Letter: Push for Diversity Demonstrates Liberal Bent of Colleges

Clemson’s persistence on the question of student diversity is indeed admirable. It is a question that has been “on the table” for over 50 years, since “affirmative action” was instituted in the late 1960s.

But there are two other problems of equal or even greater importance at the university level today. They are: 1) faculty diversity; and 2) the alarming disappearance of the literary canon of western civilization — which is a matter of curriculum.

In the United States today, a majority of university professors are strong left-wing liberals, many of whom fall into the category of the “radical left.” Several studies by the National Association of Scholars (NAS) and the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) have pin-pointed the overwhelming shift of faculties to the left, with some truly horrifying stories of students holding conservative views being told by their professors that they will be given failing grades if they persist in their conservative views. Biased teaching has no place in the academy, and its result is not education; it is insidious indoctrination.

As to curriculum, the same applies. Many studies have shown huge deficiencies in the study of History and many other areas of the foundations of western civilization. One recent study showed that only 20 percent of college seniors knew that the Bill of Rights consists of the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. Ten percent thought that Judge Judy was an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court!.

Yes, we need continually to monitor and ensure student diversity, but these other two problems are arriving at a position of extreme importance and must be addressed by the students themselves, as well as by the faculties, administrations and boards of trustees.