Big Government Interference With Universities

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Conservatives across America have long whined about "them damned librul universities". Many on the right feel that poor, impressionable students are indoctrinated with socialist and progressive propaganda when they go off to college.

Perennial presidential candidate (and famed eponym) Rich Santorum spoke for many when he said in 2012, "Understand that we have some real problems at our college campuses with political correctness, with an ideology that is forced upon people who...may not agree with the politically correct left doctrine. And one of the things that I’ve spoken out on ... is to make sure that conservative and more mainstream, common-sense conservative and principles that have made this country great are reflected in our college courses and with college professors."

They are right on one thing. Professors do lean heavily left. Data compiled by Verdent Labs shows that Democratic-leaning professors outnumber Republican ones about 9 to 1. It appears that smart people who devote their careers to scholarship, education, and a search for truth do tend to be more liberal.

And voters? The more education you have, the more likely you are to cast your ballot for Democrats. In 2016, Trump won 52% of the the non-college educated population, but only 34% of those with a college degree. (He loves the poorly educated). Is this huge education gap the result of a conspiracy of mass indoctrination by socialist professors, or due to more benign factors?

Could it be that voters exposed to university science courses simply reject the anti-science party? Could it be that people exposed to other cultures, languages, and a diverse student population reject a xenophobic party message? Could it be that citizens with a diploma, and resultant lucrative careers, failed to identify with the GOP leader's "America is terrible" tirades?

Whatever the reason for the correlation of education with progressive leanings, GOP politicians are determined to legislate it away. Last month, an Iowa State Senator introduced a bill that would force a political litmus test on professors at that state's universities. If it becomes law, the rule would dictate that the gap between number of Democratic and Republican professors be no more than 10%.

It is not just in other states. Wisconsin politicians also feel it necessary to interfere with state universities and to legislate them into being more conservative. Last year, State Rep. Dave Murphy and State Sen. Steve nASS had a snit over a UW course on race relations that conflicted with their far- right sensitivities. nASS previously went into a tizzy over a sociology course assignment on sexual identity.

But it is not just a few weirdo politicos trying to micromanage state schools. Speaker of the House, Robin Vos, wrote an opinion piece in White Right Wisconsin in which he advocated spending tax money to bring more conservative speakers to campuses, "...what could be most worrisome about going to college these days is the plague of political correctness that creates an environment that ends up stifling free speech and potentially damaging the minds of tomorrow." (underline mine)

The 2016 Assembly Republican agenda, Forward, further pushes this idea: "Assembly Republicans will challenge the UW system to embrace ideological diversity on campus and ensure diverse perspectives are present and protected in our classrooms and faculty lounges."

To aid this Assembly effort, Scott Walker hid a provision in the new 2017-19 biennial budget that will protect campus alt-right hate speakers such as (former) Breitbart editor Milo Ylannopolos. (this man is so disgusting that he was banned from a recent CPAC meeting for advocating child molestation)

So far, the interference by conservative politicians with Wisconsin universities has only been in humanities courses. However, it is only a matter of time before meddling with science and medical courses starts. Can you imagine forcing Climate Science departments to teach that the jury is still out on global warming? Or requiring Biology departments to teach creationism alongside evolution? Or banning medical schools from teaching abortion procedures?

What if a powerful state politician is an anti-vaxxer ? Or believes in phlogiston or chem-trails or astrology? Will those be required to be taught in public university science departments, alongside actual science? What if politicians start insisting on re-writing history classes? And political science classes? Where will this big government interference with higher education stop?

Conservatives are increasingly blaming public universities for "brainwashing" students into progressive viewpoints. They are trying to legislate-away this imagined problem by micromanaging courses, legislating ideological balance on faculties, and pushing for taxpayer funding of more far-right lecturers. GOP politicians are attempting to mold public colleges and universities to reflect their own extreme social and political biases. This governmental interference must end.