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ERIC Number: EJ838643
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-Jun
Pages: 19
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0895-4852
EISSN: N/A
Sex, Lies, and Residence Life: Delaware's Thought Reform
Kissel, Adam
Academic Questions, v22 n2 p181-199 Jun 2009
The University of Delaware has a zero-tolerance policy for anything remotely resembling "hate speech." As such, the school implemented a mandatory training for all 7,000-odd students in its dorms. The sessions were part of a thorough thought-reform curriculum, designed by the school's Office of Residence Life, psychologically to "treat" and correct the allegedly incorrect thoughts, attitudes, values, beliefs, and habits of the students. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) first learned about the university program from a student's father, whose son had alerted him. FIRE's mission is to defend and sustain individual rights at America's colleges and universities. Within days after FIRE exposed the program to the public in October 2007--and put all 500-odd pages of the "curriculum" documents online--the university's president, Patrick Harker, suspended it. But the many full-time ResLife staff worked nonstop to bring it back. Rather than repudiate the racist teachings and invasive methods of the program, some University of Delaware faculty even worked with the Office of Residence Life to reinstate the agenda. Finally, under time pressure, Delaware's Student Life Committee passed along a proposal for this year that still tried to achieve specific "learning outcomes" by changing students' thoughts, values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. (Contains 16 footnotes.)
Springer. 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-348-4505; e-mail: service-ny@springer.com; Web site: http://www.springerlink.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Delaware
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A