Elegy for Wesleyan

Accuracy in Academia ^ | June 2, 2010 | Mytheos Holt

[bs9021]

Elegy for Wesleyan

Mytheos Holt, June 2, 2010

Commentary: At the National Tea Party Convention, Andrew Breitbart made an interesting series of remarks about where the persistent liberal victimhood memes come from:

“Bad, racist, homophobic—all those buzzwords that they learned in their freshman orientation class at Wesleyan—are used as weapons to try to destroy you and intimidate you to not speak up.”

Well, funny story. I actually went to Wesleyan, and even though it was three years ago, my freshman orientation will probably remain seared into my cranium for the rest of my life. Not to mention, this year I actually participated in one of the programs as a speaker (the “token conservative,” obviously), so I think I am in a position to say that, with respect to Wesleyan’s orientation program, Mr. Breitbart was, uncharacteristically, wrong. Wesleyan’s freshman orientation program is not at all a program designed to teach students to throw the words “Racist” and “Homophobic” around like candy.

It’s so, so much worse than that.

Which is why, even though school loyalty exercises a powerful hold on any person, I feel a powerful obligation to let readers know just how far gone the Leftmost fever swamp of the Northeastern liberal arts institution that is Wesleyan University actually is. However, I do want to quickly note that, while the orientation program is a nightmare, this is the only institutional element which actively attacks conservative discourse, as most faculty members are surprisingly open-minded. Even so, they may as well not be, because after this orientation, I assure you, anyone who isn’t already armed with the ability to think critically will have swung at least ten miles to the Left....