Posted on 01/03/2005 1:34:48 AM PST by Liz
In the fall of 2000, I promised my daughter the freshman that I wouldnt write about Wesleyan University (Middletown, Conn.) until she graduated. As a result, you readers learned nothing from me about the naked dorm, the transgender dorm, the queer prom, the pornography-for-credit course, the obscene sidewalk chalking, the campus club named crudely for a womans private part, or the appearance on campus of a traveling anti-Semitic roadshow, loosely described as a pro-Palestinian conference.
Instead of hot news items like these, you usually just hear that Wesleyan is very diverse. Newsweek once hailed the school as the hottest diversity campus in America, apparently using the word diversity in its normal campus meaning of no diversity at all. A one-liner about the campus is that Wesleyan is so diverse that you can meet people here from almost every neighborhood in Manhattan. And the students tend to have opinions from every known corner of MoveOn.org.
After the 2000 election, my daughter told me that 80 percent of the students had voted for Al Gore. Bush got only 20 percent of the vote? I asked. No, Dad, she explained, the 20 percent was for Nader. Visiting speakers who challenge any aspect of campus orthodoxy are as rare as woolly mammoths. However, columnist Nat Hentoff, whose son had gone to Wesleyan, showed up in 2002 and criticized the lack of intellectual diversity and free speech.
At a Manhattan holiday party last week, hosted by a friend with Wesleyan ties, I overheard my daughter explaining that no real debate takes place on campus. This was a major frustration, since she is feisty and brilliant and loves to argue ideas. She is politically liberal but wonders how Democrats of her generation will be able to speak convincingly to the middle of the political spectrum when so many of them shun the complexity of arguments and simply spout the party line.
Two years ago the Argus, the student newspaper, ran a survey and found that 32 percent of the students feel uncomfortable speaking their opinion. Orthodoxy plays a role, of course, but so does an exaggerated fear of giving offense. Identity politics is so strong that criticizing other students ideas can seem like a faux pas, if not a challenge to their core identity. Better to keep your head down and stick to standard opinions.
The naked dorm and the porn course were both examples of Wesleyans determination to accommodate as much sexual confusion as possible. The porn course, which had some students filming S&M scenarios, ended when the teacher died. The popularity of the naked dorm, which featured nude wine and cheese parties, seems to have faded. I just sometimes feel the need to be nude, a Wesleyan male told the New York Times in 2000. If I feel the need to take off my pants, I take my pants off. The obscene chalkings, which included colorful references to the sexual practices of professors, are now forbidden, possibly because they were upsetting donors and enraging some faculty.
But the Wesleyan campaign to stamp out diversity continues, this time in a move against fraternities. The university is pressuring its frats to accept women as members or pay a stiff financial price. The antifraternity campaign is standard on the politically correct campus these days, usually with an announced aim of reining in a boozy, sexist, right-wing culture. But this is Wesleyan, which has no right-wing culture and no sexist, out-of-control frats. The Argus has quoted gays and women saying mild and kind things about the Wesleyan frats, some of which are receptive to gays and set rooms aside for female residents. Much of the opposition to the frats seems to depend on the gross national image of fraternities, not the essentially harmless frats at Wesleyan. The administration and radical feminists oppose the frats for violating the campus nondiscrimination rule by not allowing women as members. However, they dont bother to apply the same objection to Womanist House (a residence for females) or Malcolm X House, which caters to blacks.
I should add that I think my daughter got a decent education at Wesleyan. You can do this if you are strong-minded, independent, and willing to pick your courses very carefully. But admission to the university should come with a warning label: If you are fainthearted, go somewhere else.
©2004 Universal Press Syndicate
Makes you wonder what else on campus this self-absorbed loonie felt like doing with his pants off.
I'd say now is the time to collect a $100,000 reward for the person who 'leaks' a copy of Hillary's sealed thesis. No doubt it's a wretched ode to Marx and Darwin....
Golly whillickers - a modern education at a ritzy northeast school is just like spending a "Weekend at Bernies" . . . . . . . without the film crew.
God forbid that the students actually learn anything that helps them assimiliate into society afetr graduation. But, life is, after all, all about them.
She went to a different school - but I agree.
Yep, I stand corrected on Hitlary's alma mater.... But the idea for the 'leak' still stands, if others would help me put up the kitty....in time for the 2008 campaign....
At least a Weekend At Bernie's only involved a mob rubout (/sarc).
A fun-filled Wesleyan education is more like The Happy Hooker Walks the Halls Looking For Action.
It has a happy ending with She Gets It On With Fellow Students and Profs in the chem lab.
IIRC, Hitlery's Wesley thesis was posted on FR awhile back.
I found threads but nothing more. Looks like an eBay version was offered, some scam went on by bidders.... If you can find the real deal, that would be awesome....here's the FR search I tried--
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search?s=hillary+thesis&ok=Search&q=deep&m=all&o=score&SX=41d929e190480219dc82bd960df67d8ed9649220
and the Google search I tried
http://www.google.com/search?q=hillary+rodham+thesis&btnG=Search&num=100&hl=en&lr=
Also found her commencement speech and a FR thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1285755/posts
Yeah, I know. Some confused the subject of this thread---Wesleyan---- with Wellesely.
Anything printed should be in the Library of Congress. A friendly Congressman should request Hil's thesis, then publish it in the Federal Register.
Malajusted geeks with no common sense. That's what I encountered every time I was on the Wesleyan campus.
We gained some familiarity with Wellesley when we were surrogate parents for a friend's daughter who went there for 2 years. Let's just say there isn't much of a 'hetero' culture on campus.
Our friend's daughter was practically the only student in her dorm with an interest in males. She also had a very strong conservative foundation and she enjoyed aggressive discussions. Even after only two years, a lot of her confidence and beliefs were weakened in ways that only became obvious after she graduated.
However, a FReeper did in fact gain possession of a copy. Barbara Olson, who FReeped as BKO, wrote that she had obtained a copy of the thesis several months before her death in the Pentagon crash on 9/11.
Or, if you want the same education at one-quarter the price but with chance of serious injury, try the University of Massachusetts.
Injuries, you say. How serious?
Please Freepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent Connecticut ping list.
I grew up in Middletown, as did my husband. This stuff really is true, sadly enough. Remember the movie "PCU" from about 10 years ago? It was based on Wesleyan. Political correctness and "diversity" runs amok.
The nude dorm is still alive and well, as are dorms where students can have opposite-sex roommates. When we drive through it's something of an amusement to see the latest anti-war "protest" or purple-haired lesbians making out while waiting for the crosswalk.
We both went to state schools, at far less expense and with much less malarkey.
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