Advice For At-Risk Youth

Students can effect change on campuses across the country by combating the liberal biases that so often appear at colleges and universities, Lisa De Pasquale, program director of the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute, told attendees of Accuracy in Academia’s summer conference. These liberal biases can even be seen in the types of classes offered to students, said De Pasquale, who spoke on a panel titled “Rock the Vote—and the Campus.”

A recent trend at more than 250 colleges and universities around the country has been to offer Peace Studies classes, De Pasquale told the mostly college-aged audience at the Conservative University conference. A reasoned approach to the idea of peace would be fine, she said, but these radical classes give a false view of American history and military action. They promote the idea that every conflict is America’s fault and provide a breeding ground for anti-American, socialist sentiment.

Additionally, the classes fail to recognize that sometimes war is the only way to stop injustice, De Pasquale said. “Pacifism ignores injustice,” she said, “and I think conservatives understand that.”

Another area where universities demonstrate a liberal bias lies in which speakers get invited to come to campus. The University of Central Florida, De Pasquale said, offered $40,000 for Michael Moore to come speak while refusing to pay for Ann Coulter.

Fortunately, things are changing. Outside groups are bringing conservative speakers to campuses themselves and college students are becoming more active, De Pasquale said. When students across the country begin to speak up and point out liberal biases, true change can be achieved.

“There are people who are afraid to speak up,” said Lori Waters, the other speaker on the panel. “I’m the person who’s afraid not to speak up.” Waters, the executive director of Eagle Forum, encouraged her audience to get out and make a difference in upcoming elections.

“Just one or two votes can make a difference in a number of issues,” she said. For example, in the Senate, 60 votes must be obtained in order for debate to end and an issue to be brought to a vote. Unfortunately, many issues get sidelined because obstructionist Democrats prevent Republicans from getting the votes they need, Waters said. Issues that have been unnecessarily sidelined include a vote on a constitutional amendment to affirm the definition of marriage and votes on judicial nominees the president needs confirmed. Having one, two, or even three more people in the Senate willing to move bills forward could make a real difference, Waters said.

Because every elected official can have a significant impact on the issues, electing good people to office is crucial, Waters said. College students and others can help by registering to vote, writing letters to the editor and working on campaigns. Every person’s contribution counts, as can be seen in the case of Todd Akin, a representative from Missouri who won his seat by a margin of only 56 votes.

“You know 56 people. You could swing an election,” Waters said.

A student at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Christina Haines is an intern at Accuracy in Media.