As a father of two young men, I am alarmed by the endless protests and outrage on both private and public university campuses today. Institutions like UC Berkeley and others have failed to correctly handle situations where pandemonium occurs and have been forced to cave in to countless demands of self-righteous radicals who seem to be much more interested in ideological fascism than intellectual freedom. If you are like me, you want to prevent your children from ever being influenced by such nonsense and make sure they attend a college that values the pursuit of truth and an open and robust debate.
So how can you tell if your child is going to a Snowflake U? Here are the telltale signs to look out for:
Rewarding students for protesting
The ugly truth is that colleges around the country have been bowing down to the snowflakes that riot on their campuses. We saw an example of this at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., last spring. Students at Evergreen formed a posse determined to “fight privilege and racism” on their campus and even went so far as to demand the resignation of the president and a member of the faculty.
The offending faculty member simply refused to leave campus on a day when all white people were told they were not allowed. He believed it was wrong to stigmatize students and faculty on the basis of race. He saw the irony of students claiming to “fight racism” by being racists, and he said so. Rather than regain control of the college, and allow for a discussion to take place, the administration faltered, prompting the rioters to send a list of demands to leadership. Most of those demands were fulfilled by the college. Evergreen allowed the snowflakes to take over the school, and now its enrollment is falling steadily.
At the University of Missouri, a relatively small group of students held a sit-in at the campus library for two days in the fall of 2015. The demonstrators demanded that all staff, faculty and students go through training that aligned with their myopic and closed political worldview. They actually stipulated that any student who didn’t complete the training couldn’t enroll in any classes. The group didn’t stop there. They demanded the resignation of both the president and the provost and, shockingly, the board of trustees capitulated. By rewarding these rioters and accepting their demands, Evergreen and the University of Missouri did nothing but enable further selfishness and dysfunctional behavior at their respective institutions.
Teaching political correctness rather than truth
Intellectual and moral nihilism serves as their foundation — they actually disparage the idea of absolute truth and right and wrong. Education should not be about celebrating opinions and feelings but rather about pursuing facts.
When I was a dean of students at a liberal-arts college in Michigan, I taught a freshman-orientation course. Each year, I sought to orient my new students to life at a liberal arts institution and to challenge them to wrestle with what it means to be a disciplined thinker. I required the students to watch the movie “Schindler’s List” and then write a three-page paper. One of the students turned in a well-written paper. She clearly paid attention and learned a lot from the film. However, after writing on the atrocities that happened to Jews and others during this time period her closing statement said, “Who am I to judge the Germans?”
This is a direct result of the snowflake doctrine that there are absolutely no absolutes, and that wrong and right, truth and falsity, everything related to morality is determined by people rather than facts. It is scary to think that a generation that has been taught there are no moral standards will become the judges, lawyers and legislators of the future. How can you govern without understanding the importance of truth? Don’t send your son or daughter off to a school that seems to think a degree in opinions is as good as one where they actually learn something. Rather, send them where they will be taught what is right, good and just; where they will graduate with a greater understanding of what is immutable, enduring and true rather than what just happens to be the politically correct fad of the day.
Talking about God is off limits
Christian organizations and clubs at Purdue, Vanderbilt and Syracuse have been under attack for years now. In 2011, Vanderbilt University boldly told its Christian clubs that they could no longer require their leaders to be Christian. This does not just affect the clubs that define themselves as Christian, but also those that are run by Jews, Muslims, Mormons and others.
How can anyone think it makes any sense to force a Jewish organization to select a Presbyterian student as its president? How could anyone think that a Muslim organization should be forced to appoint a Buddhist as its director of community outreach? Telling Christianunivers organizations they are required to secure leaders who deny the very basics of their faith is just as ludicrous. Avoid colleges that practice such religious bigotry and intolerance.
Education should be about the promulgation of the bigger and better ideas. It should be more about Socrates and St. Paul than about self-actualization and social engineering. The best education is one that is grounded in those ideas that are tested by time, defended by reason, validated by experience and confirmed by revelation.
Or, in the words of C.S. Lewis, before we pick up a new book, we might find it wise to read a dozen or so old ones first.
We should never forget that what is taught today in the classroom will be practiced tomorrow in our culture. Parents, you foot the bill. Protect your investment. Protect your kids.
Dr. Everett Piper is the president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University and the author of the book “Not a Day Care: The Devastating Consequences of Abandoning Truth” (Regnery Faith), out now.