In response to a storm of protest over its program to indoctrinate freshmen with ideas such as “all whites are racists”, the University of Delaware has destroyed the evidence by deleting all publicly available links to the program’s content. As FIRE notes, the university responded to FIRE by claiming that its program was being misrepresented, but the FIRE’s responses based on the original evidence and the university’s act of trying to destroy public access to that evidence indicates that the University of Delaware is not speaking in good faith here.
Unless the action turns out to be merely a prelude to the abolition of the entire program, it appears to fit a long pattern of indoctrinators seeking to avoid public accountability for their attempts at “thought control”. Programs for the political indoctrination of students usually take place in freshman orientation or residence environments, outside of the view of parents or taxpayers, with only their easily-intimidated victims as witnesses. And, as reported at the FIRE website, the programs include Orwellian techniques of monitoring and reporting that are likely to seriously reduce any potential for open dissent.
When it comes to the war or the enactment of conservative government policies, many like to sing of the importance of transparency and dissent and the dangers of secrecy and coercion. Alas, these principles may be merely opportunistic, invoked only when their own ideological ox is not the one being gored.
UPDATE: After continued exposure by FIRE and supporting blogs, Hot Air reports that the University of Delaware has quit the field. The president of the university has directed that the program of ideological indoctrination be terminated. FIRE specifically credits blog commenters on their role.
UPDATE II: by MvdG. In an e-mail to me, FIRE’S Robert Shibley writes: “This is a real victory for the students at Delaware and shows that public exposure of the amazing abuses on campus can work, and work quickly.” Quite right. It also goes to show that blogs do have influence. Before the MSM picked it up, FIRE had reported it and blogs spread the word… and the program was terminated. Well done Jason, Sister Toldjah, Bryan, Gaius and many others.
Didn’t someone in the previous post on this issue say something about “hoping the info has been downloaded and saved because these things have a way of disappearing!”
He was correct!
When are “officials” going to realize that if they do something that could “embarrass” them, they probably shouldn’t do it!
I get the impression that UDell isn’t too eager to have that dose of sunlight applied, and I wonder if Jim et al agrees. BTW, Jim, if you get a response from the program director that you contacted, to see if she’d come here to defend the program, I’m sure a lot of us would be eager to hear about it.
Actually, I’ve been thinking that the deletion may be a response to Jim Et Al’s email to them warning them about us specifically.
I believe it is highly unlikely that any program administrator for such a program will submit to public scrutiny. Such a willingness to be transparent and above-board would fly in the face of all my experience with these issues and would also contradict the deletion itself.
Jason!! You can’t be that paranoid! lmao
That was me, Pat. I’d take more credit, but it was really pretty obvious what was coming. Had they done it sooner, Jim et al would still be claiming that FIRE made it all up….
Well, they were definitely reacting to someone out in the blogosphere. Why not us? Especially since Jim Et Al went out of his way to give them a warning about us. Thanks for the advertising Jim — it is nice to actually have an effect on those people, even if it is only to see their fearful recoil.
I don’t think it’s very fair to say that Jim “warned” them about us, it implies he’s a co-conspirator in covering things up. I don’t get that impression at all, just that he’s the hapless guy who ended up with the shitty job of defending this program, since David isn’t around to do so himself (now THAT would be entertaining).
As for them being on the run…good. As much as I hate Fox News I hope they grab this and put one of their seemingly endless supply of blond-woman-with too-many-teeth-for-any-normal-smile right on the scene for a month, see how much they enjoy free speech when it’s on the other side.
Having just finished reading the other post on this issue and updating myself on what was there, I find it truly amazing that this “training” was the result the recommendations given by some PR firm.
Don’t folks realize that racism, gender bias, prejudice (which is not ALWAYS negative) come from basically two places. We learn it from the example of our “elders,” and by nature we fear what we don’t know and is different.
I wonder how many of the “affected” students were in fact dating people of a different ethnic/racial/social background from themselves!???
Here is a quote for a Smithsonia magazine article last year!
“Nonetheless, in 1829 one of the first militant African American emancipationists, David Walker, wrote from Boston in his Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World that the “English” were “the best friends the coloured people have upon earth. Though they have oppressed us a little and have colonies now in the West Indies which oppress us sorely-Yet notwithstanding {the English} have done one hundred times more for the melioration of our condition, than all the other nations of the earth put together.” White Americans, on the other hand, with their posturing religiosity and their hollow cant of freedom, he consigned to the lowest reaches of hypocritical infamy.”
Now there is a different perspective!
Feel free to forward it to any media outlets that might be willing to give it coverage. This program is by far the most outrageous example that I have seen in years of interest and advocacy regarding these kind of issues.
Are people quibbling about who should get credit for exposing this Marxist program of mind control?
No, we’re happy to share in it.
FIRE exposed it first. We have just played a role in helping spread the word and intensify the light of scrutiny.
[...] Jason Steck Did an interesting post today on mvdg.wordpress.comRead this excerpt: [...]
Woo HOO!
All’s well that ends well.
