Last week, the Young Conservatives of Texas, a student group at the University of Texas in Austin, published a blacklist of 10 faculty members who they felt were "indoctrinating" students. The list, published on the university's Web site and distributed on campus, accuses 10 professors of promoting their personal agendas instead of academic pursuits.
Professor Robert Jensen is No. 1 on the blacklist. His misdeeds? Analogizing the gay rights movement with the fight for civil rights in this nation, among others.
Maybe he's right. But there's not necessarily a connection. All the movements have in common are oppressed people, singled out and discriminated against because of a personal attribute. Sure, both seek equal treatment as guaranteed under the law, and both are the target of unwarranted violence and discrimination. But does that make them analogous?
It's probably just a coincidence.
Oddly enough, two other professors on the list are singled out for highlighting inequalities in race, class and gender. Another, a black anthropology professor, made the list for "overemphasizing" the oppression of blacks in American history.
Young Conservatives Chair-man Austin Kinghorn told The Washington Post that the aim of some of the blacklisted professors was to make "whites feel guilty for breathing air." And, after all, we can't have anyone feeling uncomfortable about the past. After all, the past is the past. There's obviously no point in trying to learn from it.
Or is there?
As university students, we cannot allow free thought to take a back seat on the nation's college campuses. Nor can we let the biases that rule our everyday lives insulate what we learn in the classroom. College students should be compelled to realize that we did not come to college to hear things we already knew or to learn only about things we agree with.
In related news, UT-Austin announced Monday that it had sent a proposal to the University of Texas system to "include race and ethnicity as additional factors in consideration of undergraduate, graduate and law school applications." The reason for the UT move? Because "exposure to diverse ideas and cultures better prepares students for leadership in an increasingly global and multicultural society."
Maybe the Young Conservatives didn't get the memo.
Contrary to that club's agenda, college is a breeding ground not for liberalism, but also a worldly perspective. When someone says something you disagree with, it is not indoctrination. Consider it an invitation to rethink everything you've ever learned and to make intelligent decisions for yourself and others.
Academic censorship is certainly not the way to enlighten young minds. There is an intrinsic value in education that is preserved only when students are open-minded. Education, by definition, is providing information and stimulating mental growth. Neither of these things is achieved if you discount some facts in the face of others.
Believe it or not, kids, you're here for more than a pat on the back and the diploma. The true purpose of your education is to prepare you to change the world, and oftentimes the best way of doing that is to make you squirm in your seats. It's sure to hold your attention, and maybe - just maybe - make you think about how you carry yourself as a person.
Brian Clapp is a political science and biology junior. Reach him at brain.clapp@asu.edu.
