Ken Berwitz

A lot has been written, here and elsewhere, about what passes for "diversity" at college campuses.  I thought you might like to see a recent example.

Excerpted from an article at the (obviously very supportive) Orlando Political Press:

(Lake Worth, FL) On Tuesday September 7, 2010 at around 11:00am one Palm Beach State College (PBSC) student and two Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) members, state chairman Daniel P. Diaz and state vice chairman Eddie Shaffer, were shut down and had campus police called on them after tabling and recruiting during club rush at the College. The PBSC student, Christina Beattie, had received prior permission from college administrator Olivia Ford-Morris to promote her organization on campus via telephone and email communication. 

On the day of club rush, officials approached the group and after seeing information about the organization and its ideals criticizing Barack Obama’s economic policy. Ms. Ford-Morris was visibly disturbed by the material presented, published by the Heritage Foundation, criticizing President Obama’s administration. College officials then called the campus police to assure the group left campus. Ms. Ford-Morris denied having ever talked to Ms. Beattie about giving permission to the organization to be a part of PBSC club rush.

“I was shocked and offended by her dishonesty. She outright denied giving me permission to table at Club Rush simply because she disagreed with my beliefs! The fact is, she was using her administrative power to silence the conservative opposition.” said Christina Beattie. 

Christina Beattie, a student at PBSC has been the lead organizer of a weeklong recruitment event for YAF. Christina saw a need for a conservative club on campus and decided to create a YAF Chapter. Beattie inquired with college Student Activities Coordinator, Ms. Olivia Ford-Morris, via email about being allowed to recruit at the college rush. To Christina’s surprise Ms. Ford-Morris called her and allowed the group to table at the event. Other groups on campus attended the event and tabled, but had not registered with the student activities coordinator. These groups remained untouched and were allowed to recruit even without permission. The Film Club, one of the groups not authorized to participate in the event, declined to comment for fear of reprisal from college administration.

Are you surprised?  You shouldn't be.  Things like this happen at campuses all over the country all the time.  They are chronicled by a number of web sites, such as Students for Academic Freedom, which are well worth reading.

College diversity.  A great concept.  Wouldn't it be nice to, someday, see it in practice?