Inside the University of Delaware brainwashing debacle
Parents and students contacted Gottfredson and her colleague, Dr. Jan Blits (president of the Delaware Association of Scholars), about the p.c. brainwashing. They then brought it to the attention of FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education). Professor Gottfredson traces the roots of the ideological reeducation materials and points out which groups are responsible.
Good to know if you’ve got kids in college.
***
Here’s a partial transcript. Do listen to the whole interview and send it to all the parents of college-age kids you know:
BP: Welcome to Hot Air audio today. Bryan Preston here along with Dr. Linda Gottfredson of the University of Delaware. How are you today, Dr. Gottfredson?
LG: Very fine, thank you.
BP: Dr. Gottfredson, you’ve been involved in the story that we’ve been following this week of the indoctrination program at the University of Delaware in student housing. Tell me: How did the story get to FIRE and FIRE’s web pages? How did that happen?
LG: Well, it came by two routes really that joined together. FIRE had been receiving complaints from parents about the program. So they were investigating. My colleague, Jan Blits, were also hearing from our students about the indoctrination and one-on-one meetings and the like in the dorns and so we started looking into it. We were horrified by the materials that we were able to obtain. We passed them on to FIRE and then we learned that FIRE was already on the case and things went from there.
BP: So, students had already started complaining. I take that as a good sign that folks were not only disturbed, but they were willing to take some action against it.
LG: Yes, students, in fact, had been complaining to their R.A.s and to residence life, but not getting any response from them. So, we did take it to FIRE.
BP: And that was an excellent move. That’s what brought it to our attention. We check in with FIRE very frequently to see what they’re up to–
LG: –FIRE is an excellent organization.
BP: –they really are. And when I saw that story earlier this week, I had the sense that it was gonna have some legs.
LG: Jan Blits and I are members of the Delaware Association of Scholars—he’s president– and we’re always on the lookout for violations of academic freedom and civil rights. And so we were very interested in bringing this to public attention.
BP: And just so folks understand the perniciousness of this program, it’s not as though it was an optional class that college students, who are adults, had the option of taking.
This was in student housing, which is mandatory on the campus, right?LG: It’s mandatory for all freshmen who are not living, getting an extension to live at home. Yes, it’s mandatory to live in the dorms. So many of the students were led to believe that the so-called educational component was also mandatory. In fact, to my horror, I discovered students thought that it was a requirement of the honors program in which I teach, which is a horrible smear on the honors program. It’s simply not true. It was not required. It’s not mandatory, although students were routinely told in very pressing e-mails from their R.A’s that it is mandatory, you must show up.
And they would track them down if they didn’t and pester them to come and make up meetings and one-on-ones with their R.A.’s.BP: And I think bringing the R.A.’s into the discussion is a crucial one because by using the resident assistants, they could, the residence housing group, could really apply a great deal of pressure to students who didn’t want to be a part of this program.
LG: Well, they certainly can. They are a very large apparatus that controls the lives of their residence in detail–from who’s written up, who’s favored, and how their time is scheduled. The R.A.’s are apparently suddenly springing meetings on students and demanding that they come, even when students had other work to do. So students were very upset—it’s a drain on their time as well as their privacy and dignity.
BP: Right. Not to make too much of the connection, but it just reminds me of the political officer apparatus that the Soviets had. They’d always have a political officer on ships and every unit and just about everywhere else in society. This kinda reminds me of that.
LG: Well, I was horrified when I read the materials, these are the Residence Life’s own materials, which they were very proud of, in which they describe how R.A.’s would get close to students so that they were able to persuade them. They bring students in on these one-on-one sessions, which are supposedly required. They ask them the most–ask them intimate questions that I would get fired for asking a student—certainly behind closed doors—“when did you first discover your sexuality”…so, they were intruding on their personal beliefs, they were demanding in public that they state them and give reasons for them. They would have them in some of their exercises, floor meetings, require students to move to one side of the room or the other: “Yes or no on do you agree with rights for homosexuals to marry or abortions. No in between allowed. Yes or no…they would also have to give their reasons. So there was enormous pressure—this was just one example– to toe the line, the ideological line, which was very clear, I think, to all the students what it was…
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So much for the free-flow of ideas. Folks better check with Mike Adams (dradams.org) before sending their kids to college.
