University Professors Fight their own War at Academic Ground Zero.

                                                           The Best and the
Brightest                                               

If patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, then there are assuredly
very few scoundrels in American colleges and universities. In fact, these
institutions have distinguished themselves since September 11 by reminding
a less perspicacious world that they have a higher calling than engaging in
a reflex embrace of the American flag due, in the words of Professors for
Excellence in Education (PEE)), to “unfortunate accidents in New York,
Washington DC and Pennsylvania.”

For the last thirty years American colleges and universities have had a
well-earned reputation of enforcing a pristine “political correctness” to
ensure no one, especially from the gay and minority communities, would ever
hear a discouraging word in the rough-and tumble world of on-campus
discourse.

According to William “Windy” Williamson, VP and Provost at Carnegie Mellon
University(CMU) in Pittsburgh, the “school has a responsibility to ensure
those in the minority are accorded absolute protection from harassment of
any kind. We take every complaint seriously.”

Williamson is absolutely correct.  The school has established legal
precedence and found a place in law reviews because of its unstinting
allegiance to this principle. For example, the university especially
encourages member of minority groups to take complaints to the University
Judiciary, usually chaired by the dean of students. To ensure that the
proceedings are balanced, the accused gets one day to prepare the case and
is not allowed to have legal representation. If there is not enough
evidence either way, the court always finds for the plaintiff  to balance,
in Williamson’s words, “the historical injustice that has been inflicted on
minority members of our community.” (see CMU/Clitoral Hoods vs. University
Football/Basketball/Hockey/Swimming teams/Pittsburgh, PA, Appellate Court
Papers).

PEE spokesperson Randall U. Grate says that “universities have an
obligation to chart another, perhaps unpopular course, especially when
American society is not thinking clearly. The reasoned response to
September 11 is to look at the root causes of the problem. America needs to
assemble a distinguished group, comprised of people who attended the very
successful Racism Conference in Durham, South Africa. The only solution to
this problem is a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-tasking committee to
study these issues under the auspices of the United Nations.”

Since September 11 universities and colleges have gone to great lengths to
make sure the institutions don’t fall in lock-step behind the US
government’s execution of the war. According to PEE’s Grate, “You can’t
have an honest, thoughtful discussion of international issues when students
are waving or displaying flags and patriotic posters. You can’t have an
open-ended dialogue when students display visceral anger about September 11
and express a public hatred for the alleged participants. These men and
women are the future of America and we simply don’t want them to climb on
board the government’s patriotic train. Some people should remain at the
station.”

PEE’s station is becoming very crowded because more and more schools are
refusing to climb on board  the train. Central Michigan University told
students they must remove American flags and patriotic banners.  At San
Diego State University an Arab student challenged other Arab students who
supported the September 11 alleged terrorists and was admonished by
university administrators. Duke University shut down a professor’s Web site
because he supported military action. A similar event occurred at Penn
State University. At Florida Gulf Coast University a library dean
instructed her employees to remove “Proud to be an American” stickers from
their workspace because they might offend international students. At the
University of Pittsburgh non-Muslim students were excluded from a class on
the Koran because they might not be sufficiently sensitive to the text.  

PEE’s Grate says these schools “represent the Honor Roll of what is best
about academia. In our own way
we are fighting the fires of jingoism and hatred. We are pouring water on
careless thought and knee-jerk reactions. We are contributing to the
healing of America.”

One person did get on board the train, a high school teacher from Florida
who had her students drop eggs from 32 feet on a poster of bin Laden as
part of a physics experiment. Although she paid for the poster with her own
money, the local school board initially objected  because the activity
represented an insult to Muslims. The board reversed the decision when the
local media questioned the board’s patriotism.

PEE’s Grate points to this incident as the reason a firewall is needed
between schools and outside forces. “America should realize that we are the
final protectors of their freedoms. We operate at our own ground zero and,
believe me, the work is not easy.” 

PEE’s Grate says donations can be sent to pee@pp.zero.edu