Erin O'Connor, blogging at ACTA Online, has a beautiful contrast of two Pennsylvania schools with two different demonstrations about immigration. In one corner is a liberal at Penn who is "mobilizing students" and recommending his classes to a pro-immigrant rally. The campus paper reports it blithely. But let the College Republicans at Penn State create a "Catch the Illegal Immigrant Game" and the campus administrators fret about 'civility'. They'd do more, Erin points out, except for FIRE busting their chops for repeated First Amendment violations. The quotes Erin has from PSU administrators make plain the bias against campus conservatives.

There is a strong sense, from her statement, that while the CRs' "unfortunate actions" are showing a lack of respect for "the dignity of all individuals within the university family," the CRs do not themselves deserve to be accorded the same basic respect. To be a full member of the university "family" (a loaded term that totally mischaracterizes the proper temper and tone of campus culture), one must accept the implicit politics--and accompanying etiquette--endorsed by that family.

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Categories: higher_ed