Here’s an early leader in this year’s “Politically Correct and Stupid” competition, college division. From the San Francisco Chronicle:

HAYWARD / Graduation speaker pressured, bows out
Some CSU students threatened boycott over his views

Writer Richard Rodriguez, invited to speak at the California State University East Bay commencement in Hayward on Saturday, has decided to withdraw from the program after some graduating students threatened to boycott the event. Rodriguez, author of the acclaimed memoir “Hunger of Memory,” drew criticism from some students for his views against bilingual education and affirmative action.

… Sarah Gonzales, a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, said it was unfair to give Rodriguez a platform and captive audience for his views. “We need to teach our students to be able to listen to diverse opinions, but they also need to be able to respond,” said Gonzales, who is also a school board member in Hayward. “As a commencement speaker, he gets free air time.”

Oh. My. God. Remember when a commencement speaker was supposed to make the new graduates think? But apparently CSU East Bay’s requirement is that the speaker be so boring that no one will be awake to ‘respond.’

And yet there is more …

Even though Rodriguez will no longer appear at the main commencement, the protesting students are going ahead with an alternative graduation ceremony on Saturday with a different speaker. … The alternative ceremony (is)expected to be attended by at least the 28 graduates of the urban teacher leadership master’s program … The speaker will be Edmundo Norte, a lecturer in the program and a supporter of bilingual education.

A state university is handing out Master’s degrees to people who essentially treat views they don’t agree with by sticking their fingers in their ears and humming. They had better read their own Rights and Responsibilities:

… The university is an institution that recognizes unfettered freedom in the give and take of ideas and opinions. … We strive for an environment where tolerance, rational discourse, thoughtfulness, and reason prevail over uncontrolled emotion and prejudice. … Everyone must begin with tolerance, respect and communication, and move to understanding.

Oops. Guess the graduates didn’t get to that part. Perhaps that’s part of the Ph.D program.

Rodriguez is an important writer. The New York Times called his most significant work, Hunger of Memory, a “… superb autobiographical essay … Mr. Rodriguez offers himself as an example of the long labor of change: its costs, about which he is movingly frank, its loneliness, but also its triumph.” Reason introduces him as “a student of America–a subtle and perceptive observer of the tension between individual and community, self and culture, optimism and pessimism, in contemporary life.” The book sounds great. What is more American than the struggle of assimilation versus ancestral culture? Aren’t there many possible ways to deal with it? But at CSU East Bay all that talk about discussion and synthesis must be for the UC schools — when it comes to these issues, there’s only one right answer.

And why is a state university handing out Masters Degrees in bilingual education … something that was limited to one year per student by Proposition 227 in 1998 (with the result that “Latino test scores have shot upward in California” as previously segregated students were mainstreamed)? They must have avoided Econ 101 and all that supply and demand stuff.

To top this all off, Rodriguez identifies himself as “left of center.” Politically, he’s on the student’s side. He worked for years for the out-there Pacific News Service. But he has had unapproved thoughts, and must be punished.

Hat tip: Dan Weintraub (California Insider)

Technorati Tags: California, education, political correctness

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 9th, 2005 at 11:08 pm by A Senior Administration Official and is filed under (Un)education, California Schemin', Loons, Politically Correct ... and stupid. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.