top five politically correct outrages on college campuses, The

Human Events, Apr 30, 2001

Political correctness is alive and well on the American college campus, as the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) confirmed when it collected nominees for its 2001 "Polly" awards as part of ISI's Fourth Annual Campus Outrage Awards. Students nationwide were invited to submit their campus's most outrageous examples of PC. "Pollys" are given each year on April Fool's Day to highlight the zany, bizarre and noxious tendencies of radical faculty and students on the nation's college campuses.

The Washington Post has called the "Pollys" "the coveted Campus Outrage Award for loony political correctness," and the Wall Street Journal deemed them "a mighty public service." They debuted in 1998 by bringing national attention to the case of Jared Sakren, a drama professor at Arizona State University fired for teaching Shakespeare.

T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr., president of ISI, said, "We created the Campus Outrage Awards to publicize instances of totalitarianism, the politicization of the college cumiculum, and the insensitivity and bigotry of campus radicals. Many university deans and presidents decry the idea that political correctness exists and claim that critics of PC use exaggerated or outdated anecdotes. Year after year, the Pollys offer proof to the contrary."

The five 2001 winners are:

1. Princeton University When Princeton president Harold Shapiro appointed bioethicist Peter Singer as the DeCamp professor in the University Center for Human Values, he thumbed his nose at academics, members of the disabled community, and ethicists who take life seriously.

Singer's record in favor of euthanasia and moral relativism was well known. But we wonder if President Shapiro knew the wilds of Singer's imagination? For in a positive review of Midas Dekkers's Dearest Pet: On Bestiality, written for the porn site nerve.com, Singer carries his campaign against human dignity to new lows.

He writes that our physical similarities with other mammals-mostly genital-are so strong that the taboo on bestiality stems not from physical differences but from "our desire to differentiate ourselves, erotically and in every other way, from animals."

"Who has not," he opines, "been at a social occasion disrupted by the household dog gripping the legs of a visitor and vigorously rubbing its penis against them? ... [I]n private not everyone objects to being used by her or his dog in this way, and occasionally mutually satisfying activities may develop."

Princeton is a trend-setting university with a hallowed history, but when its top ethicist smiles on bestiality, we vote no confidence in its leadership or moral vision.

2. University of Oregon

Elements of the so-called animal liberation movement, which specializes in "liberating" lab animals and destroying private property through vandalism and arson, have an office at the University of Oregon in Eugene. Their newspaper-paid for by student fees-is the Insurgent, the December 8 issue of which contained an eight-page insert titled: "The ALF Primer: Your Guide to Economic Sabotage and the Animal Liberation Front."

"First, you may want to decide what kind of establishment you want to target-a fur shop, a butcher shop, a factory farm or slaughterhouse, or maybe a fast food restaurant?" the piece notes. Detailed instructions follow on gluing locks, vandalizing vehicles, clogging toilets and arson.

"As dangerous as arson is, it is also by far the most potent weapon of direct action," says the Insurgent. "A simple way to bum a vehicle is to place a sheet or blanket on top or underneath and soak it in flammable liquid. . If not using a time-delay device, try to light it from,as far away as possible by lighting the end of a rolled up newspaper, flare, or other torch-like object."

The insert included on the facing page the names, home phone numbers, and home addresses of some research professors, with the suggestion to "tell them how you feel about the 'research' they do." The University has failed to respond to this outrage in any way.

3. SUNY-Albany

New York State's first college-funded S&M Club, the Power Exchange, was founded by two coed students who report no objections from the administration.

"The response has been great," one student told the local press. "When my brother found out, he was, like, 'I can't believe you could do something like that,' " she said. "Now, he's kind of OK with it. The rest of my family has been very supportive." Club leaders say student government money comes from student fees, not taxpayer dollars.

A university spokeswoman sums up the official attitude toward the Power Exchange: "As long as they abide by the student guidelines, they have a right to have their club officially recognized by the student association on campus and to be funded by the student association."

4. Temple University

When Temple University student Michael Marcavage protested against a theatrical depiction of Jesus as a homosexual, he was subjected to Soviet-style behavior modification: handcuffed and committed to a psychiatric ward.