Even at the really lefty campuses (my son is at one - Swat) the SJWs remain a pretty small minority. The vast majority of kids tend to nod their heads, roll their eyes (out of sight) and go on their way to their lab or seminar. The SJWs get a lot more attention than is warranted based on “real life” at the college.
I agree. The loopy extremism fades after graduation as reality sets in. In college there were dorm floors and houses where the kids left the toilets unflushed all day to save water. There were even signs posted to encourage this. I have visited some of these friends years after graduation in their costly and nicely decorated houses and apartments. I assure you that the toilets are now flushed after every use!
http://www.wsj.com/articles/i-was-disinvited-on-campus-1462313788
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/may/3/jason-riley-black-conservative-disinvited-virginia/
"A 2010 report by the Association of American Colleges and Universities found that only 40% of college freshman “strongly agreed that it is safe to hold unpopular positions on campus” and that by senior year it’s down to 30%”
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), which fights campus censorship, has compiled a “disinvitation database” that dates to 2000 and today includes nearly 300 incidents. According to FIRE, the “number of ‘disinvitation incidents’—i.e., efforts to prevent invited speakers from conveying their message on campus—has risen dramatically.”
Another example of a lost opportunity for an exchange of ideas.
I guess the “compelling interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body” [Grutter vs Bollinger] doesn’t extend to ideas.
Only when it is the right sort of ideas.
My kid’s tiny LAC has several dozen speakers a YEAR. In the last 16 years, across the entire nation of colleges and universities there have been 300 speakers dis-invited? What is that, like .00001% year per school?
Your rationalization is mind boggling. What’s exactly is the level of censorship that should start to concern us.
A TINY handful of (paid) speakers being disinvited to speak at colleges doesn’t really concern me, no.
Government censorship is a different animal, @Matmaven .
How many of those 300 “disinvited” actually self-disinvited? I think actual withdrawals of invitations is rather rare. If protest leads to someone saying they don’t want to deal with it, then of course that is his or her right, but that is not in itself “censorship”.
The FIRE database lists 196 “disnvites” since 2000 and includes 3 kinds - cases where the school rescinds the invite, cases where the speaker backs out and cases where the speaker is “heckled” so can’t be heard.
4000+ colleges and universities in this country, 196 (total of all 3 types) incidents in 15 years. Whew, this is major… /sarcasm
A little more on GMU and the law school naming:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-posthumous-attacks-on-scalia-begin-1462400235
It is easy to dismiss censorship when you disagree with the groups that are being censored. To bad Voltaire is considered a dead white guy and no longer has relevance on college campuses.
It’s easy to dismiss the hysteria over it when it’s so rare.
I note for the record one of the “disinvited” was Bill Ayers.
Chicago has a “only” a murder rate of 43.5 out of 100,000 residents. So why get worked up about that either… /sarcasm.
The issue here is that colleges are supposed to be bastions of ideas/ intellectual challenge, not North Korea. Short of a speaker deliberately inviting physical harm to the audience, there should be ZERO speakers disinvited.
Often times it’s better to just let a quack speaker talk and make a fool out of themselves.
getting back on track to the op, my S at oberlin says kids are scared to express any sort of positive view of israel. He loves the school, the academics, has a great number of friends but thinks this is just so wrong and at times has made him wonder if he should have chosen another school.
“…our student body is hostile to the exchange of ideas, incredulous at the notion that liberal opinions do not constitute universal truths.”
Sometimes, it just seems like many who purport to want more open dialogue really need to vent in their own way. The liberal bashing comes on so strong, so fast. You don’t see the author flinging down her own gauntlet, making assertions about truths? And then so many posters chime in about an incident here or there?
D1 is very liberal. Like emilybee’s son, she had college friends across the political spectrum. If we don’t want them to be lined up by their political or social beliefs, we teach them not to do that to others. Not to paint in broad brush strokes and summarily dismiss, which the author seems to do.
Best wishes to your daughter, OP.
Are there any schools that are known for hosting debates between their liberal and conservative faculty members? That’s where I want to go to college 
Hillsdale
Nicholas Kristof’s piece on “Liberal Intolerance”, in the NYT today
At most schools, most students are focused on going to class, partying, and their social lives. Political issues aren’t a big focus except for those who are involved in partisan politics or are activists for one cause or another.
However, there are some schools where politics pervades much of the school or the mindsets of many students. Personally, I think schools like this, whether Skidmore or Hillsdale, Oberlin or Bob Jones, do a disservice to their students and distort their education. Caveat Emptor.
^ Good article. I also think a lack of political diversity and an intolerant attitude is a huge detriment to the college education. I had truly hoped that D would get both sides of the spectrum and be better able to make some choices for herself without the pressure from her parents…she is the child of (very firmly grounded) liberal dad and conservative mom. It is something we considered when preparing the “list” but I hadn’t considered that, especially being an election year, that it would be pervasive and that conservative students would be ostracized in some circles. Have I been living under a rock lol?