VIETNAM VETERANS FOR ACADEMIC REFORM
The University of Kansas Student Auxiliary
V.V.A.R.: Leading the student revolt on campus against speech codes, political correctness, multiculturalism, gender feminism, dormitory re-education, lying about Vietnam, and other instruments of academic oppression.
Leonard Magruder - Founder/President
Former professor of psychology - Suffolk College, N.Y.
Member: National Association of Scholars
CONTACT: Magruder44@aol.com - Phone: 785-312-9303
STUDENTS TO LEFTISTS: WE DON’T BELIEVE YOU - YOU LIED ABOUT VIETNAM - YOU SUPPORTED TYRANNY AND GENOCIDE - NOW YOU ARE KILLING FREE SPEECH
(part 2 of 2 parts)
by Leonard Magruder
November 28, 2003
SUBJECT: Student uprising - part 2. Students in open revolt against leftist tyranny.
Returning to the present, the university, through such horrifying new academic imposters as multiculturalism, speech codes, gender feminism, deconstructionism, and the neo-fascist mentality of “political correctness” has become nothing but a private playground for a bizarre collection of metaphysical oddities and crypto-theologies, divorced from 2000 years of Western civilization, an Auschwitz of the human spirit, creating an increasingly sociopathic society. The answer is the return of theology to its proper place in the dialogue. The idea that the university can guarantee to us that God does not exist, implied by its studied neglect of the question, is absurd. He may not exist - but then again He might. But one thing is certain, to run the question off campus is clearly academic bigotry of the highest possible order. No one versed in the history of ideas in the West can take anything said in the humanities and social sciences today seriously - it is increasingly baby talk because of their covert, unexamined philosophical assumptions.
As we said in the Manifesto in 1982, “The truth is that the university, in the social sciences and the humanities primarily, is intellectually and morally bankrupt. The appalling blindness of secularists to their own covert articles of faith, their arrogant assumption that they need not expose their views to dialogue, the cruel pass to which they have brought this nation, all this is unacceptable. The time unquestionably has come for the American people to demand the liberation of their educational system from the defensive, hypocritical, and potentially treasonous confines into which they have been betrayed. We therefore call for an end to the present aparthid policy of secularists of ostracizing theologians and expect the seminary, especially where it is part of, or close to, a university, such as at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Berkeley, to be in the forefront of renewal in higher education. “ The last line of the Manifesto of 1982 is especially relevant to the crisis in 2003, “We are under no further obligation to indulge the deluded with all humanity at stake. “
Some of the most powerful writing of our time is being done by theologians trained in fields such as physics and molecular biology. Scientific developments such as Big Bang theory, the Anthropic principle, and Intelligent Design have the potential to radically alter the lines of the debate with regard to reality, ushering in a cultural revolution, but these writings are being systematically kept from students in American universities.
It was bad in 1982 - it is even worse now. And our group was alone then. What triggered it all off was the way the campus treated the returned veterans of Vietnam, and the dawning perception that something had gone radically wrong intellectually on campus in the 60’s.The seminal event of the launching of V.V.A.R. was Prof. Magruder’s protest resignation at Suffolk College to protest the treatment of vets, followed by a Crisis Conference on Bias in the University and the Media, with Vietnam veterans invited to meet with academics and for the first time testifying against the war protestors and the media. “The ‘peace’ movement pulled the trigger on my men,” said a former Army Captain, Vietnam.
Said “The Western Student Press,” (Feb. 8, 1982), “The organization sponsored several seminars and released a series of press statements expounding its goals and citing American university faculties as having been biased against Vietnam vets on campus. Complaints against higher education included its emphasis on moral relativism, overemphasis on Marxism, the bizarre views of feminists, and the use of students for ideological purposes as had occured in the 60’s.” The genesis of much that students are complaining about on today’s campus can be seen in this news item. This was followed shortly by the writing of the Manifesto and its delivery by Prof. Magruder, by appointment, to the White House.
But much has happened since then, and many have joined the battle and some academics are coming out of their holes to face charges of their theories having aided and abetted racism, anti-Semitism, and now a new enemy, among other failings.
