More on University of Delaware Indoctrination

The media is softpedaling descriptions of the programs. [Link]

The few reports that the mainstream press has carried give the impression that the program runs a discussion group promoting tolerance. But the program clearly rejects give-and-take discussion. It says: "We have successfully moved away from the idea that simple exposure to topics and opportunities to attend is equivalent to education. Our specific education aims, broken down into 28 competency areas now requires us to examine competency attainment" and "learning goals," i.e., student acceptance of the ideas we are determined to impose. The residential assistants were reporting to administrators on which students were resisting the diversity programming. "I felt like the secret police, not as a mentor," a former RA wrote anonymously to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). Stuart Taylor is likely right about one prediction: the program will probably return in another form once the heat is off.

And from a commenter there: [Link]

I was an RA at the University of Delaware years ago when the seeds for its Residence Life program were being sown. I'd like to give you some perspective on the program since, as an undergrad and then as a Ph.D. student, I took classes with or worked directly under people in the Psychology, Philosophy and Women's Studies departments and in the ResLife, New Student Orientation and Student Counseling programs.

First, the indoctrination program is not likely to go away. The reason that it will resurface is simple: a backlash from "racist America" has been predicted from the very beginning. Indeed, the backlash will be cast as proof that America *is* racist for being unwilling to tolerate a program of "racial understanding". Thus, by their own logic, the backlash validates the rationale and urgency of the program.

Second, you have to understand that the people involved in this program really do mean well and see themselves as a force for good. This gives them a moral "shield" that simply isn't going to be penetrated by criticism from forces they perceive as malign (Republicans, white leaders, etc.). Indeed, I don't think that I exaggerate when I say that we perceived ourselves as being far removed from (and surely superior to) the muling cows that make up our benighted society. Once you have committed yourself to "elevating the consciousness" of the bovine dolts all around you, it is no surprise that some start bellowing and mooing from the discomfort. With a God-like remove and infinite patience, however, the enlightened can help to "wake up" young America so that, when they become the next generation of leaders, they can help create a "better" and "fairer" society.

That's the theory. The problem is that the architects of this "consciousness" live in a tightly interlocked logical bubble of their own design. With little exposure to the true machinery of political and economic life, they're simply building a web of words largely divorced from reality. As I discovered after leaving UDel, the world is filled with intelligent, thoughtful people (who, by the way, are quite capable of pointing out the flaws of these programs of indoctrination). The real world also provides copious evidence that the very fundamental assumptions behind the ResLife program are simply wrong. In the bubble, however, such evidence simply doesn't penetrate.

In the end, I go back to something that my Dissertation adviser taught me: intelligence doesn't guarantee a correct outcome. It only guarantees that whatever prejudices and errors you bring to the table can be defended with greater eloquence. It takes humility, not intelligence, to uncover the truth.