1984: Thread

[grarpamp]

Mind Control...


Students Speak Out on Anti-White, Anti-Christian, Anti-American
Culture at Florida University

https://www.theepochtimes.com/students-speak-out-on-anti-white-anti-christian-anti-american-culture-at-florida-university_4937887.html

Florida may be “where woke goes to die,” according to Florida Gov. Ron
DeSantis, who has repeated the line in many speeches.

But talk of its demise is greatly exaggerated, according to some
university students in the state and an organization that tracks
progressive policies on college campuses.

Six conservative students attending a major Florida university told
The Epoch Times, on condition of anonymity, about their frustration
with the anti-white, anti-Christian, and anti-American environment on
campus and in classrooms that makes them feel uncomfortable at best
and threatened at worst.

Across the country, parents have pushed back against their community
school boards for allowing radical race and gender theories in grades
K-12. But experts told The Epoch Times that the same pushback hasn’t
happened at the college level—the birthplace of Critical Race Theory
(CRT).

CRT, the experts said, is rampant across the nation, not just in
Florida. And that means conservative students nationwide are
struggling to navigate college systems, where they face disdain for
their beliefs and encouragement to reject their core values.
Epoch Times Photo On a campaign stop in rural North Florida on Nov. 3,
2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, scorns left-wing
ideology, saying “Florida is where ‘woke’ goes to die.” (Nanette
Holt/The Epoch Times)

Carol Swain, a retired political science and law professor at
Vanderbilt University and a frequent television analyst on race
relations, sympathizes with the struggle conservatives face at
colleges.

But she urges students to think strategically before outing themselves
as holding conservative views, which are often unpopular among or even
demonized by fellow students and professors.

Conservative students should pick their battles carefully, Swain told
The Epoch Times, to successfully finish college—because the country
needs young conservative voices in the professional world.

“There are key players that you want in position—you want
[conservatives] to become university professors, or whatever
profession they’re trying to go into,” Swain said.
‘Extremist’ views

A Christian law student, who supports the National Rifle Association
(NRA), told The Epoch Times he didn’t know he’d been reported as “an
extremist” for expressing conservative views until FBI agents knocked
on his apartment door. They questioned him about his political views
for more than an hour.

A journalism student said she felt bullied by a professor who forced
students to parrot her scorn for America’s “systemic racism” and
affirm “progressive talking points” on immigration, gender-identity
issues, “queer theory,” intersectionality, transgenderism, religious
faith, and the ideas of Karl Marx, author of “The Communist
Manifesto.”

“I can’t write what I truly believe” about these issues, Mia said.
“When I did that, I got an F. In order to pass a class, I have to
affirm leftist ideas I don’t believe in. When I repeat all the talking
points and present them as ideas I believe wholeheartedly, I get As.”

“It feels like being brainwashed when they reward you for repeating
their ideas and punish you for saying things that go against their
beliefs.”
Epoch Times Photo A Florida university student, who asked to be
identified only as Mia, sits with her Bible at home on Christmas break
on Dec. 22, 2022. Expressing Christian views on campus draws scorn
from professors, who openly talk about their “hate” for Christians,
she told The Epoch Times. (Courtesy of Mia)

At the core of the students’ struggle is the university’s apparent
glorification of CRT, a Marxist-derived ideology that substitutes race
or gender for class struggle. The theory divides people into two
groups—oppressors and the oppressed—based on factors such as skin
color or sexual orientation.

One of the leading architects of modern CRT is Ibram X. Kendi, who
attended Florida A&M University, and later taught at the University of
Florida. Kendi’s book, “How to be an Antiracist,” promotes fighting
racism by discriminating against groups that, according to Kendi, are
“oppressors,” such as white males. Antiracism practices often are
taught in classes and employer trainings that promote “diversity,
equity, and inclusion” (DEI).

Students said CRT, gender theory, and other topics considered “woke”
are flourishing at their Florida university.

That’s despite attempts by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to stop racial
activism in education and workplaces in his state by formally banning
CRT training and discrimination.
CRT controversy

In April, DeSantis signed the Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees
Act, also known as the Stop WOKE Act. The law prohibits discriminatory
classroom instruction, such as CRT. And it prohibits employers from
forcing workers to attend antiracism and CRT training.

