Indoctrinate U: An Inconvenient Documentary

RMNIXON · 03-19-2007, 05:18 PM

Indoctrinate U: New Documentary Film Exposes Repressive Political Climate on America's Campuses

NEW YORK, March 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Speech codes. Censorship.Sensitivity training. Enforced political conformity. Intolerance. Hostility to religion. Violations of freedom of speech and conscience. Kangaroocourts. We usually associate such things with the repressive regimes of North Korea, China, Cuba, and the former Soviet Union. But instead, this assault on free thought is taking place all over America -- right now -- on our nation's campuses. Award-winning filmmaker Evan Coyne Maloney's new documentary film, Indoctrinate U, reveals the ugly truths about academia that you won't see in glossy admissions brochures. Produced by On The Fence Films with the support of the Moving Picture Institute (MPI), the film's trailer andwebsite went live today at http://www.IndoctrinateU.com. "When we think of college, we think of intellectual freedom. We imagine four years of exploring ideas through vigorous debate and critical thinking," Maloney said. "But the reality is very far from the ideal. Whatmost of us don't know is that American college students surrender their rights to free thought and free speech the minute they set foot on campus." London's Daily Telegraph has called the long-awaited feature-lengthfilm "as slick and incisive as anything by Michael Moore." Hailed by the New York Sun as one of "America's most promising" documentary filmmakers, Maloney has assembled a scorching indictment of higher education in America today, one that should make students, parents, trustees, lawmakers, voters,and taxpayers sit up and take notice. Maloney spent two and a half years investigating jaw-dropping incidentsof political persecution -- directed at students and professors alike -- atmore than twenty schools across the country. From elite Ivy League campuses to the largest state universities and the smallest community colleges, Indoctrinate U points a critical lens at every level of the academic establishment. Hard-hitting and humorous, the film tells the story of how, in the name of education, schools from coast to coast ruthlessly compel conformity of thought. Focusing on the experiences of students and faculty who risk harassment, censorship, and even their futures when they dissent, Indoctrinate U makes the campus culture wars -- often treated as an abstract battle of ideas -- intensely personal and unforgettably human. "To the tune of tens of thousands of dollars a year, students are being robbed of their educations," Maloney said. "Higher education is systematically defrauding students, parents, and taxpayers. And many trustees, the people who are supposed to be overseeing this system, are letting it happen by failing to act." At once a warning and a wake-up call, Indoctrinate U is bound to stirup controversy and to spark much-needed debate. By exposing the dirty little secrets of higher education, this film has the potential to force the kind of change academics have long pretended they don't need to make. The film was produced by a team headed by Stuart Browning, a softwareentrepreneur, blogger, and filmmaker; entertainment attorney Blaine Greenberg; and Thor Halvorssen, former CEO and executive director of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). Frayda Levy, president of the Moving Picture Institute (MPI), served as associate producer.

Trailer: Indoctrinate U - Our Education, Their Politics

This is not anything new. Not by a long shot! But the fact that this filmaker broke through the protected grounds where actual students know better than to speak out, that is something new. Not that they were not stopped on occasion as you will see in the clip. Universities have become some of the most closeminded indoctrinating places in the Country. The tax payers, parents, and students who pay for this should know about it and hold people accountable.

As Borat wouldn't say: NOT SO NICE!

Pro Street · 03-19-2007, 05:20 PM

I think people at universities are just as blind to things SOMETIMES as those that live believe the complete opposite.

Thorgrim · 03-19-2007, 05:46 PM

What a joke

If a 22+ year old at Harvard can't think for himself, he should have never have gotten in...

These are adults, not kids

There are always conservative viewpoints brought up in class, moderates and conservatives make up a significant majority of college students

Even if all that failed, miraculously, the vast majority of professor go out of their way to bring both sides, and in most fields politics is not involved, even in political science politics is often not involved

these people making this are absolutely pathetic

grembert · 03-19-2007, 06:06 PM

In this internet society we live in, how could colleges possibly force conformity on anyone?

Thorgrim · 03-19-2007, 06:19 PM

Originally Posted by grembert

In this internet society we live in, how could colleges possibly force conformity on anyone?

