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And here I thought PCD and Bon Bon just made this stuff up!
The Orwellian program requires the approximately 7,000 students in Delaware’s residence halls to adopt highly specific university-approved views on issues ranging from politics to race, sexuality, sociology, moral philosophy, and environmentalism. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is calling for the total dismantling of the program, which is a flagrant violation of students’ rights to freedom of conscience and freedom from compelled speech.
Now, at $16,100 for residents and $27,350 for non-residents, I would have the kid transfer. This is not a private college either. This is a public university.
What is it that is being required of the kids?
The university’s views are forced on students through a comprehensive manipulation of the residence hall environment, from mandatory training sessions to “sustainability” door decorations. Students living in the university’s eight housing complexes are required to attend training sessions, floor meetings, and one-on-one meetings with their Resident Assistants (RAs). The RAs who facilitate these meetings have received their own intensive training from the university, including a “diversity facilitation training” session at which RAs were taught, among other things, that “[a] racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. The term applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in the United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality.”
The university suggests that at one-on-one sessions with students, RAs should ask intrusive personal questions such as “When did you discover your sexual identity?” Students who express discomfort with this type of questioning often meet with disapproval from their RAs, who write reports on these one-on-one sessions and deliver these reports to their superiors. One student identified in a write-up as an RA’s “worst” one-on-one session was a young woman who stated that she was tired of having “diversity shoved down her throat.”
According to the program’s materials, the goal of the residence life education program is for students in the university’s residence halls to achieve certain “competencies” that the university has decreed its students must develop in order to achieve the overall educational goal of “citizenship.” These competencies include: “Students will recognize that systemic oppression exists in our society,” “Students will recognize the benefits of dismantling systems of oppression,” and “Students will be able to utilize their knowledge of sustainability to change their daily habits and consumer mentality.”
At various points in the program, students are also pressured or even required to take actions that outwardly indicate their agreement with the university’s ideology, regardless of their personal beliefs. Such actions include displaying specific door decorations, committing to reduce their ecological footprint by at least 20%, taking action by advocating for an “oppressed” social group, and taking action by advocating for a “sustainable world.”
In the Office of Residence Life’s internal materials, these programs are described using the harrowing language of ideological reeducation. In documents relating to the assessment of student learning, for example, the residence hall lesson plans are referred to as “treatments.”
In a letter sent yesterday to University of Delaware President Patrick Harker, FIRE pointed out the stark contradiction between the residence life education program and the values of a free society. FIRE’s letter to President Harker also underscored the University of Delaware’s legal obligation to abide by the First Amendment. FIRE reminded Harker of the Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943), a case decided during World War II that remains the law of the land. Justice Robert H. Jackson, writing for the Court, declared, “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.”
“The fact that the university views its students as patients in need of treatment for some sort of moral sickness betrays a total lack of respect not only for students’ basic rights, but for students themselves,” Lukianoff said. “The University of Delaware has both a legal and a moral obligation to immediately dismantle this program, and FIRE will not rest until it has.”
You have the right to free speech as long as the liberals approve of the message. You can have free thought, just as long as you think what the liberals want you to think.
Indoctrination?
SCSUScholars:
You can see other stories like this now through Thursday night by watching Indoctrinate U at the Oak Street Cinema in Minneapolis.
memeorandum has more
Joanne Jacobs calls it Brainwashing in Delaware
Blue Crab Boulevard has more
There is in fact a program within the residence halls that engages students in self –examination of the roles they hope to take in society. This effort is consistent with the mission of the University which states, “Our graduates should know how to reason critically and independently…communicate clearly in writing and speech, and develop into informed citizens and leaders.” The program is designed to encourage students to think about and to consider a number of issues, but all make their own decisions about the outcome of this reflection. FIRE’s assertion that students are told what to think is inaccurate. In common with FIRE, our institution values free speech, active voice, and open dialogue. We believe that students learn and grow in part by engaging in significant discussions on both sides of the classroom door.
I do acknowledge that there have been some missteps with the implementation of our program. This is a new effort involving over two hundred staff. As with any University educational endeavor assessment and feedback measures have been established to identify issues or concerns. Each of the issues FIRE presents are currently under review. In fact, we recently became aware that students in several residence halls were told their participation is mandatory at these activities and we have taken steps to clarify this misconception and to notify students of their rights in this area.
FIRE has much more here.
Michelle Malkin has these photos up:
28 Responses to “Liberalism in Action:U of Delaware Requires Students to Undergo Ideological Reeducation”
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From the link:
“According to the program’s materials, the goal of the residence life education program is….“Students will recognize that systemic oppression exists in our society,”….“Students will recognize the benefits of dismantling systems of oppression,”…and…“Students will be able to utilize their knowledge of sustainability to change their daily habits and consumer mentality.”
