RUTHFULLY YOURS

The first academic semester of 2020 has only recently gotten underway, and colleges and universities around the country seem to be competing with one another in a feverish race to prove which is most committed to advancing the prevailing leftist dogma of the day.

The College Fix, a student-led campus watchdog publication, is an excellent resource for anyone interested in keeping apprised of the current scene in academia. It’s a particularly invaluable source for parents who are considering investing tens of thousands of dollars into their children’s “education.”

Consider:

At Dartmouth College, an institution that charges $75,000 a year in tuition, students have recently had their classes interrupted by a “Green New Deal” activist. A young woman to whom, out of “courtesy,” The Dartmouth Review refers simply as “Katie,” has spent months disrupting lectures for the purpose of promoting the causes—like the Green New Deal, as well as “free” education and Medicare for all—advanced by the Sunrise Movement and the New Hampshire Youth Movement (NHYM) by which she’s employed.

The NHYM is affiliated with the Sunrise Movement. Unsurprisingly, both are doctrinaire left-wing organizations. “Katie” insists that students are to support only those politicians who “support our values.” As to the nature of those values, there is no doubt, to judge from the card that “Katie” disseminates to students.

There is space on the cards in which students are to supply not only their personal contact information, but, by way of checking off a series of boxes, indicate their political priorities. “I’m voting on February 11^th for…” is listed at the top. Beneath that are the following issues: “Immigrant Justice;” “Racial Justice;” “Green New Deal;” “Free College for All;” “Voting Rights;” “Medicare for All;” “LGBTQIAP + Rights;” “Affordable Housing;” “Reproductive Rights;” and “Other.”

“Katie,” in other words, campaigns for the Democratic Party in both college classrooms and campus buildings. In doing so, she violates Dartmouth’s anti-solicitation policies. The latter demarcates a public space on campus for activism.

“Katie” has insisted that she is not in violation of anything, for she is not selling any products, she says. Yet Dartmouth’s policy is not limited to any such activities, and the Associate Dean of Student Life reiterated that “Katie” was indeed guilty of the charge leveled against her. Nevertheless, a few days later, she was back on campus engaged in her activism.

Dartmouth officials have not returned The College Fix’s requests for information.

Meanwhile, over at the University of Montana—yes, the University of Montana—there is an uproar over the fact that white students won the writing contest that it held to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

The Fix, referring to the Montana Kaimin, the University’s student newspaper, reports:

When UM announced the winners on its Facebook page, fury ensued. ‘[O]ver 1,000 comments flooded the post,’ the Kaimin reports. ‘Many commenters questioned why no one [sich] students of color entered the contest and how that could reflect poorly on the University of Montana’s atmosphere.’

One person wrote, ‘Jesus Christ this is shameful and embarrassing, and I say that as a pasty ass white girl.’ Another asked how one could ‘think remembering the legacy of MLK Jr. is achieved by giving four white girls a shout.

The Fix, however, informs us of “the kicker” to all of this:

But here’s the kicker: The idea for the contest was conceived by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Committee, made up of members of the Black Student Union, the head of the African-American studies program, and members of the community. The committee had ‘personally invited members of the Black Student Union to participate,’ and used a ‘blind judging’ system—essay writers’ identities were kept secret—to determine the winners.

So, absolutely zero black or non-white students entered the contest to write an essay commemorating MLK, a project conceived by black organizations, but, somehow, this is supposed to be a reflection of the “racist” character of the University of Montana. Got it.

Another MLK Day debacle occurred at Kennesaw State University.

Every year it would hold its “Legacy Luncheon” to remember MLK. This year its guest speaker was Roderick McLean, a black man and the vice-president of Lockheed Martin.

This, though, was a cause of consternation for the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and some other “far-left student groups,” as The Fix describes them. SJP’s president, Marisol Mendez, is quoted as saying that by “inviting someone who represents the military-industrial complex to a celebration [honoring] MLK’s legacy was disrespectful.”

Apparently, it’s disrespectful not only to MLK, but as well to “the marginalized groups on our campus[.]”

The other activist organizations that allied with SJP to protest against McLean’s appearance were KSUnited—which “fights to protect the rights and dignity of all students/faculty/staff in minority groups, against suppression of social justice work of students/faculty/staff”; Young Democratic Socialists of America at KSU; Metro Atlanta Democratic Socialists of America, and some others.

Sadly, over the course of the last month alone, this list of instances of characteristic leftist lunacy on American campuses could be multiplied exponentially. Space constraints have mercifully spared me from having to add anything more at this time.

The list, we know, will continue to proliferate.