Not a day goes by here at 7DHQ that we writers don’t get at least a dozen stoopid press releases. These press releases alert us about everything from what handbag Lindsay Lohan took with her to prison to the method and make-up of Bernie Sanders’ last poo. Sometimes it’s fun to spotlight these press releases and expose for all to see how impossibly depressing some people’s jobs really are.
Today, we got a good one that I will soon be filing in the “NO SHIT” section of my email. This section also often doubles as the trash.
Here’s the subject of the email: “Research Shows Political Bias at the University of Vermont.” It was sent to us by Bryan Bernys, director of the National Field Program for the innocuously named conservative training camp, The Leadership Institute, and former field director of Rich Tarrant’s failed senate campaign.
The release deftly pointed out the following:
1. Liberal student groups outnumber conservative groups six to two.
2. Freshmen are subjected to mandatory classes on racism and multiculturalism.
3. UVM professors vote overwhelmingly Democrat.
My questions to the authors of this fine piece of nonfiction, CampusReform.org, are many: Have you ever been to Vermont? Do you know who we voted to represent us in Washington? Does UVM look like Oral Roberts or Liberty universities? Have you ever seen a dready hippie vote, let alone vote for a conservative? Is this one of those joke emails?
Since this is the season of college rankings, I suppose the email makes sense. When I clicked on the link for further info about UVM’s liberal bias, I was surprised to find out that the state’s largest university is the 11th most liberal in the country. I thought UVM would rank higher. Hell, it has gender-neutral bathrooms and trans-friendly housing options! Well, at least UVM can take comfort in its recent ranking as the fourth best weed-smoking school in the nation.
The criteria they used to determine this liberal bias are, methinks, a bit unscientific. They looked at how green the school is (apparently excessively) and the fact that, in 2009, students protested over conservative Ben Stein being named graduation speaker. They replaced him with known liberal sympathizer, former Vermont governor and ex-presidential candidate Howard “Yeeeaahhh!” Dean. Here are my questions: Since when did being environmentally responsible become a liability? And since when did listening to the majority become amoral?
CampusReform.org’s complete list of the 100 Most Liberal Colleges isn’t finished yet — they’ve only released 100 through 42 — you know, to build suspense. So if you want to know just how liberal Harvard, Yale and Princeton are, sorry, you’ll just have to wait.
This article appears in Aug 18-24, 2010.
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“And since when did listening to the majority become amoral?”Hmm . . . Why would you go down this road? They didn’t just “listen to” the majority in the Ben Stein fiasco, they caved in to it (and we’re assuming it actually was a majority — was there a secret ballot vote?). Following the majority can easily be amoral (or, more appropriately, as I think you probably meant, “immoral”). If we had listened to the majority of Vermonters in 2000, Vermont wouldn’t have had civil unions. If we listened to the majority of Vermonters now, Vermont would have the death penalty. There are lots of reasons not to do what the majority wants, especially when the “majority” is a bunch of 18/21-year-olds, many of whom are stoned (as the “fourth best weed-smoking school” award proves). And certainly, I hope you will agree that a bunch of 18-21 year olds should not always get the final say on what happens on campus. You could probably get a majority of UVM students to agree to abolish all academics on campus. “Dude, just because we’re at college, like, why should we have to go to, like, classes, you know? That’s so, like, bogus.” Although I might not have wanted Ben Stein as grad speaker in the first place, he was the official, publicly-invited speaker and it was a very craven, despicable, and humiliating act by the UVM administration to cave in to the last-minute will of a student mob and “uninvite” him because the students didn’t want to hear anything that challenges their liberal orthodoxy. In fact, the students didn’t even know what he was going to say in his speech — they just didn’t want a conservative on the podium. Geez, it’s not like after the administration invited him they found out that he had been arrested for killing children. He is an intelligent human being who thinks differently from a majority of the UVM campus. Wow! We can’t have THAT on our campus! But, hey, now that the UVM community has established the precedent of “uninviting” conservative speakers, why don’t they move on to banning conservative books from campus?
“2. Freshmen are subjected to mandatory classes on racism and multiculturalism.”As we’ve learned from Dr Laura, this is precisely what causes people to be “hypersensitive.” Damn the multicultural activist indoctrination!
“And since when did listening to the majority become amoral?”Since someone invented the word “amoral.” If you’re doing something simply because a majority of people want you to, your decision is amoral by definition.
Damn! UVM is harming the Burlington brand? 11th most liberal among college student resorts. Well, VT’s Sunshine Laws rating is like 26th. UVM isn’t so liberal (was it ever?), and VT doesn’t shine in the Open Government arena either. Secretary of State blames the growing number of secrecy exemptions on the legislature, and there’s no Sunshine leadership coming from the Secretary’s office. (Leadership not the Secretary’s role?) The press usually leads the way on transparency issues, but not so much the Gannett Free Press. Court challenges cost money and by the time the case is settled the information is old or the decision is long ago made. SoS candidates for office? Nary a peep about Executive Sessions, Right to Know law and the 286 exemptions that render it meaningless along with lack of enforcement or any meaningful penalty. VT Campaign Finance laws, even worse! Candidate Condos touts his leadership on IRV, recently repealed in Burlington, and hopes that it will go statewide. Councilor Adrian, a prosecutor for Secretary of State’s office, votes for Executive Session on Council every time, and doesn’t make a peep when it is warned IN ADVANCE! Progs apparently don’t even vote any more. People’s Republic of Burlington is definitely losing it’s cred.