They can't, its a joke, this post is like reading someone cutting and pasting Ann Coulter

Their "trailer" is basically junk

First, they harrass a president who is trying to do his job and get somewhere, then they bring up some ridiculous argument that they have a right to set up camera crews during every class...like a Kansas school which taught creation theory would ever allow that...or a private conservative religion school would allow that under any circumstance

They are trying to make money by creating a scandal where none exists...why don't they simply interview willing students after class about how everything went? No, we have to fill the classroom with cameras to totally disrupt the class or else its nazi germany

They bring in some ridiculous examples "oh in carbon chains they brought up politics" I've been at 3 universities and met hundreds of engineers and science majors and not once was politics ever a major point of discussion in ANY CLASS FOR ANYONE, its complete lies, if it had an ounce of truth, complain, the professor is grossly negligent if he's skipping over material to cover politics, if stuff like this is happening...don't complain to your professor COMPLAIN TO HIS BOSSES, GET OFF YOUR ASS...if you think that doesn't mean anything, there are a million ways to bring it about, every campus has a conservative section of their paper for conservative opinions, you could contact any number of moderates or conservatives involved

The trailer is so ignorant, I can see why they're complaining, they must be stupid they are failing their classes or cheating to get by

JaJae · 03-19-2007, 06:42 PM

A quote that always stands out in my head is by a radio personality on a Penn and Teller episode. It goes something like:

The stupidity of < > is so great it can only be ascribed to the product of higher education.

And I think it rings true. Most higher learning establishments are extremely liberal. And I think students learn to think like their teachers, that's the whole point of teaching, whether it's intended or not.

I think it's obvious the reason most people student age are liberal is because of their education and past experiences with the liberal education of this country. The same can be said for people raised and educated through religious means holding more conservative views. I think as people age, many strong-minded people will begin to think for themselves and begin to move towards the middle ground. I think that is shown through voting patterns.

RMNIXON · 03-19-2007, 07:25 PM

Here is a good link that posts these activities. The point is not freedom of having certain views or thinking for oneself. Non PC conformist are way out in front in that regard. It is the ability to express views without reprisal. The are not the students who claim to fight for free speech while they shout people down.

NoIndoctrination.org - View Listings by Date

Thorgrim · 03-19-2007, 07:28 PM

Originally Posted by JaJae

A quote that always stands out in my head is by a radio personality on a Penn and Teller episode. It goes something like:

And I think it rings true. Most higher learning establishments are extremely liberal. And I think students learn to think like their teachers, that's the whole point of teaching, whether it's intended or not.

I think it's obvious the reason most people student age are liberal is because of their education and past experiences with the liberal education of this country. The same can be said for people raised and educated through religious means holding more conservative views. I think as people age, many strong-minded people will begin to think for themselves and begin to move towards the middle ground. I think that is shown through voting patterns.

It's been shown that voting for a party correlates most strongly with what your parents were...republican parents...republican kids...

There are also tons of kids who dropped out of high school, never went to any real institution of learning, and almost always end up liberal in their late teens and early 20s...its a popular time to be liberal or libertarian regardless of where you choose to go to school

and to repeat myself: the trailer is horrible and stupid

RMNIXON · 03-19-2007, 07:32 PM

Originally Posted by grembert

In this internet society we live in, how could colleges possibly force conformity on anyone?

They can't! That is the good news!

It is the same as my college days. You just keep your mouth shut, deal with the student activist bullshit and the teacher bias (not all liberal teachers) all over campus, and then you take your intellectual honesty with you and get over it. Only a small % will remain campus radicals for life. But why should there be such a lock on thinking and everyone must run the gauntlet to get an education!

Thorgrim · 03-19-2007, 07:34 PM

Originally Posted by RMNIXON

Here is a good link that posts these activities. The point is not freedom of having certain views or thinking for oneself. Non PC conformist are way out in front in that regard. It is the ability to express views without reprisal. The are not the students who claim to fight for free speech while they shout people down.

NoIndoctrination.org - View Listings by Date

What a joke, a US history professor was rambling on with political bias? I've met dozens of american history professors and seen most of them lecture, politics is a huge no-no, the biggest liberal professor I ever met refused in class to comment on the Iraq war "thats current events, this is History" or how Bush will be judged "thats political, this is History"

The first post I see is a Moral Problems class, and a claim of bias WELL OFCOURSE ITS BIAS UNLESS IT CONFORMS TO YOUR MORAL VIEWS, unless it includes how sri lanki rebels deal with moral problems, its bias because it excludes them...its impossible to have a "fair" morality class

Thorgrim · 03-19-2007, 08:13 PM

I just read some of these compaints, they are so laughable...at a PUBLIC UNIVERSITY, a student, after raising multiple complaints in class, got an A in the course, but said it was horrible because the prof always said "good question, but im not a medical/history/theological expert"...and there was a movie with...a nude person! They even gave a hyperlink and tried to say it was against university policy because it wasn't outlined in the sylabus that there would be naked people

Nixon are these the kinds of character you hung around in college?