Tax money “at work”. If nine months minus a couple of weeks for holidays at several hours a day can truly be called “work”.
These type of “residential life” programs weren’t around for students who were being violently crushed because of their race and/or ethnicity on college campuses by drunk frat boys.
They only came into “vogue” when the homosexual lobby across the country began to find fertile ground among college faculty and staff to push the “gay” agenda on campus with future voters and “activists”.
This group is going to be at the core of the “push back” on this issue.
What is Senator Joseph Biden’s comments on this sad state of affairs, this is his home state Delaware…he always complained about not going to an Ivy League College is this why?
Dr. Gottfredson and Dr. Jan Blits are obviously tenured, or else they wouldn’t have dared buck the system like that.
In cases such as this, God Bless tenure.
swj,
That may be why the complaints from the students went un-addressed until it made it up the chain, but the good Dr.’s sound like they would have stepped up anyway, without tenure. IMHO, of course.
Here’s a link to a class put on by ACPA Student Learning, called, “Unveiling White Privilege”:
http://www.myacpa.org/pd/e-learning/2007-2008courses.cfm#1044
Unbelievable bias and prejudice being taught on our campuses. Thank God for FIRE.
the question is: who is the mastermind (master no-mind?) behind this stupidity?
professor? student? a cadre of “true believer” students led by a zealous Che G.-like professor is my guess… and they will never come out of hiding.They’re the oppressed ones, after all, and it’s courageous for them to “head for the hills”…
Dr. Gottfredson also makes a great point about the nature of the sexual questioning… will anyone be held accountable for this clear case of sex harassment? Perhaps Professor Che?
It really is time to break the back of the higher education cartel and bring them back to being what they were originally designed for to increase critical thought and prepare young people for taking part in providing their fair share to the gross national product by getting a real job. Currently the product from these degree mills can’t produce more in the workplace then a kid who has progressed in the fast food industry. Maybe we need to raze the public school system and start over first. I’m still trying to find the right to free education in my copy of the US Constitution.
As I have written before, higher education needs to be brought under the consumer protection laws. Too many administrators are kindred spirits of P.T. Barnum.
Also the abortion lobby, and other politically correct groups.
Me – had I got to U of D – I’d be a daily-mass-going, pro-life t-shirt wearing, holy-icons-on-my-door pain in the you-know-what.
I know it’s easy to say sitting from the comfort of my desk, far removed from both college (graduated in 2004) and Delaware (WI born and bred)…but just try me.
My patience for this nonsense is wearing VERY thin, and I’m sick of sitting on the sidelines and taking it. It’s time to start combating this bigoted idiocy.
love to get the U.ofD. President on the phone and make him scream…
“SHOW ME THE COMMIE”
“SHOW ME THE COMMIE”
Beyond the outrageous nature of even asking these questions, many (students) wouldn’t necessarily be able to answer with a simple “yes” or “no.”
Based on my experiences in college, I can state that students are discovering all types of things about gay and lesbian life in both oneonone and group encounters. They don’t need the help of any lobbying groups.
That being said, the Delaware program was completely pointless and asinine. College students are more than capable of formulating their own opinions on all things life w/o any coercive tactics.
Ever since Nuremberg, the excuse “I was only following orders” has fallen on deaf ears.
The people who worked the plan were the RA’s.
The people who did the interrogating were the RA’s.
The people who ran down and engaged the unwilling to cooperate were the RA’s.
The people who did the brainwashing were the RA’s.
We don’t know which dean or faculty senate committee came up with this plan (yet), but we know that they relied upon the RA’s to implement it. They went to great lengths to train them, as well.
So, when does U of D either remove or discipline the RA’s, who not only violated the trust of the students in their dorms, but abused them as well?
