Young Americans Foundation criticizes Language, Gender & Sexualitycourse

[Amy L Sheldon]

To the GALA list,

The following is a press release that I received in which an elective
course I taught in 1997, titled in the course catalogue: Comm 3406
"Language and Sexual Diversity" is described as one of a group of
"outlandish and politically correct" courses. The title of the full report
is "Comedy & Tragedy: College Course Descriptions and what They Tell us
about Higher Education Today".

n.b. Comm 3405 Language and Gender, did not make it to the YAF list.

Below is the press release from YAF.  Anyone care to discuss this on the
list?         Amy

Universities across the nation have raised tuition rates and complain they
are not receiving enough funding from taxpayers. But how are these schools
spending the money in their "tight" budgets? They still manage to promote
leftist ideology, while ignoring the conservative viewpoint. Left-wing
authors and philosophers, including Noam Chomsky, Cornel West, Karl Marx,
and John Maynard Keynes, among many others, have a virtual monopoly in the
nation^s classrooms. Comparable conservative scholars like Milton
Friedman, Thomas Sowell, F.A. Hayek, and Paul Johnson are demonized or
ignored by liberal faculties. Many academic institutions no longer require
courses in fundamental subjects such as American history, yet use
taxpayers^ funds for eccentric, bizarre, and "politically correct"
courses.

The Dirty Dozen highlights the annual Young America^s Foundation study
Comedy & Tragedy: College Course Descriptions and what They Tell Us about
Higher Education Today. The study uses universities^ own course
descriptions to expose some of the most outlandish and politically biased
courses on today^s campuses. The Dirty Dozen (listed below) is a sample of
courses offered by some of our nation^s most prestigious universities. The
study will be released in its entirety in early September.

Students at Brown University can take Seeing Queerly: Queer Theory, Film,
and Video. This course asks, "While Cinema has typically circumscribed
vision along (hetro) [sic] sexually normative lines, can film also empower
viewers to see ^queerly^?"

Leftist environmental doctrine is often taught as uncontested truth.
Rutgers University offers The Greenhouse Effect, where students discuss
"Reducing the emission of ^greenhouse^ gasses; nuclear energy and other
alternative energy sources."

Students can take Who is Black? at Harvard University. This course
addresses "the social processes through which identities are constructed
and changed." The course also discusses "how struggles about who is black
take place not only between blacks and whites, but blacks and other
racialized groups, and among blacks themselves."

Communication students at the University of Minnesota study Language and
Sexual Diversity. This class teaches how language is used in "lesbian,
gay, bi-sexual, and transgender communities" and the "ways in which sexual
diversity affects language use."

University of Missouri students will study Black Feminism. This course
examines "the multiple systems of oppression on Black women^s lives and
Black women^s collective actions against social structures."

Geography students at the University of Washington will take Geography of
Inequality. These students will explore "topics such as the spatial
distribution of wealth and poverty, the geographies of exclusion, and
discrimination in paid employment and housing."

University of California ^ Santa Barbara students can enroll in Mock
Environmental Summit where they "work in teams of four or five to prepare
a presentation and discussion of environmental issues of concern to the
world."

Afro-American Studies students at the University of California ^ Los
Angeles are offered Cultural History of Rap. This course offers students a
discussion "on musical and verbal qualities, philosophical and political
ideologies, gender representation, and influences on cinema and popular
culture" in rap.

Georgetown University Students can "beam" into Philosophy and Star Trek.
Claiming that there is no better way to learn philosophy than to watch
Star Trek, this course asks: "Is time travel possible?" "Could we go back
and kill our grandmothers?" and "Is Data a person?"

Women^s Studies students at the University of Florida will take
Ecofeminism. These students study "western tradition^s naturalization of
women and feminization of nature, drawing the conclusion that the
domination of women and the domination of nature are intimately connected
and mutually reinforcing."

University of Wisconsin students can study Daytime Serials: Family and
Social Roles. In this course, students analyze "the themes and characters
that populate television^s daytime serials and investigation of what
impact these portrayals have on women^s and men^s roles in the family and
in the work place."

Vassar College offers students Black Marxism. Students learn how "the
growth of global racism suggests the symmetry of the expansion of
capitalism and globalization of racial hierarchy."
For further information or to schedule an interview, please call Rick
Parsons at (800) 292-9231.


Young America^s Foundation is an educational organization promoting
conservative ideas on our nation^s campuses through lectures,
publications, and conferences. This past academic year, the Foundation
sponsored over 300 lectures, including addresses by Dr. Walter Williams,
Ann Coulter, Ben Stein, and John Stossel. In addition, Young America^s
Foundation saved President Reagan^s Western White House ^ Rancho del Cielo
in Santa Barbara, California ^ to serve as the centerpiece of its Reagan
Ranch Program.