The law bans instruction that implies someone is responsible for
actions committed in the past by other members of the same race,
color, sex, or national origin. The measure also allows Floridians to
sue if they believe their school or workplace has violated the law.

The Stop WOKE Act originated as a response to the spread of CRT and
other social justice concepts widely promoted by works such as The New
York Times’ 1619 Project, which paints America as a country founded on
slavery and characterizes the nation’s Founding Fathers as racists.

While the 1619 Project has been rejected by many academics,
historians, and politicians, its teachings have been embraced just as
vigorously by many liberals and progressives. Many have held it up as
a model of how history should be taught to children and college
students.
New York Times New York Times Magazine reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones,
creator of The 1619 Project, speaks as colleagues hold a rally outside
The New York Times headquarters in New York City, on Dec. 8, 2022.
(Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Under the Stop WOKE Act, Florida university faculty members who teach
CRT could be fired as part of post-tenure reviews. A violation of the
Stop WOKE Act would make schools ineligible for what is known as
performance funding. That’s extra money awarded by the state for
measurable successes, such as high graduation rates and impressive
median earnings of alumni.The threat of facing those repercussions for
teaching CRT has sparked legal challenges.

Several Florida college professors and students filed a lawsuit
challenging the Stop WOKE Act. They claim the law chills free speech
in the classroom, confuses professors, and violates their First
Amendment rights.

Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker, an appointee of former
President Barack Obama, issued a preliminary injunction against the
law in November. The DeSantis administration is appealing the
decision.
Hostile Environment

Florida college students who spoke with The Epoch Times described a
campus culture focused on race and social justice and hostile to
conservative or Christian views. They asked to use pseudonyms to
protect their identity, fearing retaliation for speaking publicly.

Jeff, a pre-law freshman, told The Epoch Times he felt pressure in an
economics course to write about globalization as a “good thing,” even
though he disagrees with it.

Globalization is a movement to reduce trade barriers and build closer
political, social, and economic ties between countries. It has been
criticized by conservatives, who warn it’s moving countries toward a
one-world government that would strip away the sovereignty of nations.

Ellen, a Florida college freshman, said her classes have elements of
gender theory, climate change, and race woven into teachings on
business. One class defined professional attire by showing what would
be appropriate for men, women, and people who identified as both
genders, or neither.

In a required philosophy course, Ellen’s classmates seemed convinced
they were doomed to die from what they were taught were human-caused
climate changes, she said. The view that fluctuations in weather
patterns might be a normal, natural occurrence that’s happened
throughout history was not presented by the professor, she said.

And when the professor announced that President Joe Biden had
recommitted the United States to the Paris Climate Accords, the room
erupted in applause, she recalled. Unwilling to cheer, the moment made
her feel alienated, she said.

In an introductory business course that focused on DEI, another
student, Luis, said he was told to list all his “identities,”
including being a white, heterosexual, Catholic male. The point of the
assignment seemed to be to make white students feel ashamed, he said.

He ignored the risk of stigma and wrote that he would like to
perpetuate his Irish-American bloodline.
protestors calling for defund police Demonstrators denouncing
“systemic racism” in law enforcement and calling for the defunding of
police departments kneel in Maria Hernandez Park in the borough of
Brooklyn in New York City on June 5, 2020. (Scott Heins/Getty Images)

Journalism major Mia spoke of a required class in which the professor
emphatically spoke about “white privilege” and “systemic racism” as
fact. If students wrote about views contrary to the professor’s
anti-white, anti-establishment positions, their grades suffered, she
said.

Speaking among themselves, classmates indicated they were afraid to
ask questions or assert their true beliefs, she said.

One professor, who lauded the teachings of Marx, warned students on
the first day of class that “hate speech,” which the professor didn’t
define, would be reported to the dean, Mia said. It had a chilling
effect.

The professor also warned students not to get “too comfortable” in
writing about their beliefs in a journaling assignment, Mia said. That
could lead to students being reported and punished, the professor
promised, indicating she’d lodged formal complaints against students
for such violations.

