NDSU Faculty March In Favor Of Public Funding For Planned Parenthood

Tuition is out of control, student loan debt is becoming a national crisis and the value of a college degree is in serious decline, but what gets these people riled up? That North Dakota taxpayers don’t want their public institutions partnering with an overtly political advocacy organization like Planned Parenthood.

Just another reason to privatize the the university system:

FARGO – It wasn’t meant to be a protest, but organizers of a Tuesday afternoon march across the North Dakota State University campus said they hoped the event would stress the importance of academic freedom in the wake of administrators’ Jan. 14 decision to freeze a $1.2 million federal grant over a question of state law.

History assistant professor Angela Smith said she wanted to be involved to show her “solidarity” with the cause. About 100 faculty members, students and academics from other regional universities were there for the five-minute walk from the Memorial Union to Old Main, home to administrative offices.

Rachel Olerud, a self-described “concerned citizen,” said she wanted to get involved because it seemed the best thing she could do to show her support for continuing the grant, which was for a sexual-education program.

Saying this is about “academic freedom” is ridiculous. There’s nothing academic about sex education. And these faculty members seem to think their notion of “academic freedom” extends to spending the taxpayer’s dollars however they wish.

They should remember that they are employees of the State of North Dakota and work in a university system that gets hundreds of millions of dollars from the taxpayers. When the taxpayers set limits on how tax dollars can be used, that’s called democracy. If they don’t like it, they should go work for some private school. Or, even better, call for the total independence of the university system through privatization.

If you don’t want the taxpayers to have a say, don’t take their money. Of course, that’s not what they want. They want to take the taxpayer’s money, and then have the taxpayer’s shut up.

I have to laugh at people griping about this issue being “politicized.” Politics is democracy. That’s how we make decisions, for better or worse. Don’t like politics? Don’t work for the state.

Discussion question: How do you think these faculty members would feel if the university had partnered with the NRA for firearms safety classes? Something tells me they wouldn’t be whining about “academic freedom.”