I don’t see anything wrong with this.
In fact, I think it’s a great idea to be teaching kids these things. Things like sustainability benefit everyone…liberals and conservatives.
Now, I can honestly tell them exactly WHY they won’t be getting any money from this Alumnus. I guess my challenging Ramsey Clark in a forum in the Honors Dorm in 1980 would’ve gotten me sent to a university gulag. The fact that I debunked his entire liberal “all crime is economic” agenda probably would’ve gotten me expelled. Of Course, with my bad attitude about things like that, the administration would’ve probably been happier leaving me alone.
UD class of 84
SFL- from the same post:
a] racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. The term applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in the United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality.”
… By this definition, people of color cannot be racists
…
“A NON-RACIST: A non-term. The term was created by whites to deny responsibility for systemic racism, to maintain an aura of innocence in the face of racial oppression, and to shift responsibility for that oppression from whites to people of color (called “blaming the victim”). Responsibility for perpetuating and legitimizing a racist system rests both on those who actively maintain it, and on those who refuse to challenge it. Silence is consent.”
All whites are racist, blacks and minorities can’t be racist. Racists are self-evidently bad.
Conclusion: All white people are bad, and all non-white people are not bad.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
Keep dreaming
Not surprising that political indoctrination would not be considered unusual by a twisted specimen of San Francisco Liberal, where even private-sector companies try to educate their employees into crack-brained conformity. I wonder what plagiarist Dem presidential candidate Joe Biden would say about this situation in his home state?
There’s an underground movie called Indoctrinate U. that shows the same sort of twisted “re-education” courses that leftist regimes in Vietnam inflicted on South Vietnamese after 1975. Internment for free-thinkers has been a leftist idiosyncrasy since Lenin in the early twenties. Straight out of Arthur Koestler’s “Darkness at Noon.” Down the road, perhaps we can hope for another Solzhenitsyn? Hopefully, not Anne Applebaum’s Gulag in an American setting!
My daughter is taking a course at FAU, a state university in Florida, where she is educated in political thinking in, of all courses, an ENGLISH class! [She is being taught “cosmopolitanism” by a Cuban female who is ESL and cannot spell or employ correct English grammar. Her spelling of the word “idea” on the blackboard came out as “ide” and her only qualification for the TA job seems to be her marriage to an FAU political perfesser. ]
The Thought Police are beginning to assert their mad conformist agendas in the universities—where they can punish recalcitrants and hold-outs with bad grades.
Welcome To Metropolis
This is pretty shocking. The University of Delaware is actually indoctrinating students who live in campus housing. It is nothing less than that, in fact, the university’s own "teaching" materials refers to it as a &ldqu…
daveinboca- thanks for the info. may I ask, do you cringe everytime a tuition check needs to be written?
I just don’t understand this at all.
Big brother is alive and well and running loose in delaware. BOOT HIM OUT
I wonder how this is effecting the football team? It used to be nationally ranked in its division. With liberals this insane running the school, I just have to wonder if they’ve taken the numbers off of the scoreboard and stopped keeping score as a means to make sure both teams feel good at the end of the game.
More proof that Leftism and political correctness is the Fascism of our time.
[…] Right Voices wraps it up with: […]
[…] of the conservative blogs, such as Sister Toldjah and Right Voices, are using this as an example to further their claims of liberals opposing free speech, even though […]
Pam, I don’t make stuff up. Eben, SFL, Tofu, shiloh,… those are the ones who regularly do.
SFL, YOU are a disgrace. You aren’t liberal, you are a FASCIST! You think it is ok to FORCE your value onto people. Don’t cry about values being forced on you.
I think Glen Reynold’s said it best: “They told me that if George W. Bush were re-elected, we’d see loyalty oaths and ideological crushing of dissent on America’s campuses. And they were right!”
13, But Pam, the quote was meaninging loyalty to Conservativism, not to Liberal myths and nostrums as the UD Administration is pushing.
Ahhh, but did it really PCD? It wasn’t a Republican that warned us of it!
[…] Liberalism in Action:U of Delaware Requires Students to Undergo Ideological Reeducation […]
[…] Right Voices: “You have the right to free speech as long as the liberals approve of the message. You can have free thought, just as long as you think what the liberals want you to think.” […]
[…] Right Voices: “You have the right to free speech as long as the liberals approve of the message. You can have free thought, just as long as you think what the liberals want you to think.” […]
[…] Right Voices […]
Hmmm, Maybe I’ll have to send a little letter to the alumni and honors alumni association the next time they contact me wanting money. There is an alumni branch here in Phoenix. I wonder how many of the members are aware of what the administration at our alma mater is up to?
