At Liberty to take a stand

Nothing so confounds in the present day like an insistence on the part of those hewing right of the tolerance crowd to act on views deemed intolerable. Jerry Falwell Jr., son of and successor to Liberty University founder, has done the unthinkable in dropping the College Democrats chapter as an official club. The subsequent piercing shrieks of horror likely were enough to stir Falwell’s father, though not enough to turn him in his grave. Surely, he would have been pleased.

The reasoning, Falwell the younger explained, was that organizers of the club, formed in October, reneged on a pledge to stand for ideals the university holds dear but Democrats tend to disdain, chief among them opposition to abortion. Club organizers, he said, backed pro-abortion candidates. They’d pledged to seek to sway Democratic faithful to “pro-life, pro-family causes.” So when the university’s law school reviewed which clubs would be kept, the Democrats were the first to go.

A swing to the other end of academia’s spectrum paints a contrast, vividly. The Berkeley College Republicans Web site features a smiling Ronald Reagan positioned suitably far right and audio of two self-described young white males opining against (who else?) President Barack Obama.

This is the same group that drew the attention of The Wall Street Journal several years ago by staging protests against People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals by providing free hot dogs to passersby along with a call to eat meat. Chancellor Robert Birgeneau relished telling the group that he’d recently been compelled to inform a British journalist that “the largest student political group [on campus] is Republican.” Yet Berkeley’s liberal rep remains untarnished, as surely Liberty’s fundamentalism would have even with the College Dems hanging around under the school banner.

Of course, there is the distinct difference in the status of Liberty and Berkeley. The former is a private school and the latter is a public university supported by taxpayer money. But a rub forms over Liberty’s acceptance of federal and state tax tuition money, the latter through the Virginia Tuition Assistance Grants program. Critics say Liberty should cease accepting that money and surrender its tax-exempt status.

We’re not sure about either of those points, but there’s no denying the obvious, that those who desire freedom from the hand of political correctness exercised by the federal government can safeguard themselves by refusing federal help. Other schools, such as Grove City College in Western Pennsylvania, do this and thrive still. Liberty would demonstrate resolve by doing the same. Christ might call this being in the world but not of it.

Such a step would muffle but not silence the yelps from the left side of the political divide. But it ought to be remembered, Liberty as a private institution possesses the right to do as it pleases on the subject of school clubs. If the university does not wish to provide its imprimatur for a Democrats club, it can elect to just say no. Students or parents who don’t like it can do likewise with regard to Liberty, choosing from the field of other more open universities, of which there happen to be a few.

So we’ll refrain from the indignation that has prevailed in the wake of Liberty’s swift kick to Democratic backsides. That club’s members may still vote as they choose and may still gather on campus only sans the university name. The party will be none the worse off, and perhaps even will get a kick of a different sort in the form of boosted attention and donations.

Knowing the rhetorical assaults that surely would come, Liberty officials showed mettle while ruffling feathers. Still, the school’s voice of principle would sound clearer were the taint of federal tax money removed, taking with it the slight but shrill ping of hypocrisy’s ring.