(Freedom.news) A large and growing number of Princeton undergrads has had enough of the politically correct militant Leftism on campus and they’re fighting back.
As reported by The Washington Times, more than 1,500 Princeton students have signed a petition titled, “Protect Plurality, Historical Perspective and Academic Speech at Princeton,” which was created as a response to outsized demands by a group calling itself the Black Justice League.
The league wants the prestigious university to create a dorm that celebrates black affinity, force all students to take “diversity training,” and require students take a course that discusses so-called “marginalized” peoples. And the league is also demanding the removal of a mural of President Woodrow Wilson from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, essentially because he’s a white male and, as such, must have inherently been a racist as well.
MarketWatch reported that university President Christopher Eisgruber has already caved to one demand – the school will set aside four rooms on campus for use by students with minority cultures. He has also pledged to consult with faculty and the board of trustess regarding the league’s other demands, MarketWatch noted.
“We, the undersigned members of the Princeton University community, appreciate the concerns but oppose the demands of the Black Justice League,” the free-speech petition says. “We call for increased dialogue and the creation of a process that properly considers the input of all students and faculty, not merely those who are the loudest.
“[F]ree speech is fundamental to Princeton’s role as an institution of higher learning and excessive political correctness stifles academic discourse,” it goes on to say. “[A]ny steps to purge this campus of its Wilsonian legacy creates a dangerous precedent and slippery slope that will be cited by future students who seek to purge the past of those who fail to live up to modern standards of morality.”
The petition made demands of its own, namely that Princeton “maintains its commitment to free speech and open dialogue and condemns political correctness to the extent that it infringes upon those fundamental academic values.”
As more and more Princeton undergrads signed the petition, students formed their own group, the Princeton Open Campus Coalition, and sought a meeting with Eisgruber to discuss the preservation of speech on campus, said MarketWatch.
“This dialogue is necessary because many students have shared with us that they are afraid to state publicly their opinions on recent events for fear of being vilified, slandered, and subjected to hatred, either by fellow students or faculty,” the group said in its letter to the university president, which as of this writing had been shared more than 300 times on Facebook. “Many who questioned the protest were labeled racist, and black students who expressed disagreement with the protesters were called ‘white sympathizers’ and were told they were ‘not black.’ We, the Princeton Open Campus Coalition, refuse to let our peers be intimidated or bullied into silence on these — or any — important matters.”
As the administrators of one university after another cave in to the unreasonable demands of a few students, and always to the detriment of the majority of the student body, it’s good to see some Ivy League pushback.
See also:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/nov/25/fed-up-princeton-students-create-petition-to-suppo/
