What College Tuition and Fees Are Paying For!
Court Deals Blow to Mandatory Fees
The decision in Southworth v. Grebe, handed down
recently by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit,
didn't make it onto national television, but it can have a
profound effect on American culture and politics. The
court held that it is a violation of the First Amendment
rights of freedom of speech and association for a state
university to use "students' mandatory activity fees to
fund organizations which engage in political or ideological activities, advocacy, or speech."
For many years, it has been the common practice of
universities and colleges to require all students to pay
student activity fees every term. The fees are mandatory;
students who refuse to pay cannot receive their grades or
graduate.
The money is then turned over to student organizations that spend it pretty much as they please. Much of
this money is given to liberal, leftwing, feminist, gay,
socialist, or radical student groups, which in turn bring
leftwing speakers to campus, lobby for leftwing legislation, and engage in leftwing demonstrations and activities.
These student fees often involve hundreds of thousands of dollars. At the University of Wisconsin, for
example, the student fee of $165.75 per semester added
up to $974,200 in the 1995-96 school year.
Enjoying tight control over this tremendous pot of
money, the leftwing students (with the patronage of
leftwing professors) are able to finance the radical
movement and pay $25,000 honoraria to leftwing speakers. Only rarely is a token conservative invited.
Scott Southworth, a student at the University of
Wisconsin, determined to do something to remedy this
abuse. First, he had to confront the roadblocks the
university put in his way: secrecy and layers of laundering by committees dispensing "allocable and
nonallocable" funds.
After finding a lawyer to file suit (Jordan Lorence of
Fairfax, VA), a foundation to provide financial backup
(Alliance Defense Fund of Scottsdale, AZ), and several
other students to join as plaintiffs, they set out to gather
the evidence. The evidence filed with the complaint on
April 2, 1996 was plentiful and persuasive, and the facts
were not in dispute.
The court's decision cited 18 student organizations
that had been funded by University of Wisconsin student
fees, including WISPIRG (which lobbied Congress and
distributed environmentalist voter guides); the Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual Campus Center (which distributed sexually
explicit materials); the Campus Women's Center (which
lobbied for abortion rights and against any regulations);
the UW Greens (which distributed campaign materials
for the Green Party USA and Ralph Nader's presidential
candidacy, and organized a march against the Governor's
budget); and the Madison AIDS Support Network.
Other student groups cited by the court included the
International Socialist Society (which advocated the
overthrow of the government and disrupted a church
meeting); the Ten Percent Society (which lobbied for
same-sex marriages); the Progressive Student Network
(which lobbied against the GOP Contract with America);
Amnesty International (which lobbied for abolition of the
death penalty); the United States Student Association
(which lobbies for a mix of leftwing causes); the Militant
Student Union; and Students of National Organization for
Women.
While the Supreme Court has never directly confronted the issue of student fees, the Court of Appeals
was able to base its decision on several Supreme Court
decisions that pointed in the right direction. Abood v.
Detroit Board of Education (1977) and Keller v. State
Bar of California (1990) had ruled that unions and bar
associations, respectively, may not constitutionally
compel their members to fund advocacy that is
nongermane to the purposes of the organization requiring
payment of the fee. Rosenberger v. Rector (1995) had
held that a university may not deny access because of
ideology to the pool of money created by student fees;
additionally, five justices noted that some students might
object to the funding of political and ideological organizations.
In 1993, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in Smith
v. Regents of the University of California (1993), letting
stand a decision of the California Supreme Court that
students may not be "forced to support causes they
strongly oppose." The California court had listed 14
"frankly political or ideological" groups to which the
student government had given funds from mandatory
student fees, including Campus N.O.W. (National
Organization for Women), Campus Abortion Rights
Action League, Gay and Lesbian League, REAP (Radical Education and Action Project), Spartacus Youth
League, UC Berkeley Feminist Alliance, UC Sierra
Club, and Greenpeace Berkeley.
At the oral argument on the Southworth case on June
4, 1997, the University of Wisconsin stoutly insisted that
its educational mission requires compelling the fees of
all students. When the judge asked if a black student
would have to contribute to a Ku Klux Klan organization, or a Jewish student to a Nazi group, the university's
lawyer repled "yes," arguing that "hateful speech has a
place in our society too."
To which the court responded, "but the Constitution
does not mandate that citizens pay for it." The court
then cited Thomas Jefferson: "To compel a man to
furnish contributions of money for the propagation of
opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical."
