Dennis Durband21

The nation’s largest public university has big plans on Monday and Tuesday. Arizona State University’s Tunnel of Oppression Student Organization is sponsoring the 11^th annual “Tunnel of Oppression.” It’s a time to beat back the scourge of homophobia and heterosexism, among the other most pressing problems of our day.

If you are one of those eeeevil, hate-filled homophobic “spelunkers,” don’t bother showing up at the “tunnel” in the Arizona Ballroom of the Memorial Union on the Tempe campus.

This free and politically correct program aims “to create an awareness of various forms of oppression and its effects within society” and campus community. Participants will be guided – indoctrinated? -- through a 30-minute interactive and engaging experience that includes a variety of role-play scenarios, video clips, and activities designed to expose participants to racism, homophobia, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, domestic violence, and other forms of oppression. For those of you wondering, ableism is defined as stereotyping, negative attitudes, and discrimination.

At the end of this program, students have an opportunity to debrief and process the experience. This is code language for indoctrination in homo mania.

Also featured will be a fair highlighting students organizations involved in social justice efforts on campus. “Social justice” is code language for “hate Bush,” “anti-war,” and for some, “Marxism.”

This event should bring out ASU’s finest radical, humanist, leftist libs. Should be a real fashion show worthy of a “pride parade.”

The “Tunnel of Oppression” art gallery will attempt to raise awareness of “oppression in various art forms.” The negative attitudes and discrimination against those with conservative and Christian views will not be an area of focus. In fact, this whole charade seems to be a matter of the intolerant oppressors celebrating their intolerance of people who believe in traditional values. Over the last several years, the Intergroup Relations Center at ASU has apparently not been able to stamp out homophobia, heterosexism and ableism. Further taxpayer funding is needed for programs and events to get the job done.

Don’t look for any of the Marxist professors to be exposed for beating up on Christians in the classroom. Don’t look for a Voice of the Martyrs booth. Don’t be surprised if an anti-war, hate-America rally breaks out.

On a cookie cutter liberal campus where real problems exist, the imaginary problems will be magnified by those attending this event.

Those on campus scorned for not buying into evolution, global warming and other leftist mythology will not get any sympathy or attention.

So this is just an extracurricular activity, you ask? Guess again. Students can earn class credit for participating in this PC bazaar that passes for real education. Apparently, it’s events like this that make the case for better funding of public education.

While this malarkey is going on at ASU and other public indoctrination centers around the nation, one can’t help but think of little Patrick Henry College in Virginia. At Patrick Henry, real education occurs without the Mickey Mouse stuff. Many of Henry’s students are high achieving home schoolers who have always missed out on the PC socialization so “vital” to preparing the nation’s work force.

This winter, public education advocates will descend upon the state capital in Phoenix screaming for additional funding. When that happens, our legislators should remember the “Tunnel of Oppression” and other far flung notions of education and fund only what is actually necessary. State lawmakers should guard public purse strings at that time and encourage the leftist indoctrination centers to seek more support from the private sector, as other large universities have done.

I looked up Patrick Henry College on the Internet and found the following:

The Distinctives of Patrick Henry College include practical apprenticeship methodology; a deliberate outreach to home schooled students; financial independence; a general education core based on the classical liberal arts; a dedication to mentoring and discipling Christian students; and a community life that promotes virtue, leadership, and strong, life-long commitments to God, family and society.

My purpose here is not to encourage everyone to send their children to a Christian college. Conservatives come in all faiths. However, Patrick Henry is just one example of a college where real education goes on. This should not be lost on our public university leaders who are too unwilling to insist that the same occur on their campuses. Rest assured, there will be no class credit for tunnels of oppression and castigations of heterosexism at Patrick Henry. Neither will class credits in exposing homophobia impress future employers of Arizona businesses or help strengthen Arizona’s economy.

Dennis Durband is publisher and editor of The Arizona Conservative, is also a freelance writer and webmaster and a longtime journalist. He is willing to speak at The Humanist Public University at Tucson for a slice of strawberry pie, after the address rather than a whipped cream pie like that "given" to Ann Coulter.

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