Creepy Big Brother Education at University of Delaware
You have probably seen the stories about the creepy, mandatory reeducation program for University of Delaware students. If you have missed the story, or want more, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is all over it -- here is a roundup.
However, if you don't have time to go through it all, here is a couple of examples I took right from their curricula. Note that the following goals for the program are set in the context of, as the university puts it, "treatment" for students incorrect beliefs and worldviews. This is from the Central Complex residence hall:
Look at 2B and C for example! Its coincident timing, but look at stuff above in the context of this post, which I wrote before I even saw this. Could there be a more resounding confirmation of this:
I have to lay a lot of this failure on universities like my own.
Having made students jump through unbelievable hoops just to get
admitted, and then having charged them $60,000 a year for tuition,
universities feel like they need to make students feel better about
this investment. Universities have convinced their graduates that
public pursuits are morally superior to grubby old corporate jobs (that
actually require, you know, real work), and then have further convinced
them that they are ready to change to world and be leaders at 22. Each
and every one of them graduate convinced they have something important
to say and that the world is kneeling at their feet to hear it. But
who the f*ck cares what a 22-year-old with an Ivy League politics
degree has to say? Who in heavens name listened to Lincoln or
Churchill in their early twenties? It's a false expectation. The Ivy
League is training young people for, and in fact encouraging them to
pursue, a job (ie 22-year-old to whom we all happily defer to tell us
what to do) that simply does not exist. A few NGO's and similar
organizations offer a few positions that pretend to be this
job, but these are more in the nature of charitable make-work positions
to help Harvard Kennedy School graduates with their self-esteem, kind
of like basket-weaving for mental patients.
If you read through the whole document, which is nearly impossible because it is a classic example of academic mental masturbation, you will see the curriculum is dominated by this sustainability notion
Somehow none of the residence halls chose "the role of capitalism and individual entrepreneurship in creating wealth." Remember that these are all areas that the university has declared that students require "treatment" if their views do not conform with the university orthodoxy. They are expecting that all students must share all of these beliefs. For real creepiness, read about the student that the RA conducting this curriculum actually felt the need to report to university officials because her attitudes were so "out of whack". She was reported for saying obviously horrendous things like this answer:
1) When were you first made aware of your race?
"That is irrelevant to everything. My race is human being."
Fortunately, the University of Delaware killed the program after a firestorm of national outrage. If you have read the FIRE blog long enough, you will suspect that Delaware will find some way in the future to sneak it back in.
My post of the vacuousness of student activists, written before I even saw this, is here.
Update: How did I miss this great quote, from the university's Office of Residence Life Diversity Education Training documents:
"A RACIST: A racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the
basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. "˜The term applies
to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in the
United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or
sexuality. By this definition, people of color cannot be racists,
because as peoples within the system, they do not have the power to
back up their prejudices, hostilities, or acts of discrimination"¦.'"
ko:
I love this comment: "Somehow none of the residence halls chose 'the role of capitalism and individual entrepreneurship in creating wealth.'" It's almost as though no one in the University system has ever had a real job.
November 5, 2007, 10:49 pmEmil:
Creepy ... this is so much lower that what was thought in the Party schools across the Iron Wall; are they trying to sabotage their own cause ?
... only one more reason to believe the Left died in 1914 while casting their ballots in support of the war instead of calling for a pan-European strike to stop it.
November 6, 2007, 5:29 amAC:
They actually had students sign up to live in those Halls? Something is wrong with undergrads. I thought the Engineering Hall that I lived in was boring, but I can't even imagine the constant joykill of living in one of those Halls.
November 6, 2007, 7:02 amCT_Yankee:
If the university adopts policies that make it uncomfortable for students to reside on campus, does this create a legal responsibility for the university to provide access to alternative housing off campus? Typically, on campus housing costs less than nearby apartments where you have a greater expectation of privacy.
In employment, there is a concept called “constructive discharge†that means that while a person was not actually fired, they were harassed or subjected to conditions that no reasonable person would accept. When considering damages in lawsuits, if a person is forced to quit it may be considered similar to having been fired.
If the university contracts with students to provide housing, and then systematically harasses them, and encourages other students to create a hostile atmosphere for nonconformists, doesn’t that effectively deny students access to (enjoyment of) the housing? It would appear that the university becomes liable for damages such as the extra cost of renting and transportation to and from off campus housing where they may concentrate on their studies without constant interruption.
I read the lengthy “planâ€. One thing that it does not make clear, is what happens if a student “failsâ€? If a student misses all floor meetings, does not participate in “volunteer†projects, and does not respond in any manor to an RA’s questions, does this affect graduation in any way?
November 6, 2007, 7:57 amAri:
I was literally scared while reading that. It sounds like something straight out of George Orwell's 1984. This isn't even funny.
November 6, 2007, 8:09 amJoseph Hertzlinger:
I suspect they thought they could get away with this because they think conservatives are people who will always follow orders. Once they get to give the orders they figured the opposition would fold.
November 6, 2007, 9:52 ammarkm:
B. Each student will recognize that systematic oppression exists in our society.
>>> Like mandatory brainwashing programs imposed by the University? Check.
C. Each student will recognize the benefits of dismantling systems of oppression.
November 6, 2007, 10:45 am>>> Sure, how'd you prefer to be dismantled?
la petite chou chou:
Oh. My. God.
November 6, 2007, 11:07 amI can't even say anything else...
Steve:
SARCASM BEGIN I'm white. And I'm sorry. I really want to help eliminate racism. But since I'm white, I'm a racist, by definition. So it looks like the only thing I can do is kill myself. And if I really want to make a difference, I have to kill all the other whites first. END SARCASM
November 6, 2007, 11:14 amDale:
Is it just me? Or, is the world really going to Hell in a handbasket?
November 6, 2007, 11:34 amMesa Econoguy:
As Butthead accurately observed: “What the hell is this crap?â€
Unfortunately, I saw similar crap in the late 80’s (when this bullshit was really starting to take hold) at my fancy-schmantzy eastern liberal arts institute of higher learning.
Aaaahh, memories.....
November 6, 2007, 6:21 pmAl Fin:
Thanks for the excellent exposure of just one of the major indoctrination centers otherwise known as a North American university. U. Delaware may not even be the worst offender here.
They must think that if they can only "re-educate" the privileged youth of N. America, the entire enterprise will collapse into their loving arms. It is extremely fortunate for those of us who like the idea of freedom and "diversity of ideas" that FIRE exists to monitor the would-be indoctrinators of higher education.
November 7, 2007, 1:32 pmlrC:
I'm sure glad those days are behind me. In my res days, the RAs' primary role was to enforce quiet hours. Everything that UofD has done would have been greeted with laughter and an impolite invitation to depart with all haste. Apparently humans mature later now.
November 7, 2007, 7:27 pmcanady1:
University of delaware is very good university which provides benefits for its students.
July 7, 2008, 2:51 amThis university contracts with students in providing housing and encourages other students to create a hostile atmosphere.
Canady
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August 22, 2008, 10:17 am