By Penny Nance
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Are taxpayers funding academic institutions to
indoctrinate our kids? That disturbing and irresistible question plagued me
during the long drive home last week from college orientation. I doubt I am
alone in this wake-up call.
Like many other women, I just sent my youngest child to
college. I am so proud of him and his decision to join the Army ROTC and study
engineering. He will be attending a revered Virginia institution known for its
military Corps of Cadets program.
The centerpiece of the campus is the military parade
field featuring beautiful pylons bearing the school’s founding principles:
words such as “honor,” “duty,” “brotherhood,” and “ut prosim” (that I may
serve). The war memorial also bears the names of all known cadets who have
given their lives for our nation since World War I.
Established in 1872, Virginia Tech has an honorable and
proud tradition in my home state, and its graduates are some of the most
accomplished and wonderful people I know. Hokies shine around our nation as
leaders and as a great credit to their school. I know many to be people of
faith, and many, many are conservative.
The Madness Begins
Because of this, I was shocked to experience what I can
only describe as extreme and overtly leftist propaganda spewed at our
children’s orientation. The opening “University Welcome” event for students and
parents separated families immediately in the auditorium.
Nobody expected the event to begin with prayer or the
Pledge of Allegiance — heavens, no! But one might expect to remember the names
of fallen cadets on the pylons or the 32 dead and 17 injured in the 2007
shooting on Virginia Tech’s campus, the deadliest school shooting in U.S.
history. Nope. Instead, the administration made the stunning choice to open
orientation by recognizing two Native American tribes on whose land the college
was built (with the implication that it was stolen).
What followed went from slightly bothersome to downright
alarming. The college filled the next two hours with speaker after speaker who
introduced themselves with not just their names and titles but also preferred
pronouns — as in, “Hi my name is Penny Nance, and I identify as she and her.”
At first, parents were slightly surprised; by the end, they were mad.
Every person on the stage looked exactly as you would
expect them to identify. At that point, I noticed all the new students’ badges
contained not just their names but also their preferred pronouns because the
school had made it part of registration. The heavy-handed diversity lecture
that followed seemed rather tame in comparison. Parents left the venue in
shock.
Parents Vs. Children
The rest of the day followed the same two-track program,
parents versus children, allowing the college to share different sets of
information with each. It gave parents the hard line against underage and
excessive drinking, but according to students present, the university assured
them that campus police are there to help them navigate wayward behavior, which
was implied to be normal. “Be open to new experiences,” orientation leaders
urged throughout the day.
“Parents, don’t be shocked if your kid comes home
changed,” they intoned in the other room — this to the hundreds of parents,
including myself, who had saved and sacrificed to send our children to this
“top educational institution.” The attitude they conveyed was one of how
“privileged” we should feel that they selected our children to attend such a
fine and prestigious university. Lucky us.
At one point, after dinner, they sent parents off to
oblivious sleep while they lectured students on not making assumptions about
each other’s gender or sexuality. Were they suggesting students ought to be
fluidly “exploring” their gender and sexuality, as if it were some expected
adventure? In the era of “Me Too,” that seems off message.
The school constantly defined and showcased identity
group politics, but certainly not all identities. It’s apparently way cooler to
be a minority trans woman with food allergies than simply to be an American
college student. Interestingly, the university offered Halal food but no
certified kosher meals. Religiously observant Jewish students, tough luck, but
if you are vegan, you’re in business.
Taxpayers Funding Heavy
Political Indoctrination
As a mom, part of me wanted to load my son in the car and
head up the road to Liberty University, but since he’s an adult, that wasn’t my
choice to make. The other part of me thinks: Why should my son be denied the
engineering program he wants and earned? Why should conservative kids be forced
to become educational refugees from public institutions that, despite enjoying
our tax dollars, don’t welcome us?
Let’s not forget, all Virginians pay taxes and thus have
equity and stake in what government institutions teach our children. Alumni are
also deeply invested in the reputation and direction of their alma mater. I
doubt they approve of what appears to be a new “woke” version of their school.
Here’s the problem: Virginia Tech and most other public universities have
forgotten they work for us.
We must send them a clear message: Every Christian,
Muslim, Orthodox Jew, conservative teacher, college employee, and every student
whose privacy they are violating — we all have rights, too.
Why should a public university force a young man or woman
struggling with identity issues, for example, to disclose those personal
details and prominently display them on a name badge? Gender dysphoria is real,
and the small number of students struggling deserve to be treated with dignity
and kindness.
Why should a public institution be allowed to violate
teachers’ First Amendment rights by bullying them into using the made-up terms
they/them, zie/zim, ey/em (or about 60 more) instead of she/her or he/him? The
reordering of centuries of grammar usage is an offensive overcorrection, and it
bullies Christians, Muslims, and other students into violating their
consciences to appease a small group of nonsensical identity politics warriors.
Bottom line, why should taxpayers foot the bill for
liberal indoctrination? We shouldn’t, and if we all demand it, we won’t have to
anymore. The Republican Party is still in control of the Virginia Assembly and
Senate. One line in an appropriations bill would assure the rights of students
and teachers in this madness.
Virginians deserve better. We do not bow to the
ascendancy of the liberal, ivory-towered academic’s worldview over ours. We can
both care for and love struggling kids who don’t feel included, while
maintaining our sanity.
Get Up and Do Something
I have called out Virginia Tech in this op-ed, but other
schools in Virginia and around the nation exhibit the identical issue. It is
rampant.
Parents, donors, and alumni, if you identify with this experience,
it’s up to you. Our institutions have gotten this out of hand because most
people are silent, too afraid of the social media harassment and bullying
tactics of liberal activists and professors. Speak up.
First, send screen shots, video, or your story to
Concerned Women for America at UniversityWhistleBlower@CWFA.org. We won’t
disclose your name without permission, but we will tell your story.
Second, contact your state legislators and demand
legislation prohibiting the forced use of speech codes. The state controls most
of the funds for public universities and can prohibit the use of those funds
for nefarious means. Finally, contact the president of the offending
institution or complain on social media while tagging the institution.
I have requested a meeting with Virginia Tech President
Timothy Sands. If parents, students, and alumni would simply call to complain,
we could at least wake up “the woke” to the fact that conservatives also attend
their schools and are sick of the madness.
Campus insanity has gone this far because we were silent.
When do we say “enough”?
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