More Shenanigans from University Residence Life Indoctrinators

The National Association of Scholars has issued an excellent inside look at the Second Annual Residential Curriculum Institute, co-sponsored by co-sponsored by the American College Personnel Association (ACPA). During one session, FIRE! (the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) was accused of "hate, fear, ignorance, and stupidity" as well as having "ties to white supremacy groups." FIRE!, one may recall, did an excellent job exposing the strong-arm leftist indoctrination programs run by the militant nitwits at the University of Delaware Residence Life, as well as keeping tabs on similar attempts at brain-washing on campuses across the nation.

[One] speaker said that directors in res life should simply declare what the "learning outcomes" are for first year students. She offered a six-point model: self-awareness, inter-personal skills, diversity, citizenship, social appreciation, sustainability. Lesson plans could be created to realize each of these. Yet another participant suggested that a good learning outcome would be, "Students must acknowledge power and privilege." Still another participant pointed out that res life need not focus all its energy on proving what it accomplishes with freshmen. After all, "We keep them on campus their freshman and sophomore years, so we have a captive audience for two years."

Modern University Resident Life administrators are increasingly seeing themselves not as administrators or landlords, but as educators equal to faculty who have the right to turn living areas and student's personal time into classroom-like indoctrination centers:

Said one speaker, "We are educators, and we do not need permission [from faculty] to educate, and we certainly do not need to apologize for it."

The NAS assesses it thusly, and I agree wholeheartedly:

The mischief that ACPA invites and encourages is its prescription for a regimented combination of intrusive techniques, single-minded focus on the race-class-gender-sexual preference, and ecological friendliness of students, and a highly ideological stance to what kinds of identities and social attitudes it would like to flourish. The result is an asphyxiating microcosm of the nanny state moved into the campus dormitory.

It is an ironic outcome for many res-life officials who pride themselves on their political progressivism, but who in their workaday lives have become ardent apostles of social control. They condone without a second thought many kinds of social license that would have been anathema to an earlier generation of college officials, but at the same time they deny freedom of conscience and freedom of speech to many in their charge. Res life officials at the Frazer meeting complained about helicopter parents who remain an intrusive presence in the lives of their college-age children. But it appears to be a kind of professional jealousy, since the res lifers themselves are a constant, hovering presence in the lives of the students.

The time has come to demand "academic freedom" and individual rights for students at the university level. The purpose of higher education is to educate, not indoctrinate or even attempt to shape the personal and political beliefs of individual students. A tolerant, open environment should be encouraged for each to find and follow their own path. Counselors should be available for those seeking assistance - it should not be assumed that those that may think differently or have different agendas are necessarily in need of help, especially if they don't think the way administrators believe they should.

It simply amazes me how many times liberals in this country scream "fascist" whenever discussing right-wing, conservative or libertarian ideals, but when given a position of even the slightest power, these same liberals engage in the most totalitarian, anti-freedom activities they are able to get away with (and often many they cannot for very long).

Defining Diversity Down

There was a terrific op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal last week regarding the "dumbing down" of University of California admissions standards, putting skin color above academic preparedness and achievement, in order to achieve the vague goal of "greater diversity."

The world gets more competitive every day, so why would California's education elites want to dumb down their public university admissions standards? The answer is to serve the modern liberal piety known as "diversity" while potentially thwarting the will of the voters.

The University of California Board of Admissions is proposing to lower to 2.8 from 3.0 the minimum grade point average for admission to a UC school. That 3.0 GPA standard has been in place for 40 years. Students would also no longer be required to take the SAT exams that test for knowledge of specific subjects, such as history and science.

....

Instead, the UC Board of Admissions proposal sounds like a declaration of academic surrender. It's one more depressing signal that liberal elites have all but given up on poor black and Hispanic kids. Because they don't think closing the achievement gap is possible, their alternative is to reduce standards for everyone. Diversity so trumps merit in the hierarchy of modern liberal values that they're willing to dumb down the entire university system to guarantee what they consider a proper mix of skin tones on campus.

A decade ago, California voters spoke clearly that they prefer admissions standards rooted in the American tradition of achievement. In the months ahead, the UC Board of Regents will have to decide which principle to endorse, and their choice will tell us a great deal about the future path of American society.

I didn't quote the entire article in full, but it is really worth a quick read. The scariest thing about this is that these are unelected state bureaucrats who are circumventing state law, common sense and the will of the voters with their bigoted, dumb-shit plan to put pigmentation before talent, intelligence, academic achievement and hard work. Beyond how just plain stupid, unfair and destructive this plan is, what is even more troublesome is that these morons really believe they have a right to put their weirdo political bias above the will of the people whose taxes and student fees pay their for their salaries and ivory tower fantasy-world isolation..

University of California admissions process discriminates against whites and asians

The UC's current "holistic" approach to admissions is discriminating
against whites and asians, and is in clear violation of prop 209. Look no further than the new freshman enrollment numbers for UC San Diego for 2007. After remaining steady for a number of years, the number of African Americans magically jumped to 72 this year, from 44
in 2006. Mexican American numbers increased from 388 to 431. However, Asians dropped from 2,080 to 1,945; Filipinos decreased from 221 to 183; Undeclared (probably mostly white and asian) from 429 to 386. Caucasians dramatically went from 1,283 to 989. 989 is a mere 24% of
this population - it was 42% 10 years ago. Caucasians are grossly underrepresented compared to the state population proportions, high school enrollment and eligible California high school
graduates. Somehow, we are expected to believe that the system is fair and people are assessed on an objective, unbiased manner - yet, somehow, admissions evaluators managed to enroll nearly 300 less white students this year than last.

