Liberal Bias On Campus
by John Plecnik

An epidemic of bias against conservatives on campus in North Carolina has reached such proportions that even the national media have begun to take notice. After University of North Carolina students protested publicly--about being required to read "Nickel and Dimed," a simplistic socialist tract--many thought the UNC system would be forced to respond. However, this academic year has simply produced silence or, at some campuses, more bias from the schools' administrators.

At UNC-Wilmington, the university revoked its former official recognition of their College Republican chapter. This retraction denied the CRs their status as a student organization and all school funding. The leadership at UNC-Wilmington voiced only one justification for abolishing the CRs. They accused the CRs of discriminating against other political parties by limiting their membership to Republicans. Some faculty even accused their conservative pupils of Klan-like bigotry. One professor labeled the CRs as anti-Catholic. This was most ironic, considering that the current CR Chairman, Michael Pomarico, is himself a Catholic.

With help from one conservative faculty member, Mike Adams, the CRs managed to embarrass the university into returning their official status. Apparently, a significant segment of the school's alumni were not pleased.

At UNC, a religious, Christian student was lambasted by his professor in a class-wide e-mail for expressing his personal view that homosexuality is immoral. Having objected to the proposition that heterosexual men are intimidated by gays in class discussion, the young UNC-student was labeled as a sexist bigot. Thankfully, Congressman Walter Jones of North Carolina's 3rd District heard about the incident over the radio. He was horrified and immediately came to the student's defense. After Jones met with UNC's Chancellor, the offending professor was assigned a supervisor for all her classes to ensure a free and responsible dialogue. While some remedy was granted, is there any doubt that the professor would have been fired had she attacked a liberal student for asserting that homosexuality is acceptable?

When the Duke Conservative Union (DCU) revealed the political makeup of their university's humanities departments, most were not surprised to learn that more professors were Democrat than Republican. However, many were shocked to find that there were even more unaffiliated professors than Republicans. Most notably, the history department lacked a single Republican scholar. The Chair of Duke's philosophy department, Robert Brandon, issued a statement that asserted that most conservatives are stupid, and thus, there are not enough qualified conservatives available to balance an elite program's faculty. Prominent newspapers, politicians, and Fox News finally had a story worth telling. However, the only reaction from Brandon and the Duke administration was a posting of some vague, unapologetic speeches on the university's homepage.

Some conservatives have taken action. Robert E. "Whit" Whitfield, a congressional candidate for the 4th District against incumbent Democrat David Price, a tenured Duke professor, hosted the "Campus Abuse Conference for Free Speech" early this May. Scholars and students from across the country gathered in Durham to discuss academia's chronic liberal bias. Representatives from UNC, Virginia State University, Monroe Community College, Kennesaw State University, and Central Connecticut University all had students or faculty present at the conference. Notable attendees included the Chair of Duke's political science department, Michael Munger, Congressman Walter Jones, and former State Chairman of the North Carolina Federation of College Republicans, Michael McKnight. I was honored to participate in the conference, and still more pleased to present our host, "Whit" Whitfield, with the official endorsement of the Duke College Republicans.

The event's coordinator and participants are reportedly considering the formation of a new, national organization to prevent 'college abuse' against conservative students and faculty. A recap of the conference may be found on www.whitforcongress.com and a temporary site has been erected for the potential organization at www.collegeabuse.com. I encourage all campus conservatives to consider copying what we have done in North Carolina. Awareness is the first condition for real reform, and the need for conservatives voices on campus is nationwide.

John Plecnik is a twenty-year-old law student at Duke University and Executive Editor of The Devil's Advocate. As Policy Advisor for the Duke Chapter, John authored the first-ever statewide platform for the North Carolina Federation of College Republicans.