I know some around here are skeptical of claims of idealogical repression of conservative views on universities in the US. There are many examples of it, but what's going on at the University of Delaware is among the most blatant and systemic.

From the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/thefirecache...9696d61f88ff7e

Essentially, they are forcing all students living in university dorms to under go mandatory "treatment" to coerce them to accept leftist views on a range of issues. Indeed, the goal of the program is to get the students to adapt certain leftist views as their own through various programs, intrusive questioning, evaluations, etc. Students are evaluated in their acceptance of these views.

The RAs, Resident Assistants, students who live in the dorms and enforce regulations, administer this to students after receiving training including:
“A RACIST: A racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. The term applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in the United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality. By this definition, people of color cannot be racists, because as peoples within the U.S. system, they do not have the power to back up their prejudices, hostilities, or acts of discrimination. (This does not deny the existence of such prejudices, hostilities, acts of rage or discrimination.)" - Page 3

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“REVERSE RACISM: A term created and used by white people to deny their white privilege. Those in denial use the term reverse racism to refer to hostile behavior by people of color toward whites, and to affirmative action policies, which allegedly give 'preferential treatment' to people of color over whites. In the U.S., there is no such thing as 'reverse racism.'" - Page 3

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“A NON-RACIST: A non-term. The term was created by whites to deny responsibility for systemic racism, to maintain an aura of innocence in the face of racial oppression, and to shift responsibility for that oppression from whites to people of color (called "blaming the victim"). Responsibility for perpetuating and legitimizing a racist system rests both on those who actively maintain it, and on those who refuse to challenge it. Silence is consent." - Page 3

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"Have you ever heard a well-meaning white person say, 'I'm not a member of any race except the human race?' What she usually means by this statement is that she doesn't want to perpetuate racial categories by acknowledging that she is white. This is an evasion of responsibility for her participation in a system based on supremacy for white people." - Page 8
Basically, if you're white you're racist. That's just a side issue, really, though. The appalling thing is that the university is dictating to its students what they should think, using its power to push one view. What makes it especially disgusting is that a university is supposed to be a place of learning and free thought.

A few words from FIRE's letter to UD:
http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/8552.html
Somehow, the University of Delaware seems terrifyingly unaware that a state-sponsored institution of higher education in the United States does not have the legal right to engage in a program of systematic thought reform. The First Amendment protects the right to freedom of conscience—the right to keep our innermost thoughts free from governmental intrusion. It also protects the right to be free from compelled speech. As the Supreme Court declared in the landmark case of West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943): “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.” The Court concluded that “the purpose of the First Amendment to our Constitution” was precisely to protect “from all official control” the domain that was “the sphere of intellect and spirit.” The University of Delaware’s residence life education program is an unconscionable and unconstitutional incursion into the private conscience of students whose greatest offense is simply choosing the University of Delaware and living in the dormitories.

The legal problems posed by the residence life education program are abundant and cut to the core of the most essential rights of a free people. Possible claims against the university for operating such a program include violations of the right to privacy as well as federal and state constitutional claims for having and enforcing an unconstitutional speech code, for compelling people to speak against their will (something that has been anathema to free societies since long before the Barnette case), and for violations of the right to freedom of conscience. Simply put, the residence life education program is a legal minefield.

To be clear, however, FIRE is not a litigation organization, and our objection to this program is far more than legalistic. What makes this program so offensive is its brazen disregard for autonomy, dignity, and individual conscience, and the sheer contempt it displays for all of the university’s incoming students.

As aggressive as civil liberties organizations like FIRE may seem, at the heart of all concepts relating to freedom of the mind is a recognition of our own limitations—like us, those in power are neither omniscient nor omnipotent, and therefore have no right to dictate to others what their deepest personal beliefs must be. Concerns for free speech and freedom of conscience are rooted in the wisdom of humility and restraint. The residence life education program, which presumes to show students the specific ideological assumptions they need in order to be better people, crosses the boundary from education into unconscionably arrogant, invasive, and immoral thought reform. We can conceive of no way in which the residence life education program can be maintained consistent with the ideals of a free society.
This doesn't even cover the whole program. A complete examination of this can be found in the link at the beginning, and here:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/thefirecache...9696d61f88ff7e

Crazed Rabbit