Coercion in the Liberal University

We all shake our heads at the absurdities of the movement ironically called political correctness.  But, the problem is that it impacts real lives, as George Will reminds us.

Quoting from a report from the National Association of Scholars, “The Scandal of Social Work Education,” he writes:

In 1997, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) adopted a surreptitious political agenda in the form of a new code of ethics, enjoining social workers to advocate for social justice "from local to global levels."

Nothing wrong with that, unless you actually start to coerce students into “advocacy.”

For more than a century the left has been teaching us about the hegemony of the west in imposing its views on the poor.

But there’s no problem when it comes to imposing their views on us.  That’s just “advocacy.”

In fact, it’s ok to force students to do political advocacy as a part of their university course work.

Writes Will: “In 2005, Emily Brooker” enrolled in a class where

a mandatory assignment for his class was to advocate homosexual foster homes and adoption, with all students required to sign an advocacy letter, on university stationery, to the state Legislature.

Brooker objected to the assignment on religious grounds.  She was charged with a violation of professional standards, and was ordered to write a report on how she could reduce the gap between her views and the ethics of the social work profession.

When she sued the university, it dropped the charges and made financial and other restitution.

Maybe there’s an opportunity here.  Liberals have made the class-action lawsuit into a fearsome weapon of progressive politics.  Maybe conservatives should start suing when their academic—not to mention religious—freedom is violated by the hegemonic professors in government universities.

But let us be of good cheer.  This sort of coercion is only needed because the social work establishment is getting panicky.  And it’s significant that the education schools are up to the same tricks.

When you can’t win by persuasion, that’s when you turn to coercion.