Minnesota College Students Deserve a Diverse Education

Randy Wanke

A college campus should be a marketplace of ideas, exposing students to a wide variety of political perspectives and points of view. That's because students learn to think for themselves only when presented with a rich and diverse array of ideas. 

Unfortunately, that isn't happening because liberal ideology dominates many college campuses. 

Last year, a study found that a startling 72 percent of those teaching at American universities and colleges identify themselves as liberal.  In sharp contrast, only 15 percent identify themselves as conservative.  But much more alarming is the fact that most universities are doing little or nothing to correct this ideological imbalance. 

As Minnesota college students begin the spring semester, it is time to discuss why there needs to be more intellectual diversity on campus and what can be done to achieve that goal.  

Minnesotans should be troubled when one political ideology, whether it is conservative or liberal, dominates college campuses.   When that takes place, debate gives way to dogma and education gives way to the party line.  Here are just two of many examples of how that is occurring on some Minnesota college campuses: 

• During the 2004-2005 school year, the Department of Sociology and Corrections at Minnesota State University, Mankato held conferences on the war in Iraq and Social Security reform.  In both cases, the university-sponsored events provided students with extremely liberal perspectives on these two very important topics.  For example, the conference on Iraq included speakers on such topics as "How to Stop a War" and "Organizing Against War," yet failed to include a single speaker on how the war in Iraq benefited that nation and its people by toppling Saddam Hussein and allowing for free elections.   
  
  
• Last October, the Minnesota Journalism Center at the University of Minnesota brought in author Chris Mooney to discuss his latest book, The Republican War on Science. In the book, Mooney accuses the "religious Right" of distorting scientific evidence to fit their ideology on issues ranging from stem cell research to mercury pollution to what he calls the "alleged" health risks of abortion.  Mooney also blames conservatives for intentionally and systematically distorting health information on sexually transmitted diseases, saying conservative "abuses can quite literally cost lives."  Some students at the U were reportedly required to attend the event as part of a classroom assignment.

When our institutions of higher education engage in this type of one-sided, politically-biased "education," they not only deny students a balanced education, they also weaken their own intellectual health.  

While the lack of intellectual diversity is clearly an ongoing problem, a majority of students lack the necessary tools to confront this imbalance.  Of greater concern to many students, however, are the consequences they may face if they challenge the "politically correct" dogma routinely accepted on campuses statewide.    So what can they do to bring intellectual diversity to their campuses?  And what can you and I do to help them?

First, I encourage students to visit www.IntellectualTakeout.com, which is designed to expose them to points of view that they are often not hearing in the classroom.  IntellectualTakeout.com, created by Center of the American Experiment, reflects our belief that an open marketplace of ideas is a vital component of a balanced college education and experience.  While the website imparts a conservative free market perspective, it presents issues in a way that students can view and analyze opposing liberal and conservative points side-by-side and decide for themselves what they believe. 

Second, I encourage Minnesota taxpayers and parents to pay attention to what is being taught at our state colleges and universities.  The state of Minnesota spends billions of dollars on higher education.  Taxpayers have the right to demand accountability when that money is being squandered and misappropriated to advance a liberal political agenda, instead of being used to educate students.  (Parents also have a right to demand accountability for how the tuition money that they are paying is being spent.)

It has been said that "Freedom rings where opinions clash."  That axiom appears to be losing ground on many Minnesota campuses.   And that’s why Minnesotans should demand academic freedom and a “clash of opinions” at our colleges – so that freedom will once again ring on loud and clear at our public universities.  

Randy Wanke is Director of Communications for Center of the American Experiment, a nonpartisan conservative think tank located in Minneapolis.