Protests Provide a Once in a Lifetime Opportunity to Reform Our Colleges and Universities
With great chaos comes great opportunity. Never let a crisis go to waste. However you want to say it, the chance to completely reform and remake our colleges has been handed to us on a silver platter.
It’s way past time to do it, but up until now, no politician has had the stomach to go against such an entrenched system. But, as Barack Obama might say, we have the fierce urgency of now. Left-wing, indoctrinated students and outside agitators have literally put on a master class, showing us how bad our higher education system has become. Some professors even signed letters essentially supporting Hamas.
If this isn’t the time to reform our colleges – then, when?
Random Samplings is brought to you by the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
University of Texas Tower on Jan. 7, 2006 following the Longhorns’ win over Southern California for the 2005 national championship. (Photo by Lynn Woolley)
The “how” could get sticky – but the “who” is the larger question.
It will take a big thinker, a great orator, and a person with power. Someone must stand up for reason on campus. In the sixties, at the University of California at Berkeley, it was Gov. Ronald Reagan who stood up and proclaimed that “negotiating” with radical students was beyond ridiculous. Of course, he was right.
Students are privileged to attend a flagship university in a major state, or an Ivy League school, or even a junior college. They have no right to set the rules, occupy campus buildings, or protest outside of accordance with rules that are set by adults.
It was Reagan then, but who will do this now?
Who has the intestinal fortitude to take a major stand for America, for freedom of speech, for freedom of assembly – but in accordance with the law and campus policies? Better yet, who will stand up and say these ignorant, America-hating students are wrong?
No one in the Democratic Party will do this.
In fact, a major clique within the Party is known as The Squad, and it’s comprised of several members of Congress who are antisemitic. Chief among them is U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota who famously says that on 9/11, some people did something. She could not bring herself to say that Muslim terrorists attacked America. While members of The Squad are typically anti-American and are a menace to society, they are few in number, and that’s good.
Video: Following nine days of silence regarding the protests, Joe Biden made a brief statement on 5/2/24 but took no questions. Note that he mentioned antisemitism, but also “Islamophobia” and hatred against Arab-Americans and Palestinian-Americans, possibly in an attempt to placate student protesters.
So, what about Republicans?
We have some strong voices in The Republican Party. Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana is the best orator in the bunch. He has quite a way with words and an amazing ability to make a sharp point in a few sentences. But he’s not the guy. Neither is Chip Roy, J.D. Vance, Jim Jordan, Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz, or any number of other respected conservatives.
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At the national level, it pretty much has to be Donald Trump, and if Biden beats him in November, we can forget about it.
Of course, our college reformer could come from the state level.
He or she would probably have to be a governor, and that means Greg Abbott of Texas or Ron DeSantis of Florida – assuming one of them would take it on. But Abbott took on public school choice, and DeSantis fought and defeated Disney. So, it’s doable. It would just have to take place in a bellwether state and Texas and Florida are all we’ve got.
Failing that, perhaps a major think tank could make it happen.
Dr. Kevin Roberts of the Heritage Foundation is a fighter for the American Way. So is Greg Sindelar and his amazing group at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the country’s top state-based think tank. There are other conservative organizations that could do it, but these are two with a solid record of success in making positive change.
We can’t let the moment pass.
Our colleges and universities are badly broken and everyone knows it now. We know we have to do something, and we know it’s going to be painful. Some students with study visas will have to be sent back home. Some students ought to be expelled. We must root out the paid agitators, and they and whoever is backing them must be held to account.
Since colleges claim to be sanctuaries of diversity and inclusion, hatred of Jews must be expunged and that means a lot of antisemitic professors are going to have to be fired.
Just a question here, and I will get pushback on this, but:
Suppose we close down all public universities for one year while we reset the campuses?
Just at the University of Texas at Austin alone, about 500 professors signed a letter in support of the pro-terrorism protests. They also called for the resignation of UT President Jay Hartzell. Based on his statements and actions of the past week, I’d say keep him, and fire the professors. It will take a while to get them replaced.
I know it’s not practical to shut down for year, but if only we could, we’d have time to seriously fix the colleges and repair the damage that the antisemites have done to the reputations of these once-great universities. (This opinion is wholly mind, and likely isn’t shared by anyone else.) Of course, football and basketball could continue, since those students are not there to study anyway.
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We lost a year of public school due to bad decisions relating to the pandemic. So, yes, we could do it, and a lot of people wouldn’t like it, but it would work. It would make a statement. Would it end these college protests? Not at all. College students have a constitutional right to protest, and they’re welcome to do it. But they would protest in accordance with the law, college rules and regulations, and with the knowledge that antisemitism is hate, and will not be tolerated any more than a college would tolerate hatred toward black or brown people.
The opportunity for reform has slapped us in the face like a wet newspaper.
Who’s our champion? Who will step up? Or will we forget all about it and get back to the same old same old with the same left-wing, anti-American, anti-capitalism professors who caused this in the first place? Let’s hope we don’t let this crisis go to waste.
Lynn Woolley is a Texas-based author, broadcaster, and songwriter. Follow his podcast at https://www.PlanetLogic.us. Check out his author’s page at https://www.Amazon.com/author/lynnwoolley. Order books direct from Lynn at https://PlanetLogicPress.Square.Site. Email Lynn at lwoolley9189@gmail.com.
Yes, you can order “A Stitch in Time” from online stores or from me direct using the Square link above. And join me on Saturday, May 18 from 6 PM – 9 PM at the Kissing Tree Vineyards 830 FM 1950, Eddy, TX for an evening of music, great food and wine and we’ll raise a bit of money to help one of the January 6 prisoners’ legal fund. (This is a ticketed event.) Hope to see you there, and bring your books if you’d like them signed.
