but it is completely fallacious to claim that UMASS does not give credits to participate in partisan politics. In reality, the University has done so for years. I could write a long list of the number of overtly political organizations which have been supported directly by the Administration, but perhaps the most prominent is MASSPIRG and SCERA where students are either paid or given credits to directly involve themselves in "social change". Unsurprisingly this "change" is always along the party lines of the Democratic party or parties even further leftward.

This is not to disparage Professor Alstadt or the history department as a whole. As far as I know Professor Alstadt is a reasonable person and I can name a handful of good and fair professors at UMASS, especially in the History Department. But by and large the University, is nothing more than a place for those with left-wing political views to discriminate against those who have the courage to disagree. From everything from the Commonwealth College (where every dean's book practically praises left-wing politicians)to every single major with the possible exception of those in ISOM and Engineering, forces left-wing political views down students throats. If a student dare resist, most professors (like Milton Cantor) see to it that the student suffers as a consequence. I suspect the University's recent "anger" over Higgins' outright discrimination against students who would prefer to help McCain than Obama has only emerged because they are scared that the truth about the school's extreme leftism is exposed to the national media once and for all. Some of us have known about it all along. So let Higgins and the administration try to backpedal and pretend they are fair to both sides politically. I just hope it is too late and they are exposed for what they really are; nothing more than discriminatory ideologues living off of taxpayer dollars. It saddens me that something as important as a state university can, as always, subject its students to such discriminatory treatment. Every so often I am mailed a request to donate to the alumni fund. Until UMASS cleans up its act, I refuse to do so. Instead, I will only give money to the few bright spots on campus where all students are treated with respect and honor regardless of their political views. For instance, the marching band. I beg my fellow alums to refuse to donate money directly to the University and instead only support these few remaining parts of UMASS that can make an alum proud.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.