Soldiers, policemen, and all other organizations that require obedience and discipline all include a requirement that only lawful orders have to be obeyed.
Where is this requirement for the RA’s, and WHY WASN’T IT ENFORCED?
IMHO, every RA at U of D should be sacked and removed. If they start now, they could have a new batch of RA’s, untainted by this horrible breach of trust, trained and on duty by the beginning of the next semester.
Beyond creepy and totally illegal.
Resident Advisors are suppose to receive training in mediation to solve problems and disagreements between students living on their floor of a Dorm. The RA’s must have received materials and training by Staff for the so-called “PC” indoctrination sessions. How could all of them have the same game plans? For their “work”, RA’s receive free room and board! However, RA’s are woefully inept and poorly trained and too busy to handle the problems and tension caused when the “social engineers and progressives” on the University boards
across America decided 15 years ago to have “Co-Ed” dormitories, open door policies 24/7,and unlimited visitation privileges even if a room-mate doesn’t like what’s going on! The RA’s are being used to brainwash students into “tolerating” every kind of behavior and desensitizing them to what would be considered “old-fashioned morality”! RA’s, unfortunately, are NOT taught how to mediate or protect students from the jealous, envious, or dangerous confrontations between students (as sadly noted in the tragedy at VA-Tech). When are parents,who pay the enormous education and housing bills, going to demand a return to “sanity” in campus housing and an emphasis on academics??
Well, Max, I used to teach alot about the construction of white racial identity in my anthropology and sociology courses at two leading universities.
It is a legitimate endeavor. And it has helped to illustrate the Heisenberg Principle in social science research. Or at least to control for it.
Teaching about these issues isn’t about brainwashing by and large. The brainwashing comes into play when non-academic administrational units begin to toy with “educational programming” or “co-curricular programming” as they like to call it.
There isn’t enough time or skill among the “consultants” to teach and train young minds how to wield the content in skillful and thoughtful ways.
I know. I watched them do it. And now, guys like “art” are making a living at peddling watered down “makin it easy for them to understand” things they won’t get from where they are sitting.
The professors were right to put a stop to that crap. Because that is what it is.
However, even the professors might benefit by a reading of “Race: The History of an Idea in America”. Pretty deep stuff written in the spirit of honest intellectual inquiry.
Conservatives would benefit from a reading of things the other side is converting to its mish mash of cornerstones.
Not every proponent of theories that question status quo, and the sacred icons of bygone eras, is a Professor Che. No, sir. Some of us are good Americans who have waded into the swamp to get a better grasp on the sewer feeding into it so we might organize a comprehensive program to dismantle its production sources- Communism and IslamoFascism.
Just playin the classics all the time doesnt work. Venture out. Explore for yourself. Emerge.
Thanks for reading.
A former univeristy buffalo who was executed by the Left for telling the truth.
The RAs are undergrads themselves. It is part of their job description to provide the “programming” (that’s what it is called) or “resident education”.
Most RAs are given room and board to support their financial aid. It is a hellish job.
Most of this activity was designed to offset huge violence, rape, and addiction problems on campuses where the strong preyed on everybody.
It is a reaction to the “Animal House” rampaging that escalated in the 80s and 90s. I know. I was there.
It is a bureaucratic reaction based on solutions presented and refined by groups that were on the receiving end of the rape, violence, and drunk/high perpetrations in the place where they live.
There is an entire academic area of studies at all major universities called “Student Affairs Administration”. That is the discipline that trains people to become University Vice Presidents for Student Affairs, managers of Residential Life, and Area Coordinators for Residential Life. Those are the paid professionals who create these programs along with other departments within Student Life offices around any college campus.
The RA is the grunt that carries out the agendas that move the careers of the University pros who call the shots.
It is the single most corrupt area of the University because of the immense amounts of money for food, beds, lodging quarters, and “programming” budgets. Contracts galore.
But who dominates the committees and councils that broker the monies?