I like these, they are funny but annoying..."He stayed on topics some days...he lectured about how he hated bush and america everyday" man, you can't even keep your facts straight in one post

"He actually told us that we provoked the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor"
Oh god what a horrible view, someone had a reason to attack us! Reason != making it justifiable...if a professor DIDN'T mention the economic crisis the US was causing Japan, he shouldn't be allowed to teach

Honestly, the kid won't be happy unless he heard "The Japanese had no reason to attack Pearl Harbor, the Japanese are simply hateful murderous people with no emotions or reason"

I could go on but I'd just have to waste more time on that pathetic site and bore you to death with their grade school complaints

RMNIXON · 03-19-2007, 11:40 PM

Here is the first posting I found right of the top.

Course: PHI 221: Contemporary Moral Issues Course Catalog Description: Philosophical analysis and theory applied to a broad range of contemporary moral issues, including euthanasia, suicide, capital punishment, abortion, war, famine relief, and environmental concerns. Professor: Christine M. Pierce Required? Met a General Ed./diversity/other requirement with a few course options. Lecture Bias: Excessive Comments: The title and description of this course do not at all reflect the content. Suicide, capital punishment, war, and environmental concerns were not even on the syllabus. Famine relief was not covered either, except for one philosopher's opinion that starvation could become obsolete if everyone became a vegetarian. Euthanasia was listed on the syllabus, but we did not cover it. This bait and switch course description flies in the face of the University's "Faculty Rights and Responsibilities" policy statement [http://www.ncsu.edu/provost/governance/Ad_hoc/COFOR/reports/faculty_rights.htm] which claims "intellectual honesty in teaching" as a "specific" responsibility of its faculty members. This teacher misused her authority to decide course content/materials such that they didn't even reflect the course description, which is a gross misuse of one of the University's "primary elements of academic freedom" – the right "to participate in academic program development and determine appropriate curriculum and course content."

One month into the course and with the first exam approaching, I became curious as to why we only studied one side of every issue, that being the liberal side of course. How were students to engage in higher education's loftiest goal of critical thinking with only half of the story? So I asked the professor why we were only getting the liberal viewpoint on these issues, and her response was that she was not aware of any relevant material by conservative philosophers. (I didn't realize that the Philosophy Department had such a limited research data bank!) If the topic of the class is moral issues, a dilemma with at least two arguments, I found it hard to believe that there was no philosophical support for another viewpoint. However, the data must not exist if a professional researcher who has based her life's work on these issues is unable to locate it, right? I even mentioned the Opposing Viewpoints series to her; she said that maybe she would look into it.

That does not sound like a rant from a raving nut about a film with a nude person to me? If anyone wants to cherry pick the site go ahead. I don't know what complaints are legit and are not. It is just a posting board. But they sure are being made! Everyone is free to take a look and judge for themselves.

Diesel66 · 03-19-2007, 11:45 PM

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

What a joke

If a 22+ year old at Harvard can't think for himself, he should have never have gotten in...

These are adults, not kids

There are always conservative viewpoints brought up in class, moderates and conservatives make up a significant majority of college students

Even if all that failed, miraculously, the vast majority of professor go out of their way to bring both sides, and in most fields politics is not involved, even in political science politics is often not involved

these people making this are absolutely pathetic

check out the speech codes at most universities
or read some of the examples from this group
FIRE - Foundation for Individual Rights in Education

Students at SFSU are on trial for stepping on a Hamas flag
FIRE - Free Speech on Trial Today at San Francisco State University

Now remind me, isnt it perfectly legal to burn the US flag in protest?

RMNIXON · 03-19-2007, 11:46 PM

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

Nixon are these the kinds of character you hung around in college?

I like these, they are funny but annoying..."He stayed on topics some days...he lectured about how he hated bush and america everyday" man, you can't even keep your facts straight in one post

I did have an American History professor who liked to rant about how much he hated Reagan and said things like we should scrap the space shuttle and use the money for welfare. My grades improved on my written exams after I became less argumentative in class. I don't think my writing improved that much? He also had us reading Novels like "Native Son" in a history class!

Now, I also had a liberal woman Political Science professor who was very fare and made sure all sides of debate were heard. So as I posted, not all Liberal teachers are a problem. But some clearly are.

MTdream · 03-20-2007, 01:19 AM

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

What a joke

If a 22+ year old at Harvard can't think for himself, he should have never have gotten in...

