The Academy: Non-Liberals Need Not Apply

The mission statement of Le Moyne College:

...Our Mission...Le Moyne College is a diverse learning community that strives for academic excellence in the Catholic and Jesuit tradition through its comprehensive programs rooted in the liberal arts and sciences. Its emphasis is on education of the whole person and on the search for meaning and value as integral parts of the intellectual life. Le Moyne College seeks to prepare its members for leadership and service in their personal and professional lives to promote a more just society...

Translating that out of the blah-blah nonsense language of college orientation materials:

...In February, Scott McConnell, a master's student in education at Le Moyne College, was expelled for writing an essay in which he criticized multicultural education and expressed the opinion that corporal punishment has a place in the classroom. McConnell received an A- for the paper--but he also received a letter from the chair of Le Moyne's education department telling him he would not be allowed to continue in the program because there were "grave concerns regarding the mismatch between (McConnell's) personal beliefs regarding teaching and learning and the LeMoyne College program goals.

Untrammeled freedom of academic inquiry-- Catch the Fever!

As "Miss America" said in Bananas (approximately), "I believe people should be free to express different views. But not if they're too different. Because then that person becomes a subversive mother."

Thanks to RCL, who's really good at these compare-and-contrast quotes.

PS: Ever notice how almost all college orientation handbooks have nearly the same shot on the cover or the first few pages?

There are four people gathered on some steps of a nice academic building. There's a tall and well dressed black kid that looks like Dwayne Wayne from A Different World after a conservative-fashion makeover, a very cute Asian chick, a tall and slender white guy (usually blonde, for some reason), and a Hispanic chick dressed in slightly "alternative" clothing.

The Asian girl is holding open a thick textbook and the black guy is pointing at some passage in it with a huge smile/laugh on his face, to demonstrate that Principles of Organic Chemistry is just plain fun. The white kid always has a bicycle next to him, or, if it's a college really trying to show it's "diverse" and "hip," sometimes a unicycle.

I don't know why they keep taking this same stupid-ass shot. They've taken it eight billion times already; can't they just start recycling the photos from 1991?

posted by Ace at 12:07 PM

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