By George Leef
Monday, May 11, 2020
We constantly hear from our colleges and universities
that they are dedicated to “diversity and inclusion” so that everyone will feel
welcome. Do they really mean it?
In today’s Martin
Center article, Chris West, who has worked at the Center, relates his
experiences as a low-level administrator at University of North Carolina–Chapel
Hill. His supervisor let him know that he, as a conservative, was not welcome.
West writes:
When I accepted an administrative
position at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, friends warned me
that I would not fit in as a conservative. I dismissed their concerns as
hyperbole, an instance of believing universities are more politicized than they
actually are. After eight long months, however, I had to admit that they were
right. The political atmosphere in the college bureaucracy does not tolerate
political disagreement and is overwhelmingly left-leaning.
West might have fit in if he had hidden the facts that
he’s religious and supports our constitutional concept of limited government.
And he might have cheered at the news that David Koch had died and talked up Bernie
Sanders. But he didn’t, and his supervisor let him know that he was on thin
ice.
West continues:
She refused to cite any specific
issues with my job performance, even after three meetings between herself and
my program director. Additionally, she reprimanded me for attending a meal with
a visiting lecturer—which the department offers as a benefit to faculty and
staff—and warned me that I needed to “learn my place.”
Of greater concern, she took issue
with me talking to students about my religious and political views and
threatened to have me removed from my job if she got another complaint that I
shared my views.
West found out that he was not alone in being treated as
a pariah for dissenting from the university’s leftist orthodoxy. Other
conservatives got the same.
After eight months, West decided he couldn’t take the
hostile atmosphere and quit.
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