These are adults, not kids

There are always conservative viewpoints brought up in class, moderates and conservatives make up a significant majority of college students

Even if all that failed, miraculously, the vast majority of professor go out of their way to bring both sides, and in most fields politics is not involved, even in political science politics is often not involved

these people making this are absolutely pathetic

And if you think this is real, your are not in the real world...I have hired and fired more ivy league/top scientific educated people than probably are on this forum...

it is the rare exception of them that can think for them self...even after the best of the best education..

one thing is fact...The Perato Principle applies to all levels...20/80

Thorgrim · 03-20-2007, 01:22 AM

Originally Posted by RMNIXON

I did have an American History professor who liked to rant about how much he hated Reagan and said things like we should scrap the space shuttle and use the money for welfare. My grades improved on my written exams after I became less argumentative in class. I don't think my writing improved that much? He also had us reading Novels like "Native Son" in a history class!

Now, I also had a liberal woman Political Science professor who was very fare and made sure all sides of debate were heard. So as I posted, not all Liberal teachers are a problem. But some clearly are.

If you're taking a basic 1877 or 1865-present US survey course, you should not spend any significant amount of time on Reagan, that was a bad professor in general, I would have complained, that is why you have review sites and what not today...ratemyprofessor.com

its what, almost 15 decades in 15 weeks, about 1-3 classes on a decade a week, if he talked about reagan more than once in a 3 hour period than he was doing you a disservice

You either
A) picked a bad school
B) picked a school that doesn't allow easy class transfers (which i think are automatically A)
C) didn't do basic homework on what profs sucked

there is no
D) I was the poor victim of the vast left wing conspiracy

Thorgrim · 03-20-2007, 01:39 AM

Originally Posted by RMNIXON

Here is the first posting I found right of the top.

Course: PHI 221: Contemporary Moral Issues Course Catalog Description: Philosophical analysis and theory applied to a broad range of contemporary moral issues, including euthanasia, suicide, capital punishment, abortion, war, famine relief, and environmental concerns. Professor: Christine M. Pierce Required? Met a General Ed./diversity/other requirement with a few course options. Lecture Bias: Excessive Comments: The title and description of this course do not at all reflect the content. Suicide, capital punishment, war, and environmental concerns were not even on the syllabus. Famine relief was not covered either, except for one philosopher's opinion that starvation could become obsolete if everyone became a vegetarian. Euthanasia was listed on the syllabus, but we did not cover it. This bait and switch course description flies in the face of the University's "Faculty Rights and Responsibilities" policy statement [http://www.ncsu.edu/provost/governance/Ad_hoc/COFOR/reports/faculty_rights.htm] which claims "intellectual honesty in teaching" as a "specific" responsibility of its faculty members. This teacher misused her authority to decide course content/materials such that they didn't even reflect the course description, which is a gross misuse of one of the University's "primary elements of academic freedom" – the right "to participate in academic program development and determine appropriate curriculum and course content."

One month into the course and with the first exam approaching, I became curious as to why we only studied one side of every issue, that being the liberal side of course. How were students to engage in higher education's loftiest goal of critical thinking with only half of the story? So I asked the professor why we were only getting the liberal viewpoint on these issues, and her response was that she was not aware of any relevant material by conservative philosophers. (I didn't realize that the Philosophy Department had such a limited research data bank!) If the topic of the class is moral issues, a dilemma with at least two arguments, I found it hard to believe that there was no philosophical support for another viewpoint. However, the data must not exist if a professional researcher who has based her life's work on these issues is unable to locate it, right? I even mentioned the Opposing Viewpoints series to her; she said that maybe she would look into it.

That does not sound like a rant from a raving nut about a film with a nude person to me? If anyone wants to cherry pick the site go ahead. I don't know what complaints are legit and are not. It is just a posting board. But they sure are being made! Everyone is free to take a look and judge for themselves.

the idiot saw the course description and the first day of class...well inside the drop/add period...saw the sylabus didn't match up, and she didn't change courses, and then complains it didn't match up...what a dumbass

she probably skipped the first week or two to get drunk/high and by the time she went to class she was stuck there

the argument she makes about it violating university policy is such BS, it doesn't say that a professor must follow the course description exactly or she's in violation of something...the other ones are equally laughable and totally subjective

it seems like either the student or professor got confused that you can't bring 21st century political terms to define philosophy, a russian conservative philosopher would be a communist, that doesn't sound right for a reason, the class wasn't political science and there is no clear left/right spectrum

Philosophy is incredibly complicated, but at the intro level, it's basically Kant v. Mill, i don't think I'd call either "conservative"

That idiot, (and you believed him/her but that doesnt make you an idiot) is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, its like if there was a class on order versus chaos and some moron kept going "why isn't the conservative viewpoint displayed"

wtf are you talking about, Ronald Reagan has nothing to do with this you asshat (to the complaintant)

anyway 99% of these problems can be solved by emailing the head of the department saying you want him to contact the professor and make an anonymous complaint, they'll honor it and trust me the professor will get the complaint...

this is all about trying to say "omg liberals suck" in yet another way, its completely wrong and stupid