Yep. Lefties of every stripe imaginable. They have operated with impunity for 20 years. The Delaware sitch is going to be lighting up their chatboards for many moons.
I used to work in that area. It is supporting the Muslim Student Association chapters on campuses.
This is not a small PC issue. This mess has let the enemy fortify its positions on college campuses.
Stay tuned.
The U of D has managed to craft a definition of racism that is itself racist. If “all white people” are racist, then a white baby raised by black adoptive parents in Harlem is a racist and there is no hope for redemption. I was aways taught that it was wrong to judge a person by their skin color. I guess I need to be re-educated.
Has the blindfold been removed from lady justice in Delaware? Apparently, those in positions of power at the University believe that you can’t judge someone’s quilt without first getting a look at their skin color. I still prefer to keep justice blind and to treat all individuals equally under the law.
I just completed the book, “Until Proven Innocent” which is the story of the Duke Rape horror (yes, people were raped at Duke University, but they were all white males, so few care). The book, which mentions FIRE, ties in very well with this development. I cannot praise “Until Proven Innocent” enough.
One thing to consider is that the corporate world lags behind the university by about a generation, though trends may be moving more quickly these days. In any event, this is the future of the work place, your children’s certainly, and maybe yours as well. All the elements are in place, as I most emphatically know.
Are there any establishment Republicans anywhere willing to protest this nightmare and work against it? From Bush down, the question answers itself.
#21-
Actually Republicans (and conservatives for the most part) are working against it at the university level.
1) We fight against it everytime one of our speakers is treated in an uncivil manner and the school administration turns a blind eye.
2)We fight against it in the classrooms everyday when we challenge liberal profs in the open with straight forward questions that show their ignorance.
3)We fight it a school system that promotes the profane, obscene, and publically take a stand when its not popular to do so.
If people think its easy to be a conservative on today’s average college campus consider this….
It should not be a crime to a God loving, sinful-yet forgiven Christian, heterosexual, pro-life, gun loving, anti-criminal/pro law enforcement, support the veterans and the military mission white male.
Because anyone that matches more than two of these criteria is subjected a bombardment of liberal group think to change their beliefs. I have lost count over the past 11 months how many times I have heard or read deroggatory comments from my professors and classmates. Take a momement and think when was the last time you heard a racial slur directed towards you, or hear that you are the reason why people are oppressed in this country.
One of the things that keeps me sane is that for every hour I spend listening to liberal America is evil drivel-I spend at least 10 minutes reading MM, and TH to see that I am not alone out here.
While I have mentioned the problems, let me offer some solutions to ponder:
a) Mentor a college or high school student. If you are a college student-volunteer and tutor a young kid.
b) Ask them what they are learning in class, and ask them some straight shooting questions. The answers might suprise you.
c) Learn why you believe what you believe, and be ready to give an informed answer to it. Most libs can’t carry on an intelligent conversation apart from talking points.
d) Keep your grades up, if you’re pulling C’s or D’s then its best to remain quiet for a season-if you’re pulling A’s and B’s then ask your prof the questions (in a non-condescending tone) that show the foolishness of their arguements.
e) If being subjected to derogatorry comments about your relgious, heterosexual preferences, or sincerely held beliefs-Document and TAPE it! Profs can’t deny a student the use of their tape recorder in class. At times the mere appearance is enough to get them to be quiet.
f) When the situation gets tough, talk to your parents (most of them paying for your college anyway) and get their perspective-Their insight will amaze you! See e) and let your parents hear for themselves.
g) Read the books of what happened to the Duke Lax team. What these guys went through is incredible and they have served as an inspiration to me on how to act like a gentleman.
and finally
h) Get involved—write letters to your school paper, local newspaper, find a campus church group, find a church to get connected with, and remember that you are not alone out there. As the cliche goes-if you didn’t vote, then don’t complain!
There are more people that share your beliefs than you realize.
Respectfully,
GSP
The program sounds like Scientology to me. All that’s missing are those soup cans they hold on to while “confessing” their beliefs.