My Son’s Freshman Orientation At
Virginia Tech Was Full Of Leftist Propaganda, by Penny Nance,
8/14/19.
The Madness Begins - Because of this, I was shocked to experience what I can only describe as extreme and overtly leftist propaganda spewed at our children’s orientation. The opening “University Welcome” event for students and parents separated families immediately in the auditorium.
Parents vs. Children - The rest of the day followed the same two-track program, parents versus children, allowing the college to share different sets of information with each. It gave parents the hard line against underage and excessive drinking, but according to students present, the university assured them that campus police are there to help them navigate wayward behavior, which was implied to be normal. “Be open to new experiences,” orientation leaders urged throughout the day.
Taxpayers Funding Heavy Political Indoctrination - As a mom, part of me wanted to load my son in the car and head up the road to Liberty University, but since he’s an adult, that wasn’t my choice to make. The other part of me thinks: Why should my son be denied the engineering program he wants and earned? Why should conservative kids be forced to become educational refugees from public institutions that, despite enjoying our tax dollars, don’t welcome us?
Get Up and Do Something - I have called out Virginia Tech in this op-ed, but other schools in Virginia and around the nation exhibit the identical issue. It is rampant.
Now that I have witnessed college propaganda
firsthand, I refuse to ignore the indefensible and discriminatory behavior of
the liberal campus bullies anymore.
Are taxpayers funding academic
institutions to indoctrinate our kids? That disturbing and irresistible
question plagued me during the long drive home last week from college
orientation. I doubt I am alone in this wake-up call.
Like many other women, I just
sent my youngest child to college. I am so proud of him and his decision to
join the Army ROTC and study engineering. He will be attending a revered
Virginia institution known for its military Corps of Cadets program.
The centerpiece of the campus
is the military parade field featuring beautiful pylons bearing the school’s
founding principles: words such as “honor,” “duty,” “brotherhood,” and “ut
prosim” (that I may serve). The war memorial also bears the names of
all known cadets who have given their lives for our nation since World War I.
Established in 1872, Virginia
Tech has an honorable and proud tradition in my home state, and its graduates are some of the most
accomplished and wonderful people I know. Hokies shine around our nation as
leaders and as a great credit to their school. I know many to be people of
faith, and many, many are conservative.
Nobody expected the event to
begin with prayer or the Pledge of Allegiance — heavens, no! But one might
expect to remember the names of fallen cadets on the pylons or the 32 dead and
17 injured in the 2007 shooting on Virginia
Tech’s campus,
the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. Nope. Instead, the
administration made the stunning choice to open orientation by recognizing two
Native American tribes on whose land the college was built (with the
implication that it was stolen).
What followed went from
slightly bothersome to downright alarming. The college filled the next two
hours with speaker after speaker who introduced themselves with not just their
names and titles but also preferred pronouns — as in, “Hi my name is Penny
Nance, and I identify as she and her.” At first, parents were slightly
surprised; by the end, they were mad.
Every person on the stage
looked exactly as you would expect them to identify. At that point, I
noticed all the new students’ badges contained not just their names but also
their preferred pronouns because the school had made it part of registration.
The heavy-handed diversity lecture that followed seemed rather tame in comparison.
Parents left the venue in shock.
“Parents, don’t be shocked if
your kid comes home changed,” they intoned in the other room — this to
the hundreds of parents, including myself, who had saved and sacrificed to
send our children to this “top educational institution.” The attitude they
conveyed was one of how “privileged” we should feel that they selected our
children to attend such a fine and prestigious university. Lucky us.
At one point, after dinner,
they sent parents off to oblivious sleep while they lectured students on not
making assumptions about each other’s gender or sexuality. Were they
suggesting students ought to be fluidly “exploring” their gender and sexuality,
as if it were some expected adventure? In the era of “Me Too,” that seems off
message.
The school constantly defined
and showcased identity group politics, but certainly not all
identities. It’s apparently way cooler to be a minority trans woman with
food allergies than simply to be an American college student. Interestingly,
the university offered Halal food but no certified kosher meals. Religiously
observant Jewish students, tough luck, but if you are vegan, you’re in
business.
Let’s not forget, all
Virginians pay taxes and thus have equity and stake in what government
institutions teach our children. Alumni are also deeply invested in the
reputation and direction of their alma mater. I doubt they approve of what
appears to be a new “woke” version of their school. Here’s the problem:
Virginia Tech and most other public universities have forgotten they work for
us.
We must send them a clear
message: Every Christian, Muslim, Orthodox Jew, conservative teacher, college
employee, and every student whose privacy they are violating — we all have
rights, too.
Why should a public university
force a young man or woman struggling with identity issues, for example, to
disclose those personal details and prominently display them on a name
badge? Gender dysphoria is real, and the small number of students
struggling deserve to be treated with dignity and kindness.
Why should a public institution
be allowed to violate teachers’ First Amendment rights by bullying them into
using the made-up terms they/them, zie/zim, ey/em (or about 60 more) instead of she/her or he/him? The
reordering of centuries of grammar usage is an offensive overcorrection, and it
bullies Christians, Muslims, and other students into violating their
consciences to appease a small group of nonsensical identity politics
warriors.
Bottom line, why should
taxpayers foot the bill for liberal indoctrination? We shouldn’t, and if
we all demand it, we won’t have to anymore. The Republican Party is still in
control of the Virginia Assembly and Senate. One line in an appropriations bill
would assure the rights of students and teachers in this madness.
Virginians deserve better. We
do not bow to the ascendancy of the liberal, ivory-towered academic’s worldview
over ours. We can both care for and love struggling kids who don’t feel
included, while maintaining our sanity.
Parents, donors, and alumni, if
you identify with this experience, it’s up to you. Our institutions have gotten
this out of hand because most people are silent, too afraid of the social media
harassment and bullying tactics of liberal activists and professors. Speak up.
First, send screen shots,
video, or your story to Concerned Women for America at UniversityWhistleBlower@CWFA.org. We won’t disclose your name without
permission, but we will tell your story.
Second, contact your state legislators and demand legislation
prohibiting the forced use of speech codes. The state controls most of the
funds for public universities and can prohibit the use of those funds for
nefarious means. Finally, contact the president of the offending institution
or complain on social media while tagging the institution.
I have requested a meeting with
Virginia Tech President Timothy Sands. If parents, students, and alumni would
simply call to complain, we could at least wake up “the woke” to the fact that
conservatives also attend their schools and are sick of the
madness. Campus insanity has gone this far because we were silent. When do
we say “enough”?
Penny Nance is president and CEO of Concerned Women
for America, the nation’s largest public-policy women's organization with a
rich history of more than 30 years of helping our members across the country
bring Biblical principles into all levels of public policy.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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