The Southworth decision gives us the opportunity to
terminate the "sinful and tyrannical" way that the radical
leftwing movement has been picking the pockets of
college students. We hope that other college students
will follow Southworth's lead and cut off the funding of
radical causes on their campuses.
'Yale Five' Challenge College Coed Dorms
Five Yale University students have had the courage
to challenge the rule that requires students to live in coed
dormitories, where many engage in casual sex without
shame and most use coed showers and toilets. The
dormitory environment features the open availability of
sex manuals and condoms, and attendance at safe sex
lectures is required of freshmen.
The "Yale Five," as the media have labeled them,
assert that this policy infringes on their constitutional
right to practice their religion, which includes an obligation to observe chastity, decency and modesty. Yale, on
the other hand, contends that dorm living is "a central
part of Yale's education."
The five students, who are Orthodox Jews, tried for
more than 18 months to make a reasonable case to the
university, but found officials recalcitrant. The details of
Yale's residency policy have varied over time, but until
1996, the rule applied only to freshmen, and Yale also
exempted students living at home with their families in
the New Haven area. One of the Yale Five, Batsheva
Greer, has older siblings who attended Yale using the
local residence exemption, and she assumed she could
follow the same pattern when she entered the university
last year. She and her family were amazed at having
their request rejected.
Negotiations about the dispute with college officials
continued for more than a year. One of the five students,
Rachel Wohlgelrenter, went through a civil wedding
three months before her planned religious ceremony in
order to avoid the rule. Two others paid the room fee of
$6,850 for the 1996-97 school year, but lived elsewhere.
By the time the second year of the dispute rolled around,
the students declined to pay such a large fee for rooms
they never entered.
The Yale Five secured the pro bono services of one
of the country's most prominent attorneys, Nathan
Lewin of Washington, DC, who filed suit on their
behalf, alleging religious discrimination. On July 31,
U.S. District Judge Alfred V. Covello dismissed the suit,
saying that, "The plaintiffs could have opted to attend a
different college or university if they were not satisfied
with Yale's housing policy." On August 8, the students
announced they would appeal.
The Yale Free Press accused the university of "a new
pagan orthodoxy," stating that, "When Yale was a conservative place and liberals sought to change it for the better,
Yale was willing to accommodate them. But now that
Yale is an overwhelmingly liberal campus, we find that
traditional groups that ask much less costly accommodations are denied." Wohlgelrenter noted: "This issue is not
uniquely Jewish, it's a moral issue." Publicity about the
case has turned the spotlight on the immoral environment
in college dormitories, in which Yale is not unique.
A good sense of the dorm atmosphere can be gleaned
from reading the student newspaper, the Yale Daily
News, which published "Yalexicon: Your indispensable
guide to understanding Yale Speak." The definitions
include: "Couch Duty: Being forced to sleep on a
common room couch because your roommate and
his/her significant other want some time alone together."
"Sexile: Banishment from your dorm room because your
roommate is having more fun than you." "Walk of
Shame: When you find yourself in rumpled evening
wear, walking to your dorm from someone else's room
early in the morning."
While some students support the concept of coed
living, others admit that the permissiveness in the dorms
"sometimes makes them uncomfortable." One male
student observed: "I'm a senior and have my own room,
but I have to share a bathroom with three women. I'll be
in there brushing my teeth and they'll come in and, well,
it's kind of weird."
Some of the dorms have single-sex floors, but
separation is never enforced, and mixing is expected. As
another student put it: "If you don't participate, you're
a weirdo, a sexile."
Another one of the Yale Five, Elisha Hack, said:
"We object to the fact that you have men staying overnight on the women's floors; women staying overnight
on the men's floors; and bathrooms that kind of get
wishy-washy as to whether they're men's or women's."
The liberals, who are now the ruling class at Yale
and most college campuses, preach the dogma of tolerance, diversity, and non-judgmental acceptance of all
lifestyles. But, it seems, the traditional lifestyle of
chastity and modesty is not acceptable. Tolerance and
diversity don't extend that far.
What's Going On at College Campuses?
BIZARRE AND WEIRDO COURSES — One reason
college tuition is so high is that it must cover the cost of
paying high-priced professors to teach dozens or hundreds
of worthless courses that are not education at all, but are
just propaganda, entertainment, or behavior modification.
Here are some titles of courses currently taught at major
universities: Columbia: "Sorcery and Magic." Dartmouth:
"Queer Theory, Queer Texts." Harvard: "Fetishism" and
"Feminist Biblical Interpretation." Yale: "AIDS and
Society" and "Queer Histories." Cornell: "Gay Fiction."
