Colleges to avoid, Part I [Champlain College]

Town Hall ^ | October 12, 2005 | Mike S. Adams

[yankeedame]

Colleges to avoid, Part I

By Mike S. Adams
Professor, University of North Carolina at Wilmington

Oct 12, 2005

Over the last few months (or has it been years?), many readers have asked me to recommend some colleges and universities where I would actually send my children. I hope those readers will be patient. I’m still looking.

Since it isn’t easy to find a college where I would send my kids, I thought I would approach the problem from the opposite angle. So, today, I begin a series of reviews of colleges and universities where I would definitely not send my children. I hope you enjoy the list more than the administrators at the colleges I choose. That shouldn’t be difficult.

Recently, a student at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont informed me that his school was planning to put on a formal dance until a liberal student decided that he or she (or perhaps “it”) didn't like the theme "Black and White." Of course, most normal people understand that, in this particular context, “black and white” means that it is an event requiring formal attire. Of course, that might be heterosexist in the minds of gay students who want to wear pink tuxedos or dresses depending upon their actual or perceived gender at the time of the dance.

But, of course, at Champlain College when just one student says the dance theme has something to do with inherent racism, there can be no dance for any student. I call this the tyranny of the minority. Some just call it unmitigated idiocy.

But, of course, the fact that just one student at a college is a blithering pansy is not sufficient to completely rule out a particular institution of higher learning. That extreme measure can only be taken when the administration legitimizes the feelings of the pansy to the detriment of the emotionally stable members of the rest of the university community. So, the following email explains why Champlain College has made our list of schools that cannot be taken seriously:

======================================================

From: Kennedy, Mary Kay
Sent: Fri 9/30/2005 11:19 AM
To: BROADCAST; All Students
Subject: Decision on the dance

Good morning, all:

Thank you to all of you who have e-mailed or stopped
by to discuss the postponement of last night's
dance. One of our institutional goals is to
maintain a safe and comfortable environment for all
students, faculty, and staff. In following up on
concerns expressed regarding security coverage for
the dance, we also had concerns expressed about the
Black and White theme. Although the theme was
chosen with the best intentions, there was the
possibility there might be unintended consequences
that could be offensive or hurtful.

Our campus goal is to create an environment that is
fun and welcoming to all students, faculty, and
staff at all times. To that end, we decided to
reschedule the dance for next week with a new theme
and appropriate security coverage.

The dialogue that is taking place on campus, in
offices, in meetings and through e-mail is extremely
thoughtful and important both for this situation as
well as helping us to move forward as an institution
to improve planning, processes, and decision
making. Please continue to share your thoughts and
ideas with us.

Mary Kay Kennedy
Vice President for Student Services
Champlain College
Telephone: 802-860-2703
E-mail: kennedym@champlain.edu
Fax: 802-860-2764

======================================================

The following week the dance was held and, of course, the “Black and White” theme was dropped to appease the offended student.

If I were in Mary Kay Kennedy’s position, I would have written the following email to the student:

Dear offended student:

I am writing to inform you of your suspension from Champlain College. Before you return next semester, you will be asked to attend six weeks of First Amendment sensitivity training. You will also be asked to write the text of the First Amendment 1000 times or, instead, write the phrase “I understand that I have no constitutional right to absolute comfort” 1000 times. Choose the option that makes you feel most comfortable. Finally, you will be dropped in the middle of the Vermont woods during the month of December for one week. You will have to survive only on what you kill. You may bring whatever weapons you think (or feel) are necessary to make that happen. This will teach you self-sufficiency. If any of this is a problem, you are free to transfer to U.C. Berkeley, Brown, Princeton, or San Francisco State University. Sincerely,

Vice President for Student Services
Mike S. Adams

Next week, there is even more fun to be had at a public university in one of our southern “red states.” I hope you enjoy it. Ya’ll come back, now.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Find this story at: http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/mikeadams/2005/10/12/170932.html

[SmoothTalker]

Thats the single dumbest thing i've ever heard. Liberals never cease to amaze me.

[Mr. Mojo]

So, today, I begin a series of reviews of colleges and universities where I would definitely not send my children.

Gonna be a long series.

[Brilliant]

Dear offended student:

I am writing to inform you of your suspension from Champlain College.

I think it's safe to say that with this article, the professor has doomed any chance he might have had to become a University President.

[jigsaw]

If in fact Prof. Adams continues his series and you post his future articles on FreeRepublic, I'd be very grateful if you'd ping me.   Thanks.   :)

[Alexander Rubin]

Yeah, can you put me on a Dr. Adams ping too?

[Mr. Mojo]

Vermont informed me that his school was planning to put on a formal dance until a liberal student decided that he or she (or perhaps “it”) didn't like the theme "Black and White."

Absolute insanity, of course. But instead of canceling the dance altogether why didn't the school just change the name of the theme? "Black and White" could easily be changed to "Formal Night" (or something to that effect). .....or perhaps they thought the use of the word "formal" would offend some campus hippy.

[Publius6961]

Liberals never cease to amaze me.

Liberals (progressives) no longer surprise me. They are capable of anything, rational or otherwise.

University administrators, on the other hand, should get ONE chance to get things right.
The one described in this article has not chosen wisely...

[Khepera]

I sure could use a ping to these types of articles myself.

[Mathews]

I want on the ping list too!

[metmom]

Ping me, too, please.

[cowtowney]

http://www.thefire.org/

[JamesP81]

DO NOT, send you children to Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green if you think they like to party, drink, and sleep around. WKU is a good school, but it's a hardcore party school as well. My dad told me about an article he read back when he used to look at Playboy. The article listed the top ten party schools. It was interesting because even though it was a top ten, there were eleven schools listed. WKU was number eleven, and had a little note star next to it. At the bottom of the page, where it explains what the note stars mean, in small print it said: "We don't rate professionals."

As for schools to reccomend, my alma mater, Murray State University in Murray, KY is a good choice. The town of Murray doesn't have any bars or strip clubs, and the left-wing groups on campus are generally ignored and don't have a great deal of power. There are plenty of churches in and around town and church community has a longstanding earnest commitment to reach the campus, which has met with great success. It's a good environment to be in.

[samanella]

Boortz' website usually links to Professor Adams' columns.
FYI www.boortz.com, then to Neal's Nuze

[Blessed]

>At the bottom of the page, where it explains what the note stars mean, in small print it said: "We don't rate professionals.",

Urban legend.Has been attributed to University of Miami and University of Ga. in past.

[John O]

ping me too? Thanks

[John O]

Also attributed to Marquette University in Milwaukee Wisconsin (Home of the "flapping turkeys" and multiple voting demorat students). Of course MU has a good claim to it as there are more bars within a 6 block radius than any other place I've ever seen.

I understand UW Madison is a perennial top ten lister also. I guess the faculty likes to keep the kids plastered while they indoctrinate them

[cyclotic]

Dr. Adams is about the only good thing about tenure.

[SuziQ]

LOL! Can't wait to see which 'red state' college he skewers!

[JamesP81]

Maybe so. However, I do know a lot of people who have been to WKU, and it is a pretty hardcore party school. Which is a shame, because it generally is a good school academically.

Now that I think about it, though, I think SIU is actually a bit worse. Especially on and around Halloween.