Human Events
03-28-06
Student Survey Troubles Liberal Educators
By: Christopher Flickinger
A study finds freshman at Iowa State University are more conservative than other
first-year students across the nation.
One aspect of the study greatly troubles the president of ISU because it reveals
his freshmen are "less concerned about racial discrimination and racial
understanding than their national peers," writes The Des Moines Register.
The paper quotes ISU President Gregory Geoffroy as saying, "This is not
good."
The survey, conducted by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program at
UCLA, asked 2,700 full-time freshmen in the fall of 2005 at ISU and 263,710
freshmen nationwide questions on their views on race, education, religion and
more, according to The Des Moines Register. Among its findings:
• 26.9 percent of ISU freshmen said racial discrimination is no longer a problem
in America, compared with 21.3 percent of freshmen at colleges and
universities nationally.
• Nationally, 32.8 percent of university freshmen said it was essential or very
important to promote racial understanding, compared with 18.6 percent of ISU
freshmen.
Michael Whiteford, the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and
co-chair of the advisory council on diversity to the president, said he wasn’t
surprised by the findings.
"The diversification of this university is an ongoing process," he tells the Register.
Human Events U would like to call attention to the inherent bias and racist
mentality that apparently exists within the administration at Iowa State University.
School officials seem to think ISU freshmen are behind the curve when it comes
to "race-relations" -- that a certain percentage of its first-year students should be
"concerned" with racism and racial understanding in America. As if the
percentage of freshmen across the country who are concerning about race is the
appropriate bench-mark for freshmen at ISU.
But, what if freshmen at Iowa State University are ahead of the curve?
What if the degree of "racism in America" isn't as prominent as the media, and
Jesse Jackson, would have us believe?
The question shouldn't be "why is there a lack of concern about race among ISU
freshmen."
Instead educators at ISU should be asking "is the rest of the country focusing too
much on race."
After all, isn't a color blind society our goal?
Freshman at Iowa State University may be right on track with that objective.
The knee-jerk reaction by ISU officials that their freshmen are ignorant when it
comes to "race-relations" is evidence that "political correctness" has a firm grip
on higher education.
Mr. Flickinger is the "dean" of Human Events U and founder of the Network of
Campus Conservatives. He is a native of Pittsburgh, who graduated from Ohio
University Scripps School of Journalism with specializations in political science
and economics.