Dear Mr. Mathews, Thank you for the kind invitation to participate in my 50th Class Reunion at the University of California - Berkeley. This may be an appropriate moment to exchange some views on the state of our educational system in America and particularly in our major universities.
I recently read that your sister campus at UCLA retained Jane Fonda for a commencement speech. Both my wife and I have strong family military ties in our background so this was a bit shocking to both of us as Ms. Fonda has a checkered history of treasonous behavior during the Vietnam War for which she has never apologized. In addition, I learned that both Condi Rice, former Secretary of State and Christine LeGarde, first female head of the IMF bowed out of commencement speeches at Eastern campuses due to protests from a vocal minority led by a few radical professors. Ayan Hirsi Ali, former member of Dutch Parliament and author of several books on the oppression of Islamic women through genital mutilation (which she herself was subjected to) and honor killings that are still being carried out in Muslim communities even here in the US and Europe, was denied an honorary degree by Rutgers because she was deemed an Islamaphobe.
Now these are three of the bravest, most accomplished women on the planet and our liberal college bureaucracy is allowing these three overachievers to be denied access to potentially inspire thousands of young women to aspire to greatness.
Instead we get Hanoi Jane. A trade on par with Bowe Bergdahl.
I'm not sure how much time our educators spend outside their ivory towers, but just for a reality check can you explain:
1) How the ratio of liberal to conservatives professors ever reach the 20:1 figure that exists today?
2) How did the contracts that used to prohibit professors from proselytizing their politics in the classroom become documents that allow anti-American propagandist speech to be spewed forth at every opportunity but prevent educators from being disciplined for such behavior?
3) Can you explain how Angela Davis, an avowed Communist and member of several radical leftist groups with absolutely no academic credentials became a fully tenured professor at your Santa Cruz campus?
Recently, I read a young man on the Berkeley campus was accosted by campus police for passing out copies of the US Constitution. The reason given was that he was outside the designated "Free Speech Zone."
My amazement at the arrogance of this bizarre statement is matched by the silence of the media when it was made public.
Perhaps the young man wanted to remind folks of the First Amendment to the Constitution which makes all of America a "Free Speech Zone," at least in principle. The utter lawlessness with which this current administration is pursuing its socialist utopian dreams while ignoring the American leadership role at home and abroad is dismaying to the core.
While our Southern border is virtually non-existent, the government wages war on its own citizens through the corrupt IRS, VA, DOJ, EPA, DHS and spineless Congress brought to its knees by fear of a media condemnation.
In my 72 years, I've never witnessed such a spectacle as my president flying all over the country to play golf and attend fundraisers while the world burns around him and he passes out more matches. He seems willing to negotiate with terrorists, but not with Republicans. Many blame the media for abdicating their role as watchdog ever since the Watergate scandal. But the deeper cause, in my view, is the indoctrination into progressive liberal values that begins in our schools.
With rare exception, our media, who graduate from our finest institutions, truly do not understand the bedrock of conservative principles including limited government, rule of law and access to a competitive marketplace that allowed this country to rise above all others.
Copies of the US Constitution should be distributed at every campus in America during recruitment week.
Instead we are getting divisive propaganda that pits one group against another, panders to groups based on race, gender or ethnicity and breeds resentment of success. All distributed by kids in Che Guevara T-shirts who wouldn't know Che from Cheech and Chong.
What we have seen evolve over the last fifty years has been a bewildering lack of diversity of political views on our college campuses while focusing on race, gender and sexual orientation. There is little mention of hard work, taking risks, entrepreneurship, liberty or individual excellence.
Perhaps such discussion only comes about by inviting actual achievers like Condi Rice and Christine LeGarde to speak.
In summary, I'll be pleased to support my alma mater when they rejoin the Free Speech Zone known as the United States of America.