The professor praised students who acknowledged, with apparent regret,
that their parents had not raised them to hold views similar to the
professor’s but were thankful to finally be learning about progressive
beliefs, Mia said.
Writing Satire for an ‘A’

The traditional belief that journalists should question authority and
think for themselves was not taught in the required journalism class,
Mia said. All assignments in the class would be “viewed through a lens
of social justice,” students were told on the first day.

White people were described as “privileged” in readings assigned by
the black professor, Mia said.

Students were told by the professor that it’s a “myth” that
journalists must report both sides of a story. For example, if a
journalist covers a story involving members of the Ku Klux Klan, the
public doesn’t have to hear from them, the professor told the class,
Mia said.

“Our government and social institutions have created advantages that
disproportionately channel wealth, power, and resources to white
people,” a slide from the professor proclaimed. “This affects
everyone, whether we are aware of it or not.”
Epoch Times Photo In a required journalism class at a major Florida
university, the professor spends most of the time teaching about race,
class, gender-identity, and sexual orientation, rather than principles
of journalism, according to a student who asked to be identified only
as Mia. (Courtesy of Mia)

Students faced the ethical dilemma of choosing between turning in
writings that affirmed the professor’s views, with which they
disagreed, or failing the class, Mia said.

When she turned in a paper with views that opposed her professor’s,
but were attributed to others, Mia received a failing grade. In that
assignment, she defended Christianity as an institution that helped
end slavery. That position was attacked by a teaching assistant, who
penned scathing comments.

Desperate to pull up her grade, Mia came up with a plan. She’d pretend
to agree, pursuing assignments as if writing for the satirical,
social-media powerhouse, The Babylon Bee.

“It’s horrible. I feel so fake,” Mia told The Epoch Times. “I’m not
learning anything, except to write things I don’t believe.”
Conservative on Campus

A Christian now studying law, Robert was only an undergraduate when he
discovered the risk of being known as a conservative on campus. That
revelation quickly became clear when two FBI agents knocked on his
apartment door at 9 a.m. They told him they’d received an anonymous
tip that he was “an extremist.”

“They did ask me if I was an extremist or was a member of extremist
groups,” he told The Epoch Times. “I asked them to define it. When
they hesitated, I asked if being a Christian or a member of the NRA
qualified. They said, ‘No.'”

To their credit, Robert said, the two agents seemed to be “reasonable
people.” They told him that, after speaking with him, they had no idea
why someone would report him. He was told the case against him would
be closed, he said.
Youth climate activists Environmental activists rally on Capitol Hill
in Washington, on March 25, 2022. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Robert, now a second-year law student, says Florida’s new Stop Woke
Act is “toothless.” Teachings that applaud principles of CRT, such as
the need for “social justice,” are ubiquitous on campus, he said. In
law courses, students are taught to consider skin color with regard to
crime and punishment.

Robert said that because blacks have suffered racism at the hands of
whites, students debated if “systemic racism” should be considered
when sentencing people of color.

Discussions centered on whether black people should be punished less
severely than white people for similar crimes to compensate for
historical oppression of blacks by whites, and because whites, on
average, live longer, Robert said.

“The new trend is to see the difference and discriminate,” he said.
‘Tear up the Constitution’

Robert, who focuses on constitutional law, recalled students arguing
that the U.S. Constitution was illegitimate from the start, and was
written by racist, old, white men. The professor didn’t express that
he condoned that point of view, but he didn’t offer a rebuttal,
either, Robert said.

Law students, he added, “talk about how we should tear up the Constitution.”
Epoch Times Photo A slide showing part of a quiz on bankruptcy law
describes a scenario involving divorced lesbians, though gender and
sexual orientation have nothing to do with the concept. (Courtesy of
Chris)

Chris, a third-year law student, objects to the pervasive LGBT
ideology woven into classes.

“What does homosexuality have to do with bankruptcy, right?” he asked.
“They were literally just pushing this same-sex, homosexual agenda.”

When answering questions on timed exams, students often lose precious
moments trying to determine if gender is pertinent to the legal
concept, or if it’s just an attempt to “virtue-signal,” Chris said.

Legal textbooks routinely use “she” when describing situations in
which gender is not specified, Chris said. That causes confusion.

