Thursday, November 29, 2012

Unlearning Liberty

Stephanie Mann reports on liberal arts and campus censorship.
One of the most ridiculous cases of a university administration going after student was at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis in 2008: because the student/worker was reading a book titled Notre Dame versus The Klan he was accused and found guilty of racial harassment based on another student/worker referring to the cover of the book! (It offended him because he thought it was a book supporting the KKK.) According to Mr. Lukianoff, the university said that the student, reading a book about "How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Klu Klux Klan" was guilty of racial harassment for "openly reading the book related to a historically and racially abhorrent subject." (Perhaps this university won't show Steven Spielberg's movie Lincoln, because students would be openly watching a movie related to "a historically and racially abhorrent subject"!--slavery) The university finally backed down, apologized to the student, and cleared his record--but it took FIVE (5) months! (Read entire post.)
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3 comments:

Stephanie A. Mann said...

Thanks for the link and post! This censorship is truly shocking and disappointing to me. When I was in undergrad and grad school studying English lit and history, I never experienced any such political correctness. In fact, a couple of my professors told me I had an almost unfair advantage over so many of the other students because I had a Catholic education and a Catholic worldview--especially in Art History and certain eras of literature. It's horrible to read of universities censoring speech!

elena maria vidal said...

Yes, especially since universities are supposed to be a place for a broadening of the mind!

May said...

Goodness, they didn't even want him reading a book about *fighting* the KKK? Well then, why not accuse the university itself of racial harassment for further dredging up this offensive topic by making a fuss over it?