European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 30, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Wednesday october 30, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary George will political correctness a reality on campuses on campuses there is a new Tenet in the catechism of a political correctness a the enforced orthodoxy of leftism. The new Tenet of political correctness is that political correctness does not exist. However if you dare to question this non existence if you doubt aloud that free expression is uninhibited you May be harassed on Campus even driven from town As was professor Alan Gribben More about whom anon. The chronicle of higher education recently reported the founding of a teachers for a democratic culture a an academic organization that a denies that left Wing students and academics Are squelching dissent on College that is a a misinformation and a distortion Quot from a right Wing of. The chronicle of one week earlier had reported from Tempe Ariz a in what has been called a a classic instance of political correctness a a speech by a mexican american woman who served in the Reagan administration has been cancelled at Arizona state University because of student Linda Chavez was invited to speak about her new Book titled out of the Barrio on hispanic american politics and assimilation. She was Dis invited because the director of the lecture series had not realized that these Are the directors words Chavez so stand on the Issue of bilingualism is a so controversial among minority a University spokesman insisted that Chavez had not been Dis invited because she had not really been invited a contract not having been issued. But a contract had been issued. And the letter Dis inviting Chavez used the word a a cancel a the minority coalition has requested that we cancel this engagement and bring other speakers whose views Are More in line with their Asur a president urged that she be invited Back. She has been in the politically Correct manner a not to give a speech but to debate. When politically incorrect people arc invited to speak they often Are supposed to speak in tandem with a corrective person. The University of Northern Colorado withdrew its invitation to Chavez to give the commencement address. Unc declared that the invitation had been intended to show a sensitivity to cultural diversity but now seemed a grossly unc promised she would be invited Back to be part of a forum. She has not been invited Back. Invitations to her have been withdrawn from Rutgers Camden n.j., Campus and the Stony Brook Campus of the state University of new York. No one can say at How Many colleges considerations of political correctness prevent any invitation from being issued. The chronicle Page that reported Asur a treatment of Chavez also reports this a some professors Are planning ways to counter charges that universities have become centers of left Wing faculty and students at the University of Michigan Are planning a conference the title of which refutes the Point of the conference a the pc Frame up what s behind the the title leaves no doubt that this conference disputing the reality of political correctness will be politically Correct. Lynne Cheney chairman of the National endowment for the humanities recently catalogued some costs of political correctness. A Harvard historian has quit teaching a course on immigration rather than endure More accusations of racism. He found that to defend himself from such smears he would have to record All his classes and conversations with students. Six University of Minnesota professors were charged with sexual harassment their offences included says Cheney a not greeting a student in a Friendly enough manner for example. Not teaching in a sensitive enough Way. Not having read a certain Cheney says these charges were eventually dropped but not until the professors had suffered substantial expenses and pain. Allen Gribben has fared worse. In the Early 1970s, he was a student Radical at Berkeley. For 17 years he taught English at the University of Texas in Austin. But this Mark Twain scholar ran afoul of political correctness when he voted against a masters level program in third world and minority literature. He favored a doctoral level program he was denounced As a racist. His wife is chinese american then when material with a pronounced left Wing slant was made required Reading for a required course in English composition Gribben protested this subordination of instruction to political indoctrination. He was shunned by colleagues avoided by graduate students effectively expelled from the life of the department denounced As a racist at a Campus rally. He received hate mail. He now teaches at Auburn University s Campus in Montgomery Ala. You can Contact him to Tell him that political correctness has never existed. C Washington Post writers group Tom Wicker for Oil taken from Arctic Refuge Price too High the Oil Man in the White House has agreed to throw what could be a $20 billion handout to a few Oil companies a and never mind the environment rational Energy policy or the National interest All of which would pay the Price. The president has even threatened to veto Energy legislation that includes Many useful provisions not unlike his own proposals unless the Bill includes his planned Giveaway of drilling rights in the Arctic National wildlife Refuge. Some senators nevertheless will make a determined Effort to protect one of the nation s last great wilderness areas. They have a demonstrably Strong Case Well stated in a recent speech by Tim Wirth d-colo., an authority on both the environment and Energy policy a no one knows for sure that any Oil underlies the Arctic Refuge. The most recent probably inflated estimate is that there is Only a 46 percent Chance to bring in Black Gold. A even among those who believe Oil will be found the most optimistic prediction is that perhaps a Mere 3.2 billion barrels might be produced. A Wirth pointed out that that is a drop in the bucket a tiny portion of the 660 billion barrels of Oil in the Middle Eastern reserves not much of an addition to the 26.5 billion barrels already in . Reserves and Only about 200 Days of Oil consumption at this country a gluttonous rate. A but if those optimistic production Hopes Are vindicated the Oil companies would get profits of about $6 a barrel something like a $20 billion Windfall. A for this minuscule production and those hefty profits the wildlife Refuge established in 1960 by president Eisenhower would be effectively ruined a just As environmentalists believe Oil drilling at Prudhoe Bay has fatally scarred that area with a vast Industrial Complex. A the footprint on the land a Wirth said after visiting there a has All the delicacy of Dinosaur these practical arguments against the Giveaway of the Arctic National wildlife Refuge for so Little a if any a return to anyone but the Oil companies Are bolstered by the available alternatives. Oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge is simply not necessary. The alternatives a All of which have greater Energy potential than drilling in the Refuge include a enhanced Oil production at existing . Fields. A increased use of natural Gas of which the nation has huge reserves enough for 51 years of consumption against Only 16 for Oil. A Domestic production of ethanol and methanol to Cut consumption of gasoline in automobiles. A improved Energy efficiency in which in 1989 the United states ranked Only fifth among Industrial societies far behind Switzerland Japan France and West Germany. Wirth pointed out that the Bush administration s own figures show that the first two of these alternatives a enhanced Oil production at existing Fields and the increased use of natural Gas a would by itself provide far More Energy resources than even the most successful Oil Field in the wildlife Refuge could. The sacrifice of that great National resource moreover for a Mere splash of Oil a or perhaps none a certainly would Tell the rest of the world that the United states is not serious when it Calls for Brazil not to Burn Down the Amazon rain Forest or urges diminished Reliance on the Oil reserves of the saudis the iranians and the iraqis or confronts any of the environmental crises now threatening the Earth. Such a Giveaway also would Send the american people the wrongheaded message that nothing much need be done to protect the environment or to curb Oil usage a which is already 40 percent of total . Energy consumption. In contrast the Bill the Senate will debate this week provides for conservation alternative fuels and improved Energy efficiency a All vital to a sound Energy policy. Yet Bush says he will veto that Bill with All its needed provisions if it does not also turn Over the Arctic National wildlife Refuge to the tender mercies of the Oil companies. You done to have to be a rocket scientist to figure out whose Campaign they will contribute to next year. C the new York times