“I had to get used to reading these textbooks constantly referring to
a lawyer as she.”

Traditionally, it’s been considered correct to use “he” and “him” as
gender-neutral pronouns. Progressives have insisted on using other
pronouns such as “she” and “they” when gender is not specifically
designated. And failing to use a person’s “preferred pronouns” has
meant harsh punishments, such as expulsion for students and
termination for instructors around the country.
Epoch Times Photo Conchy Vasquez (R) and Jony Rozon, both engineers at
the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Division Newport, discuss the
importance of using correct pronouns in a training video for the U.S.
Navy. (Courtesy of the Defense Visual Information Distribution
Service)

“The left preaches tolerance…until they become strong,” and then
tolerance for opposing views ends, Chris said. “That’s what we saw
with the communist revolutions.”
‘Our Policy is Not to Comment’

Ray Rodrigues, Chancellor of the State University System of Florida,
assumed the post to oversee the state’s universities in November. He
was asked by The Epoch Times about students’ claims that professors
teach CRT and radical gender theory as irrefutable truth, and how
students say they fear speaking out against such class material.

“As you know, the legislature passed legislation regarding this issue,
and we have prepared a regulation to implement that legislation,”
spokeswoman Renee Fargason, an assistant vice chancellor for public
affairs, wrote in an emailed response. “It has been enjoined by the
Court, and our policy is to not comment on pending litigation.”

She directed The Epoch Times to the Board’s Statement of Free Expression.
Epoch Times Photo The iconic Century Tower on the University of
Florida campus in Gainesville, Fla. on July 30, 2022. (Nanette
Holt/The Epoch Times)

Florida universities actively promote CRT, according to the Critical
Race Training in Education database maintained by the Legal
Insurrection Foundation.

Florida colleges follow CRT principles by renaming campus spaces after
progressive icons, and they present race-based workshops and resources
for students and staff, the organization says. The Sunshine State’s
universities also have encouraged students to report each other for
“biased” speech or beliefs, according to the database.

For example, the University of Florida in Gainesville made headlines
for naming a study room on campus in honor of Karl Marx. The school
removed the name after media attention in March.

At Florida State University in Tallahassee, the College of Education
offers antiracism training resources, including a list of children’s
books to “combat racism” in children as young as 3.

The college’s website cites Harvard research asserting that by age 5,
“white children are strongly biased towards whiteness. To counter this
bias, experts recommend acknowledging and naming race and racism with
children as early and as often as possible.”

The University of Central Florida in Orlando was sued by Speech First
in 2021 for creating rules and regulations that “suppress and punish
speech about the political and social issues of the day.”

The lawsuit described a campus atmosphere where students reported each
other for “biased” views, triggering investigations by the university.
Students were forced to sit through lectures on university-approved
speech that Speech First compared to a “reeducation camp.”  The result
was students became afraid to voice their views, the lawsuit stated.
Toeing the Line

Cornell law professor William Jacobson, founder of the Legal
Insurrection Foundation, said the experiences of the Florida students
are typical throughout the states.

Conservative students at Cornell and at institutions around the
country have complained to him about the same issues, he told The
Epoch Times.
Epoch Times Photo William Jacobson, a Cornell law professor, started a
database of universities engaged in Critical Race Theory. (Courtesy of
William  Jacobson)

The increasing popularity of CRT prompted him to launch CritialRace.org in 2020.

Students are being conditioned to go along with a professor’s
political views and say whatever is necessary in order to survive
their courses, even going against their own deeply held beliefs, he
said.

“It’s a massive problem because one bad grade in a course can keep you
out of graduate school. Students are mostly terrified of going against
the professor. That’s something I hear all the time.”

As the reach of CRT has expanded, so has the scope of
CriticalRace.org, Jacobson said. The database now includes private
medical, military, and K-12 schools. It has examined hundreds of U.S.
higher education institutions and documented critical race training
courses.

The problem is that universities have developed what Jacobson calls
“systemic repression.” By hiring politically progressive professors
and mandating progressive policies, administrators create a culture
that allows little room for dissent.

“That’s the complete opposite of what higher education is supposed to
be about,” Jacobson said.