Since 1982 we have welcomed in turn as allies, Accuracy in Academia, Center for the Study of Popular Culture, Campus Watch, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Independent Women’s Forum, Students for Academic Freedom. American Council of Trustees and Alumni, Noindoctrination, and Campus Watch.
The major fact about these organizations is that they are bringing this whole issue of indoctrination in our universities out into the open, with more than one of them managing to bring the issue to the attention of Congress.They are even getting on national TV, last week on Nightline.
From “The Chronicle of Higher Education,” Oct. 31.- “Panelists on Capitol Hill, , testifying at a U.S. Senate committeee hearing on “intellectual diversity” at colleges, argued that overbroad conduct policies are stifling the free-speech rights of students throughout the nation. The hearing was further evidence that the debate over free expression in higher education is reverberating outside academe. “What does free speech stand for if its not allowed on campus”, asked Sen. Judd Greg of New Hampshire. Anne D. Neal, President of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, described a broad threat to the free exchange of ideas at colleges, citing the disinviting of politically incorrect speakers, politicized instruction by faculty members, and one-sided teach-ins as examples. She proposed that university trustees adopt a statement such as “The Academic Bill of Rights” calling for faculty members to present a balanced view of contentious issues, insisting that their institutions offer broad-based survey courses, and ensuring that speakers programs present a range of opinions.
The Academic Bill of Rights, authored by David Horowitz, recognizes that political partisanship is detrimental to the students’ academic experience. It promotes intellectual diversity and an environment that is hospitable to all points of view. It would call for an end to unequal funding of student organizations that host guest speakers.
But the bill does not place quotas based on party affiliation or ideology and does not dictate any academic curriculum. It simply asks university administrators to promote diversity in ideas in addition to race and gender. The theme of the movement is “ you can’t get an education with only half the facts.”
That is exactly what we said in 1982. Some of the most important ideas ever conceived by mankind are being deliberately kept from students, then, and now. And while we strongly endorse the Academic Bill of Rights, it is the return of the full spectrum of ideas, as we pointed out in 1982, that is the real key to reform.
As William Bennett, former Sec. of Education recently wrote in “Why We Fight”: “For forty years, leading educators and intellectuals have been saying and writing and teaching that the United States was no better and might be even be worse than its enemies, that Western civilization was a mask under which one crime after another has been visited upon the poorer nations of the world, and that good and evil themselves are a matter of perspective, if not mere opinion. Some of the noblest ideas ever framed by the mind of man, including democracy, patriotism, honor, and freedom, have been systematically drained of meaning.”
Another leftist atrocity against students that has reached the ears of Congress is the speed code, straight out of the 60’s by way of the leftist guru Marcuse.
Philadelphia, Pa. 10-28 - “The U.S. Congress will consider the menace to free speech caused by campus speech codes. Greg Lukianoff, of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) will tell a Senate Committee about a number of ways in which the freedom of speech of college and university students is curtailed on many campuses. Because these codes are so overbroad that even mildly controversial speech can be punished under them, they have frequently been use to silence students on all parts of the political spectrum. Also to be discussed, the epidemic of conservative college newspaper thefts that is plaguing the nation, the throwing away or even burnng of newspapers containing viewpoints with which someone disagrees. Campus administrators steal and censor student papers too, as happened at Hampton Univ. in Virginia recently.
But there is more exciting news. Students themselves are attacking the brainwashers, right on campus:
“The Student Body Strikes Back”, article in the Pennsylvanian Daily 9-26- “Students across the nation are rising up against what they view as strong political biases on college campuses. Headed by conservative author David Horowitz, a national organization of clubs knows as Students for Academic Freedom has formed chapters on 106 college campuses since the inception of the program in May.”We want to promote intellectual diversity on campus and ultimately we want the university to adopt the Academic Bill of Rights. “It’s to the point where conservative students are intimidated into not speaking out in class,” said sophomore Eric Rechschaffen.
In an article on CNBS News.com titled “High Noon in Texas”, the writer said, “Fed up with what it views as “an overwhelming liberal bias in higher education,” a group of conservative students at the Univ. of Texas has been compiling a list of professors who allegedly use their classes for the indoctrination of students.” Said Austin Kinghorn student chairman of the new group, “There are a lot of professors out there who don’t just teach the facts, but also mold the curriculum in a way that attempts to produce a certain mindset in their students.” The group distributed a list of these offending professors at a table on campus last week as students were registering for classes.