Princeton: "Sexuality: Bodies, Desires, and Modern
Times." University of Pennsylvania: "Feminist Critique of
Christianity." Brown: "Unnatural Acts: Introduction to
Lesbian and Gay Literature." Bucknell: "Witchcraft and
Politics." Middlebury: "Female Erotic Literature of Latin
America." Stanford: "Homosexuals, Heretics, Witches,
and Werewolves: Deviants in Medieval Society." Vassar:
"Global Feminisms." Williams: "Witchcraft, Sorcery, and
Magic." Rutgers: "Homoerotic Literature." University of
Colorado: "Queer Theory." University of Massachusetts:
"Rock and Roll." University of Michigan: "Crossing
Erotic Boundaries." University of Wisconsin: "Goddesses
and Feminine Powers." ("Comedy and Tragedy, 1997-1998" published by Young America's Foundation,
Herndon, VA)
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY — Your $33,000 tuition
will be partially paying the salary of Peter Singer, who has
been appointed a Professor of Bioethics. He is an advocate
of abortion rights, animal rights, and euthanasia rights, and
he teaches that the only reason we value life is the pleasure
it produces. If cows lead pleasurable lives, don't butcher
them. If handicapped lives are not pleasurable, kill them.
Singer supports all forms of euthanasia, voluntary or not;
abortion and infanticide; and rights for animals. Who
decides which lives are pleasurable? Enlightened people
like himself. (Wall Street Journal, Sept. 25, 1998)
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS — The law
review policy is to use the female pronoun instead of the
male pronoun as a matter of course, "except," according to
the editors, "when referring to a criminal defendant, where
male pronouns are used."
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY — Professor Jared
Sakren of the ASU Theater Department is facing dismissal
for teaching Shakespeare and other classic works. A
graduate of Juilliard, Sakren was warned by Lynn Wright,
the department chair, to stop teaching Shakespeare because
it was "sexist," and, if he wanted to have his class perform
classical works such as The Taming of the Shrew, he must
alter the ending to avoid offending women. Sakren's
former students include stars such as Kelly McGillis, Val
Kilmer, and Fran McDormand, but nevertheless Sakren
was denied tenure. He is appealing, and a court will
decide whether his constitutional rights were violated.
(Arizona Daily Wildcat, Feb. 2, 1998 and Campus, Fall
1998)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY —Harvard has appointed two
lesbians to be housemasters and direct the social life of
students at the leading traditional dormitory, Lowell
House. (New York Times, April 15, 1998)
OLD DOMINION STATE UNIVERSITY, Virginia —
When Phyllis Schlafly was invited to lecture here, the
feminist faculty protested the invitation to her even though
previous speakers on this campus had been a series of
extreme feminists, including Susan Faludi, Molly Ivins,
Patricia Schroeder, the sexologist Dr. Ruth, Faye Wattleton
of Planned Parenthood, and a lesbian army colonel.
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, St. Louis —The syllabus
for a course called "Sex and Gender in U.S. Politics"
features women of the Ku Klux Klan, Anita Hill, sexual
harassment, gay and lesbian rights, and the UN Treaty on
Women. Eight pro-abortion groups are listed as sources.
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE — The Dean of Admissions,
Michele Hernandez, has revealed some of the secrets of the
admissions process in a new book called A Is for
Admission. Most admissions committees, she writes, are
not made up of scholars or intellectuals, and they resent
students who are well-off and smart. Your college
application will fare better if you are from a ghetto, a
barrio, or an Indian reservation. To get admitted, you
should be someone they can feel sorry for. That will boost
your chances of getting admitted and getting financial aid,
even if your academic qualifications are lower.
WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY —The student
government sought to change the non-discrimination
policy of all campus organizations by requiring their
constitutions to add sexual orientation and replace "sex"
with "gender." After outrage from Eagle Forum
Collegians chapter president Betsy Myers, as well as
Christian students and groups, the student government
decided to postpone its decision and create a study
committee.
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS — The University at
Champaign freely hands out condoms as part of its "safe
sex" message, but the "safety" is now in question. In
efforts to cut costs, the university purchased less expensive
brands of condoms to distribute in the student health
center, and some packages were split down the middle and
leaking. The students are demanding new condoms.