Students parrot materials and professors’ views to survive their
courses, he said. Meanwhile, administrators pretend the students
aren’t being pressured. And when students complain, administrators may
demand proof that students were penalized for speaking against a
professor’s beliefs.

“How are you going to prove it without putting yourself at risk?”
Jacobson asked.
Pervasive Problem

Swain, who wrote “Black Eye For America: How Critical Race Theory is
Burning Down the House,” agrees that student fear is a pervasive
problem.

“I have often told conservative students that they have rights. They
should be protected against discrimination,” Swain said.

Going along with racial and gender ideology to get through college is
more common than people realize, Swain said.

The political left has persuaded many students to jettison whatever
values and principles they’d held for most of their early lives, she
added.

It starts with freshman orientation, the first day on campus, she
said. That’s when established students and administrators let new
students know that their past beliefs—based on their religion or
family values—are unsophisticated.

To understand the opposition, conservative students should become
familiar with Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals,” a guide of
progressive beliefs, Swain said. The book advocates for deception,
infiltration, and manipulation to win political power.
Epoch Times Photo Carol Swain, author and commentator, advises
conservative students to come up with strategies to get through
college.

Swain advises students of faith to be cautious when making comments in
a hostile classroom environment. Don’t give an advantage to those who
mean harm, she warns.

“I think in the Bible, there were plenty of instances of people using
subterfuge,” Swain said. “And sometimes when you’re dealing with the
enemy, and you’re in a war—and I think we’re definitely in a cultural
war—students have to make [strategic] decisions.”

Swain knows of students who wanted to be medical doctors and were
asked their opinion on abortion. The students knew that if they
revealed their pro-life views, they wouldn’t be admitted to medical
school.

Medical schools and doctoral programs may ask candidates questions on
abortion, LGBT issues, or transgenderism “to weed people out, so they
don’t have opportunities,” she said.

Parents should avoid paying for college classes at schools that
subvert freedom of speech or religion, Swain said.

Students should document instances of discrimination based on their
religion, race, or sex, and seek legal help if needed, she advised.
Before signing up for classes, Christians should check for lists,
often published online by students, that name professors who
discriminate against people of that faith. If possible, they should
avoid those instructors, she said.

But it’s essential for some, those who are strong and prepared, to
take a stand, she added.
Activism at Work

Many students pursue degrees in journalism, political science,
criminal justice, social sciences, or medicine with the aim of
activism, Swain said.

“They went in with [a social-justice] agenda to change the world.”

The fruit of that is being seen now, as people with far-left political
ideology land jobs as prosecutors, who then can  manipulate the legal
system, Jacobson agreed.

And though the idea is contrary to American legal tradition, cultural
Marxism has become prevalent in legal thought, particularly in the
last 30 years, Jacobson said. Many just didn’t realize that until the
pandemic struck.

George Floyd’s death provided the spark to push the agenda into the
open, he said.

“I think it’s fair to say that students have a distorted view of evil
in the world,” Jacobson said. “Progressive ideology portrays
capitalism as the core evil in the world, and Western society.”

Students probably have little knowledge of the crimes against humanity
committed by Marxist and communist leaders, such as the Soviet Union’s
Joseph Stalin, China’s Mao Zedong, or Cambodia’s Pol Pot, of the Khmer
Rouge, he added. All three were responsible for millions of deaths.

When students are taught about colonialism and slavery, but not the
effects of communism, they develop a myopic, anti-Western view of
history, he said.
Epoch Times Photo Mia, a journalism student attending a Florida public
university, says she is forced to write papers on race that go against
her beliefs in order to pass. (Courtesy of Mia)

Stress can run high for conservative students as every value they’ve
ever known is challenged by peers and professors at a university, the
experts said.

Mia worries about how routinely parroting her professors’ worldview,
in direct opposition to her own, may affect her as she gets further in
her classes.

Affirming the “cornucopia of leftist talking points” in journalism
classes has become easier, she frets. She wonders if this is what it’s
like to be brainwashed.

“I feel like I’m throwing away my integrity, which is a big deal for
me,” she said. “I worry that I may soften to the other side’s
viewpoint, the more I hear it, repeat it, and pretend that it’s my
own.”