Free AIA Luncheon on Capitol Hill

Authors Ben Shapiro, Dr. Mike Adams, and Dan Flynn have agreed to speak at a July 8 luncheon on Capitol Hill sponsored by Accuracy in Academia.

Devoted to discussions of ideological abuse in academia, the free luncheon will begin at noon in Room 121 of the Cannon House Office Building in Washington, D.C.

The 20-year-old Shapiro is a syndicated columnist and a recent graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), where he wrote a column for the Daily Bruin, the school’s student newspaper. His recently published book Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America’s Youth chronicles the ideological bias that permeates UCLA and its counterparts across the country.

In Brainwashed, Shapiro exposes the often shameless extent to which many professors and administrators use their positions of authority to impose a politically correct orthodoxy on the entire campus. In one example, he recalls having received a positive response from a UCLA administrator regarding a column he had written. Shapiro then asked the administrator for permission to forward the response to the editor of the Bruin.

His reply? “As a father of three and a career staff member, I’m afraid I could not handle the potential damage my express thoughts would do to my career as an administrator here,” the official wrote. “Sadly, for those of us who earn our living here as staff, it’s professional suicide to engage in free expression.”

Dr. Adams will recount his experiences from the other side of the lectern. A professor of criminology at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Wilmington, Dr. Adams has encountered more than his share of political correctness and ideological double standards.

Last semester, for example, he was invited by the College Republicans at UNC-Greensboro to give a speech at that campus. At the last minute, however, the school decided to revoke its funding for the speech, explaining that Dr. Adams was too controversial.

Ironically, the day before Dr. Adams spoke, UNC-Greensboro had hosted another speaker: pornographic actress Tristan Taormino, the self-described “poster girl” for a practice that is best left unnamed. Billed as a “sexual health expert,” Taormino was paid $3000 for a speech on “safe sodomy” that was cosponsored by the school’s Wellness Center and Office of Student Life.

A frequent campus speaker, Dr. Adams is also the author of Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel: Confessions of a Conservative College Professor.

Dan Flynn is the author of Why the Left Hates America and a former executive director of Accuracy in Academia. Over the last few years, Flynn has spoken at dozens of colleges and universities across the country, mostly at the behest of students—only twice was he invited by the colleges themselves.

Although most colleges never tire of declaring their commitment to free speech and “inclusion,” Flynn’s conservative perspective has not always been received cordially, to say the least. At one campus, for example, Flynn was mooned, while at another school he had to contend with a mohawked student who stood obstinately in front of the podium for the duration of Flynn’s speech.

Those interested in hearing Flynn, Shapiro, and Dr. Adams discuss their experiences with academia may RSVP for the July 8 luncheon by e-mailing cu@academia.org or by calling (202) 364-3085, ext. 116.