I Guess You Can Say That On Television
Children’s television network Nickelodeon is pushing a "news" program onto our children that woul…
Popularity: unranked [?]…
19- Don’t talk about it, do it. From John:
You are more than capable of writing a persuasive letter, I’ve seen you in action. Just do it!
“I don’t see anything wrong with this.”
So systematic indoctrination that discourages free thinking is okay with you, as long as it is something you approve of?
Interesting…
23, Ted, not interesting, but typical of Liberal hypocrisy. Also, since this is a taxpayer supported school,and that there is no compunction against the GOVERNMENT imposing thought on the students, I find this most disturbing.
“So systematic indoctrination that discourages free thinking is okay with you, as long as it is something you approve of?”
–
Educating college kids about the realities of the world they live in is a big part of the reason why they’re there.
Issues like race, gender, social class, religion are exactly the things that they want to learn about.
From the looks of it, it seems like the college is trying to help create an environment that allows this to happen more freely and openly.
Here’s a class for you, SFL. Flag Burning is extra credit. http://bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=156138&zoneid=500
Educating college kids about the realities of the world they live in is a big part of the reason why they’re there.
SFL
Here’s a few historical realities for you. The vast majority of blacks brought to this continent for use as slaves were bought from other blacks. Their future of being a slave was already sealed BEFORE the white man laid eyes on them. They were destined to be slaves on either new world plantations or in African villages. Which do you think had a greater life expectancy?
If I remember correctly, there weren’t any slaves brought onto what is now the United States since before 1750. I say onto this continent because this COUNTRY didn’t exist until the late 1780s. More than a generation after the last slave had been brought across from Africa.
While Slavery and Racism is bad, claiming that it is the cause of all of the problems in the world is hogwash. To claim that the world would be better off without the spread of white European culture is likewise hogwash. There are three cultures in this world that have prospered and produced wealth for those who have accepted and become part of them. Those are the Anglo/Germanic cultures, the Oriental cultures, and the Eastern European cultures. While many other cultures have existed that have produced great wealth, they have not survived. Many african cultures still live in mud huts. More or less all third world countries are run by corrupt regimes. Yet, other than the communist countries, those countries that adhere to the three groups of cultures listed are generally considered successful with limited corruption and wide spread opportunity.
If free capitalist white/European and Asian cultures are thriving, how is it that they are responsible for the lack of success of the other cultures? Do the Japanese demand that the Masai continue living in mud huts as they have for thousands of years? Do the whites in Zimbabwe and South Africa insist that the black governments that confiscate the plantations that have been in their families for generations run them so ineptly and corruptly as to cause production to virtually cease to exist? Do the Brits demand that an inordinate number of Indians continue to live in squalor despite being free of British rule for over 40 years?
In this country, there isn’t a single slave still alive, so how does the actions of the plantation owners have any impact today? The only impact that it can have is on the psyche of the descendents of those who were slaves. Justice Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell,Former AG Gonzalez and Condolezza Rice are four wonderful examples of what someone can achieve despite having less than ideal circumstances growing up. Perhaps if they were idolized and looked upon with the respect that they have earned instead of the current crop of street thug rappers and pro athletes, the minority populations in this country would be better off.
Perhaps a better approach would be to stop looking outward at the distant past, and begin looking inward to the immediate future. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? Maybe instead of teaching that all whites are bad, they should teach that some people are bad. Teach the students that success isn’t as dependent on skin color as it is the willingness of the individual to exert energy to attain it. Perhaps they need to teach students what the following sentence from Dr. Martin Luther King means. “I have a dream, to one day live in a country where my four little children will be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Maybe they should be teaching everyone that actions have consequences. That character matters. That people will only judge you by the color of your skin when you act like the stereotypes that give that skin color a bad reputation. Basically, if you’re going to act and dress like a drug dealing gang banger, expect to be treated like one. Does anyone here really think that Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods would have problems going nearly anywhere in this country, while some of the current crop of ne’er do well players might run into some difficulties? If you were a cabbie, who would you want to pick up on a dark street corner, a well dressed man in a business suit, or someone dressed like a street thug covered with tattoos? One might be a low level corporate flunkie, and the other a multimillionaire pro athlete, but that’s not what the odds are. At one point in time, every school boy in this country was expected to attend school in a shirt and tie. Discipline wasn’t a problem. The kids KNEW what kind of behavior was expected of them, and knew there would be consequences if they failed to uphold that standard. Perhaps morality and character needs to be reintroduced to the curriculum from an early age. I’m betting that that will solve a LOT of our problems. Problems that this indoctrination will not.
In the next to last scene in the movie “Boondock Saints”, one of the main characters reads off a list of things that all religions find abhorrent, so teaching that killing, stealing, raping etc etc etc is wrong could hardly be considered proseletyzing, but I’m sure some ACLU attorney and the NEA would disagree.