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July 2008
Volume 22,
Number 6

"Indoctrinate U," directed by Evan Coyne Maloney. On The Fence Films, 2007, 87 minutes.


Dissent for Me, Not Thee

by Gary Jason

A great little documentary that was in very limited release last year is now available for purchase online and for rental at a few outlets. Evan Maloney's film — " Indoctrinate U" — was produced in collaboration with the invaluable Moving Picture Institute, an organization devoted to producing and distributing films that have conservative or libertarian views. The film documents the repressive atmosphere of political correctness prevalent on all too many college campuses today.

Gary Jason is an adjunct professor of philosophy and a contributing editor of Liberty. He is the author of Critical Thinking: Developing an Effective World View and Introduction to Logic.

Specifically, Maloney's film (which he wrote as well as directed) examines the various ways college administrators and activist students try to squelch libertarian and conservative speech, by imposing speech codes, harassing conservative publications, and shouting down speakers with whom they disagree.

Maloney uses Michael Moore's "Roger and Me" technique, walking into administrative offices and asking for interviews with various devious and nasty administrators. The results are often hilarious. In one sequence, Maloney investigates the case of one university's legal jihad against a student who posted fliers for an upcoming speaker at a campus conservative club. The scheduled speaker was of that rare breed so offensive to the tender sensibilities of leftist students and professors: a black conservative. The kid had the stones to post a flier in the Black Student Center, and found himself charged with racial harassment by the vile administrators. They persisted, trying to intimidate him into withdrawing from the university, even taking him to court. He decided to fight, and the university not only lost, but was forced to pay his legal fees — some $40,000.

In a priceless scene, Maloney and his cameraman show up at the president's office, asking whether wasting $40,000 in taxpayers' money (intended to support bona fide education) on frivolous legal fees to pursue an innocent student was really the wisest course. The scene is just marvelous — the snarky administrator first tries to intimidate the crew, then calls the campus cops! So much for free speech.

In another humorous sequence, the camera follows Maloney as he asks administrators in the Women's Studies offices where the Men's Studies Department is located, or where the Men's Resource Center is. The look of vapid annoyance on their faces is a scream.

Students who produce campus conservative or libertarian publications tell how their newspapers are routinely stolen, and how they are harassed, even spat upon, while the campus administrations stand by approvingly. He also films antiwar protestors as they try to harass military recruiters on campus and deny other students access to them.

Maloney puts his finger on the crux of the problem. The campus radicals who protested for free speech in the 1960s control academe today, and — so typical of the Left — they act to stifle the dissent they fought so hard to secure, now that they are in control.

If you have a child in college or if you are soon to be a student yourself, this is an invaluable DVD. It is also useful for anyone who truly favors free speech. The production quality is amazingly high for what was obviously a small-budget venture, as is its comedic value. It is well worth the purchase.

© Copyright 2010, Liberty Foundation


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