Thursday, June 18, 2009
School freedom is elusive
Linda Whitlock
Recent columns
- Seeing racism where it's not
- Sanford could still be a hero
- Skeptics or traitors?
- Murder can't be an option
From the RoundTable blog
I sighed when I returned from a recent trip to the news that Liberty University had rescinded official support for the College Democrats. No matter the reason, Liberty's action, I knew, would only reinforce the media-fueled perception that conservatives are close-minded and intolerant.
If the letters to the editor hadn't alerted me to Liberty's faux pas in the first place, I'd still have had no trouble predicting their content. Most, to no surprise, criticized the decision and ridiculed the university as woefully misnamed.
Even Roanoke Times columnist Dan Casey got into the act by holding a contest -- with a prize, no less -- to see which reader could come up with the most apropos new name for the school ("Readers take liberties with university's name," June 9 column).
As the mirth at Liberty's expense proves, however, not everyone recognizes liberty in action. Far from acting contrary to its name, the university, in making its decision, was, in fact, exercising its liberty.
Whether the decision was wise or not is debatable, and my fellow columnist, John Long, wrote an excellent column (with which I agree) arguing that it wasn't. But a violation of liberty? Nope. As a private institution, Liberty has the, uh, liberty to decide which campus groups get to use its money and its name.
Admittedly, we expect a university to be open to the free exchange of ideas. But the liberty to exchange ideas freely isn't all that common on even some public college campuses where explicit or implicit speech codes limit the ideas students can express.
On its Web site (www.thefire.org), for example, a Foundation for Individual Rights in Education press release documents a recent incident at the Community College of Alleghany County in Pennsylvania.
In April, school authorities stopped student Christine Brashier from distributing brochures about the organization Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. Brashier was ordered to destroy her brochures and threatened with "academic misconduct" if she failed to comply.
Closer to home, last year the University of Virginia officially recognized the conservative Burke Society only after turning the group down twice. According to John Robinson's article in the Charlottesville News & Arts ("Finally official, conservative student group hosts first speaker," Oct. 28-Nov. 3) and posted at the FIRE Web site, the student council initially rejected the group's request because "its constitution lacked clarity, and contained a clause that may be considered exclusionary."
If Liberty University's actions seem anti-liberty to some, clearly the school is in good company. But regardless of what a college or university does, students still retain the liberty to go elsewhere. The same isn't true of children in K-12 education.
Unless parents can pay for private education or teach their kids at home, children effectively are hostages to the public schools -- schools that, as we've seen at William Fleming High School, can even determine, without parental knowledge or consent, the types of diplomas students will receive. That's a true violation of student (and parental) liberty.
Both candidates for governor consider education a priority. And well they should, given that education, as the state's biggest expense, eats up nearly 40 percent of operating funds. Creigh Deeds' plan primarily targets higher education, while Bob McDonnell's focus is directed toward K-12.
McDonnell supports charter schools, but neither candidate has suggested giving parents real liberty in educating their kids. That's too bad. Tax credits or vouchers or something similar could make it easier for parents so inclined to opt out of the public schools, thereby freeing tax dollars for some other important purpose.
Who knows? Maybe Virginia's transportation department could use the savings to reopen the closed rest areas. Nah, just kidding!
Whitlock, a Roanoke Times columnist, is an adjunct English professor who lives in Salem.
