Those on the right have known for quite some time that universities around the country are breeding grounds for leftism. Conservatives have been systematically shut out and silenced on college campuses. Conservative leaders such as Ben Shapiro have been banned from universities for simply expressing a different viewpoint. As I entered my first year of graduate school at a state university in the fall of 2015, I had no concept of how deeply leftism had infiltrated college campuses. I quickly learned that the radical left would do anything to silence dissenters and perpetuate their ideology.
During my first year of graduate school, I witnessed many instances of radical leftism. Professors and textbooks would perpetuate leftism on a daily basis, and had I not been firm in my convictions, I could have easily fallen prey to the liberal indoctrination. One striking example of leftism occurred during my second quarter of school. I was taking a diversity course, which perpetuated the unproven concept of “white privilege.” We conducted “privilege exercises,” which required that students stand up and come before the class to compare various levels of “privilege.” On January 21, my professor even made the claim that only white individuals were capable of being racist. My gut reaction told me this was completely false. The professor was not discussing institutional racism, but rather, the idea that only white people can hold racist beliefs. Unfortunately, this ideology is not unique to this campus.
Our graduate program required students to complete a practicum and an internship. My practicum site happened to be at the university’s counseling center. My site perpetuated leftist ideology, with gender unicorns placed throughout the center, and most notably, we were the designated “safe space” for the university. I learned many of the unique and illogical rules of the left during my practicum. For example, my supervisor quickly notified me on May 6, 2016, that the term “Caucasian” was politically incorrect, and we were to refer to students as “white” instead. There were countless examples of language policing by my supervisor and the staff at my practicum site.
As a part of our practicum experience, we were required to conduct intake assessments for students. We were assigned clients, and my first intake occurred on May 13. I was prepared for the intake, and completed the assessment after establishing what I thought was a good rapport with the client. The client presented with issues concerning gender and sexuality. As I sat with the client, my heart went out to them, and I had no thoughts of judgment or condemnation. Following the intake, my supervisor asked me about the experience. I explained to her that I felt comfortable with the client, and had no significant concerns regarding the session. My supervisor noted my Christian faith, and asked if this created any concerns or uncomfortable feelings during my time with the client. It appeared to my supervisor that as a Christian, I would automatically approach the situation with a bigoted point of view, which was completely false.
Three days later, on May 16, my supervisor asked to speak with me. She stated she was unsure if I would be able to complete my practicum at the counseling center. My supervisor continued to press the issue of my client’s sexuality. I expressed to my supervisor that I had no feelings of judgment toward my client. I asked my supervisor if it appeared that I was judgmental or lacking compassion during my taped session. My supervisor denied seeing any evidence of poor counseling skills in the video.
I found the timing of this discussion to be interesting. Just a few days prior to this meeting, I sat in on the staffing of a case. The case focused on a client who grew up in a conservative Christian household. The supervisor asked for the trainees’ opinions of the staffing, and I shared that it did not seem like they took the client’s Christian faith into consideration when discussing treatment. Rather, it seemed as though they viewed the client’s Christian faith as a hindrance. A fellow graduate student, who also attended the staffing, expressed a similar opinion. I shared with my supervisor that it seemed like the client’s faith, which is seen as a “mainstream” faith in our culture, was not taken into consideration. I proposed a question, wondering if the client’s faith would have been viewed the same way if the client’s faith were less common. Had the client been Muslim or Buddhist, would they have viewed the client’s faith as an obstacle to treatment? Probably not. It would have been seen as an important part of the client’s life that would have been integrated into the treatment. My supervisor was quick to refute my claim, and did not appreciate that I brought up this uncomfortable but likely true point.
During a staffing of my intake session, I shared the details of my intake session with my supervisor and fellow practicum students. I shared the client’s demographics, which included sexual orientation. My client identified as lesbian. In the write-up, I wrote that my client was homosexual, which was true, and I viewed this term to be more “clinical” than if I were to say she was gay. Apparently, this was a cardinal sin, which I would have to pay deeply for committing. Following my fatal error of reporting that my client was homosexual, rather than gay, I was told on May 20 that I had to read up on LGBT language, and “safe words” to use with clients. My supervisor even went as far to say that I was not “safe” to work with LGBT clients, despite my client having a good experience with me during the intake.
I reluctantly studied up on language that would be “safe” to use with clients. On May 31, with roughly a week left of school, I was told I would not be able to progress into an internship, and I would have to be remediated during the summer. This remediation process would include studying up on “safe words” and leftist terminology, with the end goal of me changing my views on relationships, marriage, gender, and sexuality. Going through the remediation process would not even guarantee that I could stay at the site during the second year of graduate school. I expressed that my personal convictions were firm, and I reiterated to my supervisor that I had not broken any ethical codes with my client. My supervisor acknowledged that I had not behaved unethically, but I would still not be able to complete my internship at the site. Finding a new site would be nearly impossible at this point, and it would be uncertain if I would be able to graduate on time if I could not stay at this site. My supervisor also noted that my “lack of understanding of ethics” would be shared with the director of my graduate program.
Throughout my practicum, I never broke any ethical code, and I did not display poor counseling skills. By speaking up during the staffing of the Christian client’s case, and expressing my personal views on relationships, marriage, gender, and sexuality, I would not be able to move forward in my training program until my personal views changed.
Sadly, this issue was not able to be resolved. I had to withdraw from my program, despite having a 3.83 GPA and never having done anything unethical. Since this experience, I have transferred to an online graduate program. Unfortunately, less than one quarter of credits transferred to my new program. My hope is that this experience never happens to another student. Conservative students across the country are being silenced by the overwhelming power of the left and university administrations. The authoritarian left on college campuses is challenging free speech and diversity of thought. Students like me are being shut out for committing unforgivable “thought crimes” and having beliefs that the left views as unacceptable. Universities have become leftist indoctrination centers, and often promote leftist ideology over diversity of thought and free speech. I never thought I would experience the wrath of the left while at this public university, but sadly, I was wrong. The left will stop at no end to silence and punish dissenters.
Example of the “Gender Unicorn” displayed throughout the university’s counseling center.