Campus Snapshots

From desecration of Christian icons to shouting down dissident viewpoints to penny ante smackdowns of candidates in student elections, America’s college campuses have become, if not fascistic, then at least places where fascism can happen.

Cooper Union Crucifies Catholics

When reports surface about the Koran being desecrated in a federal detention center, public outrage understandably follows. Yet most major media outlets do not deem it a story when Christian icons are violated. Similarly, few academics and cause groups deem it worth of collective indignation.

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in its 2008 Report on Anti-Catholicism repeats the gory details of what may be the most egregious of these offenses—an exhibit at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art from May 27 through June 10. Hopefully, none other can compare.

At any rate, it behooves us to ask why any occur. The exhibit supposedly featured “major pieces by students representing ‘the best of’ each discipline,” according to the Cooper Union itself.

“One example of the ‘best’ art took a shot at Catholicism,” according to the Catholic League. “A series of paintings by Felipe Baeza was selected to be displayed at the event.”

“In one of his paintings, Baeza showed a man with his pants pulled down with a crucifix extended from his rectum. Under the painting was the phrase, ‘el dia que me converti catolico,’ or ‘The day I became a Catholic.’”

“Baeza had other similar paintings. One substituted a Rosary for the crucifix that extended from his rectum; another showed a man with his pants down and an angel holding two Rosaries with a penis attached to each of them; and there was a painting of a naked man with an erection and a halo hovering [sic] his head.”

Campus Etiquette

Apparently, at the University of Massachusetts, the proper reaction to a speech on hate crime by a conservative is to show some hatred. “Before the speech began, the evening was marked by drama, as police removed one student holding a ferret before asking another audience member his plans regarding an orange he was holding,” Sam Butterfield reported in The Daily Collegian on March 12 of an appearance on the campus by author and commentator Don Feder.

Most of the protesters though, saved themselves for verbal abuse of the speaker. “I want to tell you this, Don Feder, fag to me is not only a word,” one of them yelled at the author of A Conservative Jew Looks At Pagan America.

And to Feder, the exit sign was not just a decoration. He walked off the stage after that bon mot.

McCain-Feingold Goes to College

After the federal McCain-Feingold law’s spending and advertising limits came back to haunt one of the statute’s nominal authors, the impact of the legislation’s rationale is being felt in a campus election at George Washington University. “The independent body that oversees Student Association elections voted unanimously early Thursday to remove presidential candidate Kyle Boyer from the runoff election,” Emily Cahn reported on March 12, 2009. “The Joint Elections Committee found Boyer, a junior, guilty of failing to report the use of a friend’s car on H Street, which he borrowed to display posters, play music and dance on during the general election.”

“SA presidential candidates are required to report the fair market value of all items used for their campaign. The total value cannot exceed $1,000 for each candidate.”

“The estimated expenditures for the use of the car—determined using rental car pricing—pushed Boyer over the $1,000 limit by $92.63, adding an additional three violation points and disqualifying him from the runoff election. Boyer was assessed a total [of] five violations—including one for Facebook ads—Thursday morning, bringing his violation total to eight.”

If only Boyer had abided by the rules. He could have been as invisible as Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, was during the presidential campaign when he demonstrated obeisance to the bill that bears his name.

Nor was this the first such electoral conflict at GWU. “Eight years ago, Roger Kapoor, an SA presidential candidate, was removed from the ballot for similar election violations,” Cahn reported. “Kapoor exceeded the $1,000 spending limit by $20 for failing to report the fair market value of pizza that he handed out to students in Thurston Hall.”

“Kapoor, who was a house proctor, received the pizzas at a discounted rate, but he did not report the pizzas at the value that average students would have to pay for them. Though Kapoor was originally removed from the ballot, he was later reinstated by the Student Court.”

Malcolm A. Kline is the executive director of Accuracy in Academia.

Malcolm A. Kline
Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia. If you would like to comment on this article, e-mail contact@academia.org.