I don’t get that impression at all, just that he’s the hapless guy who ended up with the shitty job of defending this program,…Ouch…
…..s…i…g…h…
Mr hapless here…
No I didn’t intentionally warn them about you guys. I requested additional information in a very nice and respectful manner, and directed them to this blog so they could inform all of us about the current state of mind control at the UoD (no, I didn’t say it like that). If I ever do get a response in my mail box I would be happy to share it with all, assuming that I get Ms. Kerr’s permission to do so…
I did defend their program, but I did so because the attacks seem so unilaterally directed. Nobody, even Hillary, likes a pile on. The over arching goals of the program were worthy. It would be too bad if a few functionaries destroyed the program because they were ‘true believers.” It would also be too bad if the program was corrupted at a higher level. Like I said the material provided by Ms Butler was disturbing, but it could have been well covered in the proper environment…
The one thing I did do that apparently no one else here did (correct me if I’m wrong) was to contact the people who run the show and ask them to explain it. Anyway, I thought I should respond before I go and patch up those darned lynx scratches…
Mr hapless out…
A few Thursday night links
There were a few more issues I wanted to blog about tonight, but my eyelids are starting to get heavy, so I’m combining the rest of what I wanted to blog about tonight in one post:
—- Andrew McCarthy wrote a scathing article today about the…
Jim,
I know you don’t accept Jason’s assertion that FIRE is a nonpartison, non-ideological group, but if you’d dig deeper I think you’ll find that they do defend campus free speech no matter what ideological stripe it is. And they’ve been at this for a while, so you might at least consider that they’ve probably learned that the type of request you made, and that you feel Jason should have made, leads to a “CYA” attempt (I think that was your phrase) rather then allowing the light of day to shine on programs or policies. So which approach is the correct one? FIRE did contact the university to allow them to present their side; their initial response was not accurate because it was contradicted by the program materials. FIRE responded and then Harker saw fit to suspend the program for a full review. What is wrong with the way that process worked, in your opinion?
In fact, Jim, you don’t even have to dig very deep. Just below the stories about UDell on the FIRE site is another case they’re currently working on, right here in my neck of the woods (Valdosta State). A student there was expelled because he was protesting the construction of a parking garage- and part of the reason for his protest was environmental activism- not a cause that a right wing extremist group would defend. But of course FIRE’s agenda isn’t to defend certain students’ rights, it’s to defend all student liberty regardless of their ideology.
One of the better features of the Gazette is that you can get into competitive discussions and not get banned. By not getting me banned, Jason convinced me to give FIRE another look and I did just that. I still need to poke around their site a little more, but the bios of the current staff make them out to be an impressive group. It seems that they’re a kind of an ACLU but on a narrower path…
I’m not sure there can be a better approach than direct action, which was (in my case) precipitated by Jason’s linking the FIRE article. The drawback to instant data is that rarely does one get to give it a proper assessment before there’s an agenda pushing it along the wrong road. In earlier posts, I’ve referred to the blogs swarm phenomenon, where untested assertions can take on lives of their own. Witness the great Graeme Frost debacle. I’m also not sure that the entire program should have been suspended based on a sampling of the materials posted online, if they were unrepresentative of the larger program. I’m even less certain that the people ultimately responsible for the program knew about the content of some of the online modules. The Dr Butler articles were disturbing, but they were specifically designated for presentation at a seminar attended by UoD staff (not the students), and the actual nature of Dr Butler’s presentation is hard to assess without anyone here having seen her present it. Other material I sampled wasn’t offensive at all, and the stated goals of the program seem convincingly worthy. Anyway, I’m not sure there is a better method than direct action. At least that gets the most people involved…
At this point, I’ll take Harker’s letter at its word and wait for the review to be made available unless the program dies a quiet death from embarrassment. I hope not. There is a real opportunity for such a program is done correctly…
[...] Others: Michelle Malkin, Say Anything, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Hot Air, Riehl World View, Flopping Aces, Joanne Jacobs, [...]
That program was awkward at best. Glad to see it’s gone. It’s a little ironic
that they preach accepting other races with a total of 4% of my building being non white.
I’ve been looking at other blogs. It increasingly seems to me like the university president panicked, realizing that once things reach a boiling point on the blogs, cable TV networks are next, politicians looking to make political points follow and student rebellion by freshmen who now felt backed was bound to happen. I hope the freshmen and FIRE keep a lookout for a discreet resurgence of the program under some less Orwellian sounding name a few months from now.
Jim, sorry about those scratches! It really was meant as an expression of sympathy. I don’t agree with you on the positions, but I’m certainly glad to have a place to engage you on them in a respectful manner.
anonimouse, you’re a student at the university? Did you go through the program? If so I’d love to hear from you about what it actually consisted of, since we hear have only the reading materials to count on. I’m sure I’m not the only one interested.
The over arching goals of the program were worthy…the stated goals of the program seem convincingly worthy.
LOL. Ends, means. See Road to Hell, Paving Contractors.
The Dr Butler articles were disturbing, but they were specifically designated for presentation at a seminar attended by UoD staff (not the students)
That staff being the RA’s who were tasked with
programmingteaching the “narritives” to the students at the mandatory training sessions, floor meetings, and one-on-one meetings, and tasked with getting the students involved in the additional “diversity” events on campus. Failure to satisfy said RA’s brought downchecks which could affect your housing assignments and would be reflected in your permanent academic record, and satisfactory participation at the additional events brought material rewards in housing assignment preferences.As Jason noted, once you contact the institution the evidence tends to vanish, leaving at best copies you’ve personally archived. And what happens then? Oh yeah, defenders immmediately say you’re a partisan ideological source and your archived copies can’t be trusted, that they’re “circular bunk,” and demand links to original sources. Which have vanished down the memory hole. And the university says the program has been misrepresented and misunderstood. Heh.
The “narritives” have now also vanished down the Memory Hole, BTW. I managed to archive the master list there, though not the detailed descriptions. I’m sure the “detour spotting” bit will vanish soon as well, but I did manage to archive that as well.
[...] the University of Delaware is scrapping its ideological indoctrination program, but not before attempting to erase any history of its [...]