Education or indoctrination?

"I just visited some on-campus culture centers for various heritages and cultural groups. Could you point me toward the White Culture Center?” That’s a question you’d likely hear from filmmaker Evan Coyne Maloney if he brought his camera to IU. He’s the creator of a new documentary called “Indoctrinate U.”\nFree speech at America’s universities is a hot topic lately, from the bro who got Tased (aka Andrew Meyer) to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech at Columbia. So how open is academia to the free exchange of ideas?\nAnecdotes about university bias are as abundant as they are outrageous, such as how Bucknell University wouldn’t allow Republican Pat Toomey to speak on campus, but paid far-left activist and presidential candidate Ralph Nader $13,000 to deliver the commencement address. Conservative speakers Ann Coulter, William Kristol, Pat Buchanan and David Horowitz have all had food thrown at them onstage at enlightened, tolerant, open-minded, liberal universities. Even here at our beloved Indiana Daily Student, we have a few columnists to the ideological right of Vladimir Lenin, but true conservatives are few and far between.\nConsider how much we’re bombarded by “diversity” campaigns daily, from Freshman Orientation until graduation. Racial diversity. Religious diversity. Sexual orientation. Gender. Cultural background. One would think the primary purpose of college isn’t education or career preparation, but diversity training.\nBut a 2005 survey found that 72 percent of university instructors describe themselves as liberal, while only 15 percent label themselves conservative. Since 1999, professors have donated $26.4 million to Democrats but only $2.4 million to Republicans.\nMaybe while we’re emphasizing diversity we should focus a little on diversity of thought.\nLiberals account for this one-sidedness by alleging conservative stupidity. According to the head of the Duke philosophy department, “If ... stupid people are generally conservative, then there are lots of conservatives we will never hire.” Contrast this with former Harvard president Lawrence Summers, who had to resign after stating that there might be more men than women in science and engineering due to “issues of intrinsic aptitude.” Conservative-bashing is expected. But raise the possibility that men and women’s minds work differently, and you’re out of a job.\nIn “Indoctrinate U,” Maloney travels to universities nationwide investigating bias. His Web site features a video of him asking Columbia students, “Who said of Israeli Jews, ‘The way they talk, walk, the way they greet each other, there is a vulgarity of character that is bone deep and structural to the skeletal vertebrae of its culture:’ Was it Adolf Hitler, Osama bin Laden or a Columbia professor?”\nYou’ll have to watch the clip yourself to learn the stunning answer.\n“Indoctrinate U” is for everyone who’s had to sit through anti-American rhetoric in foreign language classes, Bush-bashing in English classes and political propaganda in science classes. Visit www.indoctrinateu.com to watch the trailer and to ask that the film come to Bloomington. If 500 of us submit an online request, they’ll give us a local screening. In the meantime, where exactly is the IU White Culture Center?