Lest we forget, 209 reads: 'The state shall not discriminate against,
or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the
basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the
operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.'

There is no clause that distinguishes between overt preferential
treatment and 'qualitative' actions specifically designed to grant
preferential treatment to certain groups. Yet, admissions officers
are intentionally reshaping admissions criteria with the declared,
expressed goal of increasing "diversity," despite that fact that to
alter the criteria for this reason violates state law. How is
reshaping the admissions process to target certain groups not
discriminatory to some and preferential to others? Academic
excellence, and verifiable evidence of academic success (test scores
and GPA) are taking a backseat to ill-defined, and mostly
unverifiable, non-academic factors. This process is given the name
"comprehensive review." In other words, biased essay readers
haphazardly assign points as they see fit, for non-academic reasons
which they cannot or are unwilling to verify. There are no real
checks and balances to ensure this process is fair or objective
across the ethnic spectrum or, as importantly, the ideological
one. There is absolutely no accountability in this current system,
and university administrators are violating the rights of California
applicants, deciding based on skin-color who deserves and does not
deserve to attend the University of California.

The UC system is clearly in danger of a lawsuit brought by white and
asian students. It will cost the state millions if this trend is not stopped.

University of Delaware Thought Police Crumble

Breaking. Looks like FIRE! has achieved something of a victory in the University of Delaware mind control scandal:

A Message to the University of Delaware Community

Nov. 1, 2007

The University of Delaware strives for an environment in which all people feel welcome to learn, and which supports intellectual curiosity, critical thinking, free inquiry and respect for the views and values of an increasingly diverse population. The University is committed to the education of students as citizens, scholars and professionals and their preparation to contribute creatively and with integrity to a global society. The purpose of the residence life educational program is to support these commitments.

While I believe that recent press accounts misrepresent the purpose of the residential life program at the University of Delaware, there are questions about its practices that must be addressed and there are reasons for concern that the actual purpose is not being fulfilled. It is not feasible to evaluate these issues without a full and broad-based review.

Upon the recommendation of Vice President for Student Life Michael Gilbert and Director of Residence Life Kathleen Kerr, I have directed that the program be stopped immediately. No further activities under the current framework will be conducted.

Vice President Gilbert will work with the University Faculty Senate and others to determine the proper means by which residence life programs may support the intellectual, cultural and ethical development of our students.

Patrick Harker
President

Be wary of that last paragraph, though (emphasis mine). Sounds like those cunt-sacks Michael Gilbert and Kathleen Kerr are looking for less intrusive, less obvious ways to indoctrinate. At least maybe it will be voluntary, and even less effective, the next time around. Here's a radical idea - how about leaving students alone for five fucking minutes, and not hammering them over the head with biased, left-wing, radical ideology, and worry instead about providing necessary services? With all the money blown on idiotic programs and fuckwitted administrators to come up with them, maybe you could build a little more housing for students. Or bring a band on campus or something. Stop trying to turn every fucking kid in America into zombified liberal drone-bots, and actually provide them with bit of entertainment or an environment in which to unwind. It's bad enough they have this moronic one-sided crap (masquerading as "development") shoved up their asses in just about every class they take.

Believe it or not, it is not the job of any Student Affairs organization (trust me, I work for one) to get its brainless pawns involved in the "development" of students intellect, "culture" (whatever the fuck you think that means) or ethics. In fact, Student Affairs departments in this country have proven to be so unethical in situations like this and less extreme ones, that it's insane to think they have the ability to assess and alter their own corrupt behavior much less be able to help shape the minds of university students. These are young adults, not clay to be molded into what you want them to be.

God, the hubris of my fellow university administrators. I see it all day long. Assholes.

American College Personnel Association (ACPA): How College Administrators are Learning to Brainwash Your Children

University administrators from across the country are associated with, and attend conferences put on by, the American College Personnel Association (ACPA). This vile organization, made up of like-minded individuals who feel they have the right to indoctrinate college students and shape the opinions of young people and public policy, promote conferences such as the Residential Curriculum Institute, which has been tied to the recent University of Delaware dormitory indoctrination controversy. Take a gander at some of the dreadfully Orwellian language used to describe this institute (emphasis mine):

You will have the opportunity to ... practice developing assessable learning outcomes; and examine the impact this shift in thinking and practice has on you, your department, and students. Ultimately, you will learn to uncover the opportunities to deliver educational messages in every student interaction.

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Finally, we will provide you will a number of "take-away" resources to guide you and your department through the uncovering of your "essential education" for students and the process of an inevitable culture shift.

Take a gander at the goals and mission of this organization, and keep in mind that tax-payer funds and student fees are what are providing the membership and attendance fees - and that college administrators are using their positions, often state funded, to promote, endorse and advocate certain leftist positions and policies:

The mission of ACPA is founded upon and implements the following core values:

Core Values:

• Education and development of the total student.
• Diversity, multicultural competence and human dignity.
• Inclusiveness in and access to association-wide involvement and decision-making.
• Free and open exchange of ideas in a context of mutual respect.
• Advancement and dissemination of knowledge relevant to college students and their learning, and to the effectiveness of student affairs professionals and their institutions.
• Continuous professional development and personal growth of student affairs professionals.
• Outreach and advocacy on issues of concern to students, student affairs professionals and the higher education community, including affirmative action and other policy issues.

The liberal bias here is incredible. This corrupt organization also puts on events such as a Conference on Multiracial and Multiple Identities as well as a Tools for Social Justice Conference.

Fear for the minds of our youth. And pay close attention at the subversive manner in which public policy is being shaped, and fairness and open-mindedness are being slowly dismantled by the fascist left.