In recent years, college administrators have become less like leaders of their respective institutions, and more like tools used by leftist students to fulfill their various agendas. That’s why when you find one that has even a lick of common sense, it’s truly newsworthy.
In a recent interview with the Daily Bruin, UCLA’s student newspaper, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block and Vice Chancellor of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Jerry Kang, discussed various issues facing the university. During the course of the discussion they presented a few relatively conservative viewpoints. The two recommended need-based financial aid as opposed to affirmative action, emphasized the importance of free and open discussion, and highlighted the difficulty of separating the university from companies associated with the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Chancellor Block while timid, did ultimately call students out on the absurdity of their demands. In his emphasis of need-based financial aid, he was responding to a group of students who demanded a $40 million endowment to address African-American underrepresentation on campus. The Daily Bruin article notes that he said that “the organization’s demands for an endowment to address African-American underrepresentation would be challenging because it is based on race.”
Conservatives have been saying this for years. As Dinesh D’Souza wrote in an article for the Atlantic in 1997, “Who can explain why a non-white immigrant should get preference for a college seat, a job, or a government contract over a native-born white with stronger qualifications?”
The two administrators’ response to the security of free speech on campus also came as a welcome surprise. While Kang did concede that hosting controversial speakers was “challenging,” he maintained that free and open debate is vital to the health of any university. “Kang said he thinks students should engage in unpopular speech because it is the core of any university experience,” the Daily Bruin reports.
More university administrators need to be willing to stand up to bullies on their campuses. These bullies are the SJWs that can get anything they want as long as they scream loud enough and long enough. It’s time for their reign of terror to end.
The Chancellor’s office has not returned our request for comment. That’s probably because they thought we were going to write a negative article. Believe me, we did too.
Haley Smith is a regular contributor to The Daily Wire and founding chairwoman of Concordia University Irvine’s Young Americans for Freedom chapter. Follow her on Twitter at @Haley_Victory.