The first use of the term “High Noon” in this fashion, however, occured at the Univ. of Kansas last year in a battle between Mr. Magruder and gender feminists in the philosophy dept:
PRESS RELEASE: High Noon Shootout at Wescoe HallLeonard Magruder, a student at the University of Kansas and President of Vietnam Veterans for Academic Reform walked unhindered at high noon yesterday thoroughout Wescoe Hall in defiance of a ban by the Chairman of the Philosophy Dept. because Magruder wrote that gender feminists were lying to the nation’s schoolchildren.
The High Noon Shootout at Wescoe Hall should be understood as the firing of the opening shot in a final battle to save our universities, and the nation from our universities. This is the beginning of total war against all campus movements that are oppressing and indoctrinating students.
Said Mr. Magruder, “The university is now at war with America. Following the tragedy of Sept. 11 many university faculty and even some student organizations are spreading the same lies the 60’s protestors did in their betrayal of South Vietnam, charging that America is immoral, racist, genocidal, and imperialistic, and that we deserved what happened. All lies.”
WAIT ! - THIS JUST IN - MORE STUDENT REVOLT !
From FrontPageMag.- “ Here in Minnesota, the Center of the American Experiment - one of the nation’s largest state-based think tanks - has just launched e-Pluribus, a college outreach program that will promote intellectual diversity at campuses across the state. Our goal is to build a new consensus that the classroom is no place for ideological proselytizing, and that a truly liberal education must expose students to many points of view. An important aspect of e-Pluribus’ work will be to publicize the degree to which a stifling liberal orthodoxy reigns at Minnesota institutions of higher learning. In the months ahead, e-Pluribus will expand its presence across Minnesota. We will encourage students to form their own campus organizations - and to start alternative newspapers - to challenge left-wing orthodoxy.”
So here is what all this amounts to. Most of our great universities are state owned. And they want to seperate church and state. And this was clearly acomplished by 1982 as seen in our Manifesto. But this has led to brainwashing, and now students are complaining that “half the story is being left out.” So here is the lesson. You can’t seperate church and state without inviting totalitarianism and giving dangerous crackpots like Chomsky standing ovations. And on top of that, leftists hate Western religion so much they have sided with the Palestinians creating a hugh wave of anti-Semitism on campus, and also sided with the Islamists. And those people say they want to kill you, your wife, and your children. Now what ?
Calling national attention to the imbalance and listing professors by their bias is a beginning. But there is a substratum to the terms “liberal” and “conservative” where the real issue lies, and that is the clash of worldviews, the realm of metaphysics. The true imbalance is here, and that is why the real solution is what we called for in 1982, dialogue between philosophy, psychology, and theology. But the problem is most universites no longer have a school of theology. They were illegitimately run out long ago, and what few remain are on the periphery of the campus and ostracized. Universities do have schools where the religions are taught, but from what is imagined to be a neutral position, which is an illusion, nothing but a hidden, arbitrary, metaphysical position.The “truth question” is never raised by the professors and the students have long been trained never to raise it.
It gets much, much worse. Please see our new Manifesto of Student Liberation from Leftist Tyranny at: www.v-v-a-r.org [new location as of March 2004]
V.V.A.R. calls for a second Conference on Bias in the University and the Media to be held at the Univ. of Kansas. We need some K.U. student organization to sponsor a readingand discussion of the charges in the above new Manifesto as the begining of an ongoing forum where students and all others concerned can call upon known brainwashers at K.U. to defend their position, and we propose this also for the University of Texas where the idea of the lists began.
Also- to all Vietnam vets.The battle is clearly joined and we are rolling. Remember, it was the campus leftists who engineered the Great Betrayal of the 60’s.Whenever you hear of students at any local college fighting indoctrination by leftist faculty we urge you to publicly acknowledge their efforts and support and honor them. And of course, seek every opportunity you can to get on campus and tell students what really happened in the 60’s.Check also to see if your local college is using the new, more accurate, books and films we mentioned.
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Founder/President, V.V.A.R.
Phone: 785-312-9303
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