Have you gotten your Freshmen Orientation agenda yet?
Well, here is what is really on the agenda.
by Kelly Heilman
The excitement leading up to my first year of college was my adrenaline all through high school. I could not wait to start the ‘best four years of my life’ and really hone in on my passion for conservatism. College was a place for my dreams to grow and be reached. I would become infatuated within the classroom, learning to strengthen my viewpoints and hearing new ones.
Reflecting in hindsight after having just finished my freshman year, I have come to acknowledge that this was a romanticized view of what college would provide for me. Liberal biases in and out of the classroom manifested quicker than I could keep track. Freshmen Orientation, more like 1, 2, 3 INDOCTRINATION!
Silenced limits on opportunities
Academicians do a great job with encouraging students to ‘pursue their dreams’ and ‘follow their hearts,’ but they rarely will encourage a path that they do not personally see fit.
Orientation typically includes an activities fair, showering students with clubs and sports to get involved in, but exactly how involved are they? Did the club bring a speaker, does the university do their best to advance the opportunities for that group, and are advisors readily accessible? My school, Sewanee: The University of the South, for example, requires for funding that the student leader to go before an Activities Fair Committee and present a case at their hearing, where a decision will eventually be made.
If all else fails, start your own organization and make it happen. Do not let your university get in the way through intimidation factors, financial withholding, or holding back information. Education is far too expensive to have the opportunities you want to take advantage of belittled; the additional price you will pay for your silence will be even more.
I experienced a room of silence when I gave an opposing opinion to our required book, Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. We were assigned to read and analyze the book over the summer and then discuss our responses to racism in America within a safe space. A description online of the book is: “Coates recapitulates the American history and explains to his son the “racist violence that has been woven into American culture.” The room had to agree that blacks had to be given special treatment and to shame whites, or if you opposed, face an entire room of students and orientation leaders’ glares.
Sadly, sometimes the opportunity to bring up multiple perspectives feels ‘unsafe.’ However, always stand behind your values and beliefs.
Everything is fine, unless you’re conservative
You can be anything you want to be, within the boundaries of liberalism or within the promotion of the LGBTQ agenda. College is another step closer to freedom, including sexually.
Though overwhelming, the agenda can be quite humorous; however, universities often cross a fine line where conservatives are told our opinions are wrong and immoral. So much for being open and accepting.
Cultural conformity at its finest
What continued for the first couple of days of orientation were a series of assemblies and icebreakers. They were filled with silly sexual references and expectations that incoming freshmen were going to need to know them. There seemed to be a recurring theme that most seemed to agree with of how awful women were going to be treated compared to all of the ‘privileged’ evil men. It may seem like the world around you has just changed, which it has.
That does not mean you have to sacrifice your values. A large emphasis is placed on sexual education, tailoring towards females. You will probably hear terms like non-binary, cisgender, and fluidity that you have never heard before and find yourself asking, “Who came up with that?” The cruel irony of this is that even at a small, private, Christian university, this seems to not be a problem. Just because the best four years are about to start, does not mean it is an excuse to lose yourself.
What I learned in my short time in college thus far is to make a decision to stand by my values and stick to it. Even when it seems like everyone is ‘exercising their rights’ it is imperative to remain strong.
Oppression, oppression everywhere
It is said that 1 in 4 women will be raped before graduating college. Panels, discussions, and even plays will ensue to drill in the notion that all men are predators and women should have a constant fear. This is not to mention the certain ‘diversity training’ that will suddenly make you realize what a terrible person you are, regardless. Because I have Caucasian ancestors, it apparently means I cannot be proud of where I come from, and have to apologize for this newfound idea of white privilege. The majority of scholarships only available to minorities is the real privilege.
For those fresh and easily influenced minds just arriving to campus, these can be scary statistics to hear. However, with most propaganda perpetrated by liberal administrations, if you do a little bit of digging, it can be debunked by a simple Google search.
Broad definitions of rape, sexual assault, and discrimination are taken advantage of to fit the agenda, telling students that unwanted kissing can be classified in the same category as sexual assault. Unpleasant, yes, but no distinction is made between rape and other infractions, and it creates a fearful, man-hating culture that professors love to talk about. I was never told to take responsibility for personal decisions, in and out of the classroom, and to be smart. Enter the blame-game.
Kelly Heilman is a 2017 Summer Fellow at CBLPI.