(Campus, Spring 1998)
CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK (CUNY) — The
administration decided to require all students to pass a
basic English proficiency test prior to graduation -- after
public criticism about the decreasing value of the CUNY
diploma and the disservice to students who graduate from
college without ever learning proper English. Students at
numerous CUNY campuses are going to court over the
matter because many cannot pass the 12th grade level
writing test. Half of CUNY students are not native English
speakers, and CUNY students have been allowed to
graduate without ever learning English. Yamile Mendez,
the lead plaintiff in the case, said, "You cannot measure a
students capacity with one piece of paper." (Campus, Fall
1997)
SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY —Resident
Assistants (RAs) are required to participate in a "diversity
workshop." Speakers include representatives from groups
such as the Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Alliance. One
exercise placed all the RA trainees in a room with various
ethnic and sexual preference signs. The students were
instructed to congregate under the sign that matched their
ethnicity and sexual preference. Heterosexual white males
were left in the middle of the room. The only group for
white students in the Chapultepec Residence Hall is the
Allies for Social Justice, which identifies itself as a
"group for people of European decent to help support
minority and civil rights causes." (Melissa Cheney, San
Diego State University student, Winter 1998)
CORNELL UNIVERSITY — The Resident Assistant
program at Cornell not only requires workshops in fire and
police procedures, but on human rights and social issues as
well. Leftist views are forced on the RAs. One workshop
asked RA trainees to describe how the world sees them
and how they see the world. Students who did not view
the world as unfair, racist and sexist were told by the
facilitator, "Well, you have a right to feel that way, but you
are deluding yourself." Racism was defined in the
workshops as follows: "The institution of people in
traditional power roles which discriminates against people
in unempowered positions based on their skin color." This
definition means that no minority can be labeled a racist.
Most role-play situations involve racial, sexist, and
homophobic matters. (The Cornell Review, October 23,
1997)
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN —Jennifer Gatz was
denied admission even though she graduated 13th in a
class of 298, scored 25 on the ACT, was a student
government leader, cheerleader, homecoming queen, and
mathematics tutor. While she would have caught the eye of
any college recruiter, having the wrong skin color
prevented acceptance to the University of Michigan. The
university had implemented the "Michigan Mandate,"
which boosted minority enrollment from 12.7% in 1986 to
over 25% in 1997. The "Michigan Mandate" uses a grid
system to score applicants on combined test scores.
However, white applicants must fall into one more
demanding grid row to be admitted, while those minority
applicants who are accepted may fall in a less demanding
grid row for "disadvantaged" and "underrepresented"
minorities. The Center for Individual Rights has filed suit
against the university to assure that other students are not
denied admission based on the color of their skin.
(Washington Times, October 17, 1997 and Campus, Fall
1998)
MACALESTER COLLEGE, St. Paul, MN — Students
were asked to support Planned Parenthood and NARAL by
participating in a phone bank to identify pro-choice voters
in conservative districts and get them to vote for
pro-choice candidates. The phone bank operated out of the
Macalester College Sociology Department. Students could
sign up on the Sociology Department bulletin board.
Regular attendees were rewarded with bumper stickers and
pins. (WGS Newsletter Intersections, November 1997)
YALE UNIVERSITY — A sophomore Yalie could take
the following list of courses in complete fulfillment of his
sophomore year: Redesigning the Family: Challenges
from Lesbians/Gay Men, Photography and Images of the
Body, Love Books in the Middle Ages, Intermediate
Yoruba, Women's History: Methodical and Comparative
Inquiry, AIDS in Society, Listening to Music, Affirmative
Action and Civil Rights in the Labor Market, Sexual
Meanings, Troubadours and Rock Stars--a Comparison.
(Martin Gross's The End of Sanity)
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS — Along with
five other New England Land Grant universities, the
University of Massachusetts adopted a plan called "Vision
2000." The goals of the program are: "Through nine
broad recommendations, this document sets forth a vision
where women at our six institutions can and should be at
the beginning of the next century." Some of the goals
include: "implement diversity initiatives, encourage
womens academic and career development, establish and
support women's centers, and end gender-bias and
discrimination against women in the curriculum." (Vision
2000, February 1997)
Joseph Epstein, the editor for 25 years of The American
Scholar, the Phi Beta Kappa magazine, wrote this parting
comment: "In academic argument, I have noticed, the
radicals almost always win, even though they rarely
constitute a majority. Conservatives usually don't care
enough to take a strong stand against them."
Abraham Lincoln said: "The philosophy of the classroom
today will be the philosophy of the